DISQUS

Popdose: Dw. Dunphy On… The Alan Parsons Project Reissued | Popdose

  • David_E · 10 months ago
    Great write up. You and I, we could likely go back and forth for far too long debating the merits and missteps of these releases. So I'll just stop at "Thanks!"
  • Sauce · 10 months ago
    I still love Gaudi. Definitely the best of the APP's.
  • Ted · 10 months ago
    My mom was working at a nursing home when The Turn of a Friendly Card came out, and she said that "Games People Play" reminded her of the residents and their strained relationships with their kids -- who rarely visited.
  • jbeeching · 10 months ago
    As wildly as The Alan Parsons Project could shoot (for every "Damned If I Do" and "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You" they would throw out; suddenly they'd send out wincing material like "To One In Paradise" or "Hawkeye") they were always interesting. "Stereotomy", both the song and the mondo-bizarro twitchy video is still very memorable, and I think works like "Standing On Higher Ground" hold up their pop-sensibilities almost like something a true "pop" band like The Raspberries would do. Hey- sometimes you have to swing for the fences to hit a home run... thanks for the great overview!
  • Old_Davy · 10 months ago
    As much as I love APP (I have all 10 of their proper releases) I never could get into Gaudi all that much. I haven't listened to it in, oh, 10 years or so, and probably less than a total of 5 times overall. I'll have to revisit it and find out what I've missed. I do remember the sound of it was gorgeous.

    You really need to hear the original vinyl pressing of Stereotomy to appreciate the beauty of the recording. I haven't heard the remastered CD, and the original CD is too sharp and brittle, but the vinyl is warm and wonderful. Plus it has the cool colored plastic sleeve for the cover that changes the inkblot figure, lending it more to the concept of dual personalities.

    Yeah, and what's with Eve anyway? It's like AP got himself a new drum machine and just couldn't wait to (over)use it in the studio. I had been a huge fan of the first three albums and eagerly bought Eve on the day of release. It was the biggest disappointment in a long long time.

    The biggest surprise I learned from the reissues was that Eric Woolfson wrote the biggest majority of the lyrics AND music, while AP's role was more of an arranger and producer. To call the group the Alan Parsons Project was kind of a misnomer, but he did have the name recognition and the first album garnered a lot of attention because of it.

    I agree with what Jeff B said below, APP certainly was always interesting, if not entertaining.
  • Pico · 10 months ago
    Count me among those who preferred the more instrumental and concept-heavy first two albums. Every release I've heard after those veered too close to light, adult contemporary fare for my taste.

    That said, I've never heard Gaudi, but after reading this maybe I should try it out.
  • Steve · 10 months ago
    Among the stable of Parsons vocalists was a one-shot from Procol Harum's Gary Brooker, the magnificent "Limelight" from "Stereotomy." If "Light Of The World" is a musical-theater showstopper, then "Limelight" is the grand finale number. Brooker's tortured vocals portray perfectly the feelings of anyone who has ever wanted to say "I'm gonna show them all."
  • DwDunphy · 10 months ago
    You're right on that. "Limelight" does have that air of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" first act desperation. This is not a slam at all. It just cements the notion that as this song was the end of side one for the album, Woolfson was already thinking in a concrete, two-act manner.
  • David_E · 10 months ago