The Turn of a Friendly Card is the fifth studio album by the British progressive rock band the Alan Parsons Project, released in 1980 by Arista Records. The title piece, which appears on side 2 of the LP, is a 16-minute suite broken up into five tracks. The Turn of a Friendly Card spawned the hits "Games People Play" and "Time", the latter of which was Eric Woolfson's first lead vocal appearance. An edited version of the title piece combining the opening and ending parts of the suite was also released as a single along with an official video.
As with the band's previous albums, The Turn of a Friendly Card is a concept album with its theme focused on the gambling industry and the fate of gamblers, with more than one reference to Las Vegas (e.g. "there's a sign in the desert that lies to west" from the title piece). Musically it's a more melodic and accessible album than its predecessors.
Up to this album, all Alan Parsons Project albums had been packaged in gatefold sleeves. Increasing budgetary constraints of record companies made The Turn of a Friendly Card the beginning of all subsequently released Alan Parsons Project albums to be single-sleeve packaged.[5]
The album was recorded in a record short time of two weeks in Paris. Usually the Alan Parsons Project would take many months to record an album.[6]
Chris Rainbow (i, ii, v), Eric Woolfson (iv), none (iii)
16:24
Though numbered as a single work, "The Turn of a Friendly Card" is split into five tracks on most compact disc and all digital and streaming releases.
Bonus tracks (2008 remaster)
The Turn of a Friendly Card was remastered and reissued in 2008 with the following bonus tracks:
"May Be a Price to Pay" (Intro/demo) 1:32
"Nothing Left to Lose" (Basic backing track) 4:36
"Nothing Left to Lose" (Chris Rainbow overdub compilation) 2:02
"Nothing Left to Lose" (Early studio version with Woolfson's guide vocal) 3:11
On this version, Woolfson plays the accordion solo (later played on an actual accordion) on a keyboard with a cheap-sounding accordion preset. His melody is vaguely similar to Alan Civil's horn solo in The Beatles's "For No One".
#"Time" (Early studio attempt) 4:42
"Games People Play" (Rough mix) 4:33
"The Gold Bug" (Demo) 2:50
"The Gold Bug" (Demo) was named after an Edgar Allan Poe short story. The main keyboard sound is a Hohner Clavinet with damped strings and a repeat echo. This was also used for the final album version. The short duration of the notes made it difficult to get in tune.[7][8]
Deluxe Edition (2015)
In 2015, a "deluxe anniversary edition" was released on double CD. This featured a new remaster of the album, the bonus tracks of the 2008 edition on disc 1 and an additional disc including excerpts from Eric Woolfson's songwriting demos, rough mixes and the three single edits. On this new remaster, Parsons corrected a persisting speed mistake which was present in all earlier CD editions, from the very first (1987) up to the 2008 remaster, caused by the original master tape running slow during the CD mastering process and thus altering the pitch of the entire recording.[9]
"Eric's Songwriting Demos"
"May Be a Price to Pay" 3:26
"Games People Play" 3:06
"Time" 4:06
"I Don't Wanna Go Home" 2:12
"The Turn of a Friendly Card" 3:19
"Snake Eyes" 3:13
"Nothing Left to Lose" 2:46
"TOFC / Snake Eyes / I Don't Wanna Go Home" 4:32
"Extra Bonus Tracks"
"May Be a Price to Pay (Early version – Eric Guide Vocal & Unused Guitar Solo)" 5:03
"Games People Play (Early Version – Eric Guide vocal)" 4:32
"Time (Orchestra & Chris Rainbow Backing vocals)" 4:19
"The Gold Bug (Early Reference Version)" 5:08
"The Turn of a Friendly Card Part One (Early Backing Track)" 2:18
"Snake Eyes (Early Version – Eric Guide Vocal)" 3:20
"The Ace of Swords (Early Version With Synth "Orchestration")" 3:03
"The Ace of Swords (Early Version With Piano on Melody)" 2:40
"The Turn of a Friendly Card Part Two (Eric Guide Vocal And Extended Guitar Solo)" 3:32
"Single Edits"
"Games People Play" 3:35
"The Turn of a Friendly Card" 3:44
"Snake Eyes" 2:26
Box Set (2023)
In 2023, a four-disc box set was released featuring the material from the 2-CD plus five additional songwriting diaries of unused songs("La La La Lah", "Next Year", "Someone Else", "Taking It All Away" and "To Those Of You Out There"), two more studio bonus tracks ("The Gold Bug - Chris Rainbow Backing Vocals" and "The Gold Bug - Clavinet With No Delay") and a Blu-Ray disc including a new 5.1 surround mix of the album plus four promo videos.[10][11] The Blu-Ray was also made available separately.[12]
Alan Parsons – Projectron on "Games People Play", whistling and finger snaps on "The Gold Bug", Clavinet on "The Gold Bug" and "The Ace of Swords", harpsichord on "The Ace of Swords", additional vocals on "Time"
"The Gold Bug", which references the same-titled short story by Edgar Allan Poe, includes a whistling part by Parsons (in the style of Ennio Morricone's early themes for Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Western films, such as A Fistful of Dollars) and wordless vocals by Rainbow, while the main theme is played on an alto saxophone. The saxophone player, originally credited as Mel Collins, is instead credited on the liner notes for the remastered edition as "A session player in Paris whose name escapes us"; this refers to the fact that the saxophone part is a composite of several separate takes.[dubious–discuss][13] Similarly, the accordion part on "Nothing Left to Lose" is credited in the liner notes to "An unidentified Parisian session player". Also on "The Gold Bug", the newer liner notes credit a "Harmonized Rotating Triangle" to drummer Stuart Elliott. This refers to the phasing sound effects heard throughout the rhythm-free introduction to the piece.
The Alan Parsons Project were a British rock band active between 1975 and 1990, whose core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They were accompanied by varying session musicians and some relatively consistent session players such as guitarist Ian Bairnson, arranger Andrew Powell, bassist and vocalist David Paton, drummer Stuart Elliott, and vocalists Lenny Zakatek and Chris Rainbow. Parsons and Woolfson shared writing credits on almost all of the Project's songs, with Parsons producing or co-producing all of the band's recordings.
Tales of Mystery and Imagination (Edgar Allan Poe) is the debut studio album by British rock band the Alan Parsons Project. It was released on 25 June 1976 in the United Kingdom by Charisma Records. The lyrical and musical themes of the album, which are retellings of horror stories and poetry by Edgar Allan Poe, attracted a cult audience. The title of the album is taken from the title of a collection of Poe's macabre stories of the same name.
Ring Ring is the debut studio album by the Swedish group ABBA, initially credited as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida. It was released in Scandinavia on 26 March 1973, and later in a limited number of other territories, including West Germany, Australia, South Africa and Mexico, through Polar Music. It was a chart-topping album in Belgium, and a big success in the Netherlands, Norway and South Africa.
Ammonia Avenue is the seventh studio album by the British progressive rock band The Alan Parsons Project, released in February 1984 by Arista Records. The Phil Spector-influenced "Don't Answer Me" was the album's lead single, and reached the Top 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts, as well as the fourth position on the Adult Contemporary chart. The single also reached the Top 20 in several countries and represents the last big hit for the Alan Parsons Project. "Prime Time" was a follow-up release that fared well in the Top 40, reaching No. 34. "You Don't Believe" was the first single in November 1983, reaching #54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Since the Last Goodbye" was a minor hit.
Eric Norman Woolfson was a Scottish songwriter, lyricist, vocalist, executive producer, pianist, and co-creator of the band the Alan Parsons Project, who sold over 50 million albums worldwide. Woolfson also pursued a career in musical theatre.
I Robot is the second studio album by British rock band the Alan Parsons Project, released on 8 July 1977 by Arista Records. The album draws conceptually on author Isaac Asimov's science fiction Robot stories, exploring philosophical themes regarding artificial intelligence. It was re-released on vinyl and cassette tape in 1984 and on CD in 2017.
Eye in the Sky is the sixth studio album by British rock band the Alan Parsons Project, released in May 1982 by Arista Records. At the 25th Annual Grammy Awards in 1983, Eye in the Sky was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album. In 2019, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
Pyramid is the third album by progressive rock band The Alan Parsons Project, released in May 1978. It is a concept album centred on the pyramids of Giza. At the time the album was conceived, interest in pyramid power and Tutankhamun was widespread in the US and the UK. Pyramid was nominated for the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
Eve is the fourth studio album by British rock band the Alan Parsons Project, released in September 1979 by Arista Records. The album's focus is on the strength and characteristics of women, and the problems they face in the world of men. It had originally been intended to focus on "great women in history", but evolved into a wider concept. The album name was the same as Eric Woolfson's mother-in-law.
Stereotomy is the ninth studio album by the Alan Parsons Project, released in 1985.
Vulture Culture is the eighth studio album by the Alan Parsons Project, released in December 1984 via the Arista label.
Gaudi is the tenth album by The Alan Parsons Project, released in 1987. Gaudi refers to Antoni Gaudí, the Catalan Spanish architect, and the opening track references what is probably Gaudí's best known building, the Sagrada Família.
Freudiana is a rock opera by Eric Woolfson. It was to be the 11th album by the Alan Parsons Project, but during its development, Woolfson had creative differences with Alan Parsons. The production, released in 1990, utilizes the Project's personnel as well as many guest vocalists. Alan Parsons later began his career as a solo artist with his 1993 album Try Anything Once, which was musically in a direction more or less continued from that of the Project's 1987's Gaudi.
"(The System of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether" is a 1976 single by The Alan Parsons Project which first appeared on their album Tales of Mystery and Imagination: Edgar Allan Poe. The single reached number 37 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 62 in Canada. Like the other songs on the album, it is based on a story by American author Edgar Allan Poe, in this case "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" (1845); the song was written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, and was originally recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London in September 1975. The 1987 reissue featured a "cathedral organ".
"The Raven" is the first song by the Alan Parsons Project, recorded in April 1976 at Mama Jo's Studio, North Hollywood, Los Angeles. It is the second track on their debut album, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, which is a tribute to author and poet Edgar Allan Poe. Though the song is based on Poe's poem of the same name, and is almost a verbatim recital of the lyrics of the poem, Poe is not given song writing credit. It is credited to Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson.
The Essential Alan Parsons Project is a compilation album released by English progressive rock musician Alan Parsons and The Alan Parsons Project on 6 February 2007. It was released through Sony BMG as part of The Essential album series. The album featured some of the band's best known songs as well as some rare tracks.
Eric Woolfson sings The Alan Parsons Project That Never Was is an album by the progressive rock musician Eric Woolfson, co-creator with Alan Parsons of The Alan Parsons Project, as well as main songwriter and manager of the band. Released in 2009, this was Woolfson's final album before he died of cancer in December of that year. The album includes songs that remained unreleased since the Project time for various reasons; however, as Woolfson himself remarks in the booklet, Parsons' dislike for some of Woolfson's compositions would have often caused them to be excluded from a Project album in its very early stages - such as, for example, "Steal Your Heart Away", an "unashamedly commercial" song with a conventionally sentimental lyric, which Parsons, in Woolfson's words, would have absolutely detested. "Somewhere in the Audience" and "Immortal" are slightly re-arranged and re-recorded versions of two of Woolfson's demos for his 2003 musical about Edgar Allan Poe; the final versions of these songs, sung by the musical's protagonist Steve Balsamo, are featured on the album Poe: More Tales of Mystery and Imagination. "Train to Wuxi" was the original version of "Train to Freedom", which is also included in the Poe musical and features Woolfson's one and only guitar solo.
Poe: More Tales of Mystery and Imagination is an album by Eric Woolfson. It contains some, but not all, of the songs from his musical Edgar Allan Poe.
Gambler is a musical written by Eric Woolfson. It features several of his most popular songs from his earlier writing with The Alan Parsons Project. It is loosely based on the Project album The Turn of a Friendly Card, although it also contains several newly written songs as well as two songs from later albums, and doesn't include all songs from the 1980 album. The song "The Turn of a Friendly Card" is interpolated in "Green Light Means Danger" as well as "When The World Was Young". "Snake Eyes" is one of several songs that were part of the musical production, but left off the original cast album. "Golden Key" would later appear on The Alan Parsons Project That Never Was in a version sung by Woolfson.
The Sicilian Defence is the twelfth and final studio album by The Alan Parsons Project, released in 2014. It was named after the Sicilian Defence, a famous chess opening. Having been released 24 years after the split of the band, it has so far only been available as part of the eleven-CD box set The Complete Albums Collection. In December 2023, it was made available for download purchase and on streaming sites.
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