The Alan Parsons Project - Turn of a Friendly Card
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Music CD Cover
Artist: The Alan Parsons ProjectEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2009-01-27
Music Label: Arista
Soundtracks:
- May Be a Price To Pay
- Games People Play
- Time
- I Don't Wanna Go Home
- The Gold Bug [Instrumental]
- The Turn of a Friendly Card (Part One)
- Snake Eyes
- The Ace of Swords
- Nothing Left To Lose
- The Turn of a Friendly Card (Part Two) [*][Version]
- May Be a Price To Pay (Intro-Demo) [*][Demo Version][Version]
- Nothing Left To Lose (Basic Backing Track) [*][Version]
- Nothing Left To Lose (Chris Rainbow Overdub Vocal Compilation) [*][Vers
- Nothing Left To Lose (Early Studio Version With Eric's Guide Vocal) [*]
- Time (Early Studio Attempt) [*][Version]
- Games People Play (Rough Mix) [*][Version]
- The Gold Bug (Demo) [*][Version]
Free Music Notes for Turn of a Friendly Card
Free Music Review: Eric Woolfson's Treatise on the Human Tragedy of Gambling Addiction
Hit: 5 Stars
If much of Peter Gabriel's lasting artistic legacy will be the principled stands he has taken for the cause of human rights, then a similar legacy should linger long after Eric Woolfson for his insights into the human tragedies of gambling addiction. While many superficial songs have been written on the subject, The Turn of a Friendly Card explores the excitement and disappointment, the folly and the wisdom that can sometimes come when there is Nothing Left To Lose. That song, in particular, embodies an uplifting melody around starkly somber lyrics that together create a sense of quiet resignation, a singularly unique emotion not heard in many songs. But as deeply as this concept album delves into these themes of mental addiction and the power of choice versus the unconscious, Woolfson delves even deeper in his musical GAMBLER where additionally the primal male fantasies of heroism are turned against the hero. This album benefits from not only the stellar production and engineering of Alan Parsons, but also from two of the finest instrumentals Parsons has ever composed: The Gold Bug and The Ace Of Swords.
If asked just what was The Alan Parsons Project, the simple answer would be a couple of musical geniuses who had the good sense to surround themselves with a bunch of other musical geniuses. Even a casual interest in the liner notes will reveal the unique talents of Andrew Powell who was solely responsible for all of the Project's orchestral arrangements. But far less obvious would be the tremendous contributions that guitarist Ian Bairnson made throughout the life of the Project in terms of arrangement and, all too often, extremely complicated key changes. On I Don't Wanna Go Home in particular, Bairnson places a single sheet of paper between the strings and the pickup of his guitar in order to achieve an almost unheard organic quality to his playing. Even Chris Rainbow deserves much more praise for his "rainbow effect" vocal harmonies laden throughout The Project catalog and showcased on the bonus material Nothing Left To Lose (Chris Rainbow Overdub Vocal Compilation).
(Please be aware that there are three distinct versions of this album before making your purchase. There is the recent SONY/BMG remaster that I personally recommend as it sounds the best to my ear, the inferior compact disc that ARISTA released in the mid-1980s, and the HDAD released by CLASSIC RECORDS. Normally, CLASSIC RECORDS releases superior products, but I would only recommend the HDAD to those whose chief concern is dynamic range as this particular rendering has an enormous amount of tape hiss. For the money, you simply cannot beat the sound quality of the SONY's direct stream digital remaster!)
While I have heard some refer to The Alan Parsons Project as a poor man's Pink Floyd, I contend strongly that The Turn of a Friendly Card stands toe to toe with the best efforts Pink Floyd ever put forth. The range of styles, tempos, and moods are as diverse as those on The Floyd's most successful album Dark Side of the Moon, but that should come as no surprise considering Parsons' substantial involvement in recording and engineering that masterpiece. While this album's influence may not go as deep and wide as Dark Side despite the success of the singles Time and Games People Play, it certainly should given the relevance of the subject matter in modern societies where gambling is more widely sanctioned than ever.
Turn of a Friendly Card Poster
The fifth release in 1979 from Alan Parsons Project after the string of successful releases including I Robot, Pyramid and Eve. Transferred for the first time from the original flat analog masters supplied by Mr. Parsons who both produced and engineered this sensational title. The improvements in terms of low level detail and clarity were dramatic enough to persuade us to reissue this title on LP as well as on DVD audio. All previous editions of this title on all formats have been transferred from production masters - we are a generation earlier here with the tape Alan mixed to 26 years ago. The songs include: Games People Play, Time, Nothing Left to Lose and the title track among others.Classic Rock Music CDs
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