Album review: THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT – The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Blu-Ray Edition)

Esoteric Recordings/Cherry Red [Release date; 26.05.23]

The Turn Of A Friendly Card (1980) was Alan Parsons’ fifth long player, and if you will, a concept album.

Parsons and Eric Woolfson, one a producer/songwriter and the other a songwriter/studio engineer, enjoyed a successful music and business career together, forming a partnership in 1974, after meeting at Abbey Road studios.

As the album title suggests, its focus is gambling and its socio economic impact.

It has now been repackaged and reissued by Esoteric Recordings as a CD/DVD Combo (ie music tracks and video tracks on same disc), originally spawning two of the Project’s best selling singles worldwide.

‘Games People Play’ and its fairly obvious double meaning struck a chord, especially in North America. Sung by experienced session vocalist, Lenny Zakatek, it soared into the Billboard Top Twenty in 1981. (Zakatek went to be a hugely successful artist manager, music publisher and record producer in Japan).

The other single, ‘Time’, sung by Woolfson, is a very personal piece. Lyrically ambiguous, musically influenced by The Beatles and Pink Floyd, respectively on whose Let It Be and Dark Side Of The Moon albums he acted as studio engineer. It also broke the Billboard Top Twenty, in the USA and Canada, in 1982.

Other album tracks, like ‘Maybe A Price To Pay’ and ‘Nothing Left To Lose’ and (particularly) ‘I Don’t Wanna Go Home’ need little explanation. Three musically sophisticated soft rock songs, driving the message home. (Parsons and Woolfson believed that one of the purposes of music is to make commentary about our society. They wrote and performed many compelling songs in the process.)

This BluRay edition has been remastered and remixed from the original masters by Parsons, and sounds superb. It also features a “stunning new 5.1 Surround Sound” on the 4 promotional videos made at original time of release.

Not to say an illustrated booklet with a new essay from Parsons.

Cool package. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

Album review (Complete albums collection, 2014)

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