THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT

The Turn Of A Friendly Card ESOTERIC

Deluxe edition that relays the full story of the album’s conception.

To listen once again to The Turn Of A Friendly Card – the fifth album from the studio-based outfit that was The Alan Parsons Project – is to be reminded of the days when big album releases were served by primetime television adverts when only three channels existed. Slowly but surely, that motif from the title track, alongside the album cover image of the King of Diamonds framed within a stained glass window, would weave its way out of the nation’s primitive televisions and ultimately onto the hi-fi systems that were clearly targeted by erstwhile Beatles and Pink

Floyd engineer Alan Parsons and musical partner/manager Eric Woolfson.

All of which is pretty apt. Unlike so many concept albums which are glued by the flimsiest of conceits, The Turn Of A Friendly Card is held together thanks to a narrative partly based on the theme of gambling as metaphor for the whys and wherefores of everyday life – see the US hit single

Games People Play – that could easily have soundtracked any of the high-end TV shows of the time. Indeed, album opener

May Be A Price To Pay has the feel of a theme song, while its instrumental break at its midpoint elicits thoughts of overhead panning shots. Likewise the instrumental The

Gold Bug and The Ace Of Swords from the The Turn Of The Friendly Card suite that made up what used to be the second side of the album.

But there’s also the literal aspect of the album’s themes. Composed in the sun-kissed and opulent environs of

Monte Carlo, it would have been impossible for Parsons and Woolfson not to have been affected by the high-stakes casinos that were regularly frequented by the latter, who turned his passion for gambling into the basis of this album. Aided and abetted by a crack squad of musicians including bassist David Paton and guitarist Ian Bairnson from Magic hitmakers Pilot, as well as an array of singers such as Elmer Gantry, Lenny Zakatek and Chris Rainbow who helmed the suite, the opulence of Woolfson and Parson’s surroundings are translated into a smoothly rich sound which here is given 5.1 surround sound mix.

This new reissue also tells the story of the album’s creation in full. The second disc brings together Eric Woolfson’s demos that find the songs at their most embryonic, while the third disc is culled from the album’s recording session to bridge the gap between inception and completion. Finally, a sumptuously illustrated book written by Prog’s editor Jerry Ewing brings up the rear. All in all, that’s got to be worth a flutter.

THE OPULENCE OF MONTE CARLO IS TRANSLATED INTO A SMOOTHLY RICH SOUND.