REVIEWS:
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(reviewed by Akis Katsman)
HIGH POINTS: Eye In The Sky, Silence And I, Old And Wise, Mammagamma. LOW POINTS: Step By Step.
Eye In The Sky is the sixth album of The Alan Parsons Project, and if I am not wrong, their most successful. A lot of APP fans say it sounds too 'commercial' in comparison with the previous, more 'progressive' albums, but I don't care as the majority of the songs here are well-written and have some great hooks. After a short intrumental synth intro called "Sirius", which became Chicago Bulls' theme on the NBA and is somewhat remniscent of Jean Michel Jarre's synthesizer works, we have the title track, which was a massive hit, deserves to be a classic in its own right. The chorus is catchy as hell, and Eric Woolfson delivers some of his best vocals ever. Other great songs on this album, which rely a lot more on orchestration, are "Silence And I" and the final track, "Old And Wise". The former is the 'epic' piece of the album, very loaded with strings and such. It reminds me a lot of some early King Crimson ballads, "I Talk To The Wind" for example. It has very interesting pseudo-classical instrumental breaks as well. As for "Old And Wise", is a gently beautiful piano-based ballad, with some clever orchestration as well. I like the pseudo-philosophical lyrics of Parsons/Woolfson. Oh and the final saxophone solo must be the best moment of music on the whole album! Brilliant!
Let's go back to side one now. There is also a short, almost song called "Gemini" which is sung by Chris Rainbow. It's like a breather, not unlike, say, "For Absent Friends" by Genesis on their Nursery Cryme LP. It isn't the best thing about the album, but it's short and not at all unpleasant or boring. There is "Children Of The Moon" too, which begins with an 'ominous' rhythm before it becomes another clever pop song, having a cool guitar solo and a 'creepy' vocal part at the end.
As for the second side, except for the already mentioned "Old And Wise", we have the instrumental "Mammagamma", another piece similar to our synth pioneers J.M. Jarre and Vangelis, which is really great. It has a new wave feel to it too. Damn groovy! I think it has been used as the intro music for some tv show, like a lot of the popular catchy synth instrumentals do. "You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned" is a generic, but enjoyable rocker with funny lyrics and "Psychobabble", one of the most 'clever' songs on the whole album, is really cool. Funky bassline. The only bad thing is the way it ends, unexpected but in a bad way. "Step By Step" is surely the least interesting song here, sounding like a bad generic 80's pop song, although I can tolerate it. In conclusion, this is a very good album (in fact, my favourite APP album for the time being) recommended to whoever likes enjoyable pop/rock with orchestral influences, and he doesn't mind if it being 'groundbreaking', 'influential' and all that bullshit. If you think "You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned" or "Step By Step" are filler or so, damn skip them, the rest is much better. The melodies, the hooks and the orchestration are all great and well-worked, so it cannot be a bad album by any means, as some 'music elitists' would say. Too bad the next album, Ammonia Avenue would become fully 'commercial', with minimum diversity and sounds like a Mike And The Mechanics album. But that's another story.
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(reviewed by Akis Katsman)
HIGH POINTS: Ammonia Avenue, Don’t Answer Me. LOW POINTS: Let Me Go Home, One Good Reason.
Ugh… What happened here? While Eye In The Sky pretty much defined the ‘poppier’ and more melodic sound of APP, this album defines their mechanical sound. The annoying ‘disco’ production is back, so here APP sounds like a generic 80’s singles band instead of an art band. The only song that can be considered ‘progressive’ by any means, is the title track. All the other songs are very flat and repetitive and remind me a lot of these awful Starship hits. Any generic eighties band could have recorded songs like “Prime Time”, “Dancing On A Highwire” etc. which, while not plain bad, they’re awfully mediocre and generic. Oh, how many times did I say the word ‘generic’ is this paragraph? This album is exactly that, at least for APP standards, recalling earlier songs like “May Be A Price To Pay” and “Step By Step”, which were the low points of these albums.
Anyways, on to the actual songs now. A lot of fans consider the opening “Prime Time” to be among APP’s best songs, but I couldn’t disagree more. Neither the vocals, nor the instrumentation can raise an eyebrow. Plus, the chorus is just annoying. The instrumental breaks with the electric guitar are not bad, though. Then, “Let Me Go Home” comes, just a dumb rocker set out to 80’s production, very remniscent of “You’re Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned” from the previous album (which wasn’t a very good song either). Sure it’s catchy, but catchiness itself does not make a good song. The next song, “One Good Reason”, is just awful. Not the worst song I’ve ever heard, but sure annoying enough to make me push the ‘next’ button on my cd player. Blah. Then comes “Since The Last Goodbye”, while not a great song, it’s like an oasis among all the drum machines and such, having nice relaxing melodies and good vocals. “Don’t Answer Me” was the hit of this album and it’s great! Yes, I can’t deny it’s generic, but there ARE good generic 80’s songs, right? The melody is just excellent and catchy enough to get stuck in your head all day. This song is also resonant in some way, unlike most of the other songs of this album, which are just flat. The saxophone solo is great too! Definitely one of the best songs on the album. Unfortunately, then we have a couple of unmemorable simple upbeat pop songs, not unlike the first songs of the album. “Dancing On A Highwire”, while having a catchy chorus, it does not much to me. As for “You Don’t Believe”, it has a somewhat ‘scientific’ feel, mainly due to its strange synth arrangement. It has some cool vocal work, but not anything more to make it a song that does stand out.
After that, there is “Pipeline”, the only instrumental on the album. It’s a typical APP instrumental, not unlike “Mammagamma” from Eye In The Sky, and it’s quite nice. It isn’t anything special, for sure, just an enjoyable instrumental with a sax solo to give a more ‘artsy’ feel. Then, it comes the title track, undoubtedly the best song on the album and the only song here that can be compared with other APP epics (“Silence And I” for example). The intro is beautiful and when you hear it, you know something special will follow. The vocals are very beautiful and they give the song a ‘tenderness’. As the song goes, a lot of instruments come and go, from flutes to strings to synth brass to give the song an ‘epic’ feel. The instrumental break has some great dynamics, not unlike those on “Silence And I”. Great work. And finally, we have the climax of the song, which leads to the catharsis. Oh sorry, I’m improvising here.
I think you have realised that this is an album to avoid, unless you are a hardcore APP fan. However, on amazon.com, some people say in their comments that Ammonia Avenue is one of the best APP albums, so maybe I’m an idiot. Different people equal different tastes, so according to that logic, you shouldn’t trust one and only review. But, if you want my personal opinion, I can openly say that this album is one of the most passable albums in the whole APP catalog. Unless you are a disco freak, of course.
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(reviewed by Akis Katsman)
HIGH POINTS: Limelight, In The Real World. LOW POINTS: Urbania.
Stereotomy is one of the latest and more song-oriented APP albums. The style is mainly synth-pop, with “annoying” drum machines and repetitive rhythms as on Ammonia Avenue, but with a darker feel. Horns, guitars and all that crap are not absent too! There are various kinds of songs, from bouncy pop songs to ballads to instrumentals to the ‘epic’ title track, even if they all sound alike. Uplifting pop songs include “Beaujoulais”, an ode to the popular wine which despite its somewhat stupid chorus it’s enjoyable, and “In The Real World” which is a favourite of mine, I dig the electric guitar solo and the lyrics are cool too. As for the slower songs, “Limelight” is probably the best song on the record, even if the 80’s production somewhat ruins it. The melodies are excellent. The vocals are by Gary Brooker and fit the song perfectly, especially in the ending. You’ll find yourself singing the chorus often. “Light Of The World” is another song that can be considered a ‘ballad’ and it’s a good one. It starts very quiet, with an almost new age synth intro and piano until it becomes another synth pop number, carried by the strange voice of Graham Dye. Beautiful.
Now, on to the instrumentals. The first is called “Urbania” and it has a somewhat funky feel, but it’s not better than, say, “Pipeline” from the previous record. I get easily bored by it. There’s also “Where’s The Walrus”, which, although a little overlong, is a lot better. Sure, the rhythm is repetitive, but there’s a lot going to this instrumental, from the guitars to the saxophones to all that crap. It also has a cool ambient part in the middle! A third instrumental is the one-minute “Chinese Whispers” which is almost ambient, with some children’s voices, probably about some pretentious chinese legend or something. I can easily live without it.
There’s also the title track, which is the most ‘epic’ piece here, but it isn’t that great. It’s mainly a bouncy pop song with weird lyrics, but extended. It doesn’t need to be that length, it’s overlong. The melodies are goofy too, although not awful. The last track of the album is a pointless reprise of it, although there is some mean guitar playing going on.Overall, this album, although by no means bad, is not among APP’s best. While it has some decent songs, sitting to the whole album is a chore. Definitely not the best place to start your journey into the APP. However, if you dig APP’s more poppy style, you may like it a lot.
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