TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION

Rising from within Abbey Road Studios, The Alan Parsons Project is quite a noteworthy musical act, a collaboration initiated in the second half of the seventies, featuring the talents of Alan Parsons, the engineer of 'Dark Side of the Moon' and Eric Woolfson, a songwriter and musician. The duo released their debut studio album 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination' in June of 1976, an album that has since become of the most recognizable and beloved progressive rock LPs as well as one of the records capturing a moment in time in which the genre was definitely losing steam and facing severe blows in popularity. Now, this album is as one might expect, a very carefully produced and "designed" one - ideally a concept record that aims to re-interpret several tales of Edgar Allan Poe in musical form, drawing inspiration from some of the author's darkest stories. Yet the polished sounds of the album might not necessarily evoke the macabre feeling and ominous atmosphere of Poe's tales, which is an aspect that is well worthy of mention when considering 'Tales' and its respective concept.

Featuring a cast of collaborators alongside the duo of Parsons and Woolfson, The Alan Parsons Project would continue to operate in this manner for future releases as well, even if the duo is responsible for writing the music. The presence of several vocalists is what makes this debut album by the band quite distinguishable from other releases by the Project - on an album that features two inherently different sides of music. Side one is comprised of five great songs, one of which is the instrumental intro track, through which we notice the use of various synths and keyboards, all adding up layers of music. The songs on side one have a stylistic range that can easily be attributed to progressive rock, although one might notice that there is really mellow, occasionally melancholic feel to some of them, while others might be more pertinent to soft rock and even progressive pop. Ideally, the band would develop its musical identity on later albums, but a tendency of writing radio-friendly material is present on here as well. Side two features a 15-minute classical crossover piece with rock instrumentation reinterpreting one of Debussy's signature works and a closing track, and while it might be difficult to say which side of the two caries the album, the record nevertheless remains a fascinating, enjoyable and delightful listen, offering a tasty piece of progressive pop with classical influences, one that is a little rare to find nowadays. And of course, this album features classic tracks like 'The Raven', 'The Tell-Tale Heart' with the vocals of Arthur Brown, and the funky '(The System of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether', essential songs for The Alan Parsons Project.

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