THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD

This album seems excellent to me. Good, catchy and easy-listening songs, with a final long masterpiece. The production is perfect. I'd say that the album itself is perfect and give it five stars. But... I'm writing in progarchives. And I'm afraid that this album is not prog rock. It's too simple to be considered progressive. It is not pop, either. Too complex and ambitious to be pop. Not many pop bands feature 16 minute-lenght songs.

The album moves constantly between rock and sofisticated pop, always maintaining Alan Parsons' characteristic sound. This is: keyboards and guitars that sound similar to that Tales Of Mistery and Imagination or some parts of Dark Side of the Moon. The progressive parts exist, not too obvious, but exist, mainly in instrumental parts of the songs and in the last long song.

So, if you are looking for progressive, complex rock, you won't find it in this album. If you are looking for a good album to enjoy yourself during forty minutes, listening to great compositions and sounds, well-built songs and catchy choruses, without falling in the vulgarity of mainstream pop; don't doubt it: this album is for you.