TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION

"Tales of Mystery and Imagination - Edgar Allan Poe" is the debut full-length studio album by UK semi-progressive rock project act Alan Parsons Project. The album was released through 20th Century Fox Records in the US in May 1976 and through Charisma in the UK in June 1976.

Alan Parsons Project has always evolved around the nucleous of songwriter Eric Woolfson and keyboard player Alan Parsons. The latter is known for being engineer on "Abbey Road (1969)" by The Beatles and "Dark Side of the Moon (1973)" by Pink Floyd. While Alan Parsons is the most prolific person in the project Eric Woolfson has an equal part in the project.

The music on the album is progressive rock of the symphonic variation altough for the most part on the light pop side of the genre (hence the semi mention in the beginning of the review). Side 1 are seperate tracks while most of side 2 is an instrumental suite which features orchestration. There are many different guest musicians on the album and I can mention among others Francis Monkman (Curved Air) and Arthur Brown who delivers one of his fierce Tom Jones like vocal performances on the song "The Tell-Tale Heart". The lyrical themes all come from Edgar Allan Poe stories. Influences from such acts as Pink Floyd and The Beatles are audible throughout. For an example take a listen to the closing track on side 2 titled "To One in Paradise" for evidence of those influences. The instrumental suite which takes up most of side 2 titled "The fall of the House of Usher" features some interesting sections but doesn´t really blow me away like I had hoped for. I feel the tracks on Side 1 are generally both stronger and more memorable.

The musicianship is impeccable and the sound production professional and well sounding. Add to that professional songwriting and you have a quality product. Personally I´ve always felt that "Tales of Mystery and Imagination - Edgar Allan Poe" lacks a bit of soul and bite. Maybe a "band" feeling or something like that, but still a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.