VULTURE CULTURE

The Alan Parsons Project comes back with their 8th album and the only twist that it has on it's predecessors is that the orchestra is missing. No worries as the keys pick up the slack. With each release, the albums move farther from prog and closer to pop/rock. Returning are the beautiful melodies, multiple vocalists, a batch of songs written by Eric Woolfson and an instrumental by Alan Parsons. While all APP albums are concept based, and this one is about the dog eat dog world that we live in, the concept is loose enough so Vulture Culture can be listened to as a collection of singles. While AP's production is always top shelf, this album has a decidedly 80's sound that may not age well with everyone. There are some first rate songs but others, while sounding beautiful, do not stack up to prior glories. I did give this plenty of my time when it was released and while there really is no prog to be found here, I am captivated by the production and the vocals in particular. I can see why some may not like this album as it is not a complex album, but I'm not one of them.

3 just barely rounded to 4 stars for the production.