EXTENDED VERSIONS

The BMG Extended Versions series is, to be frank, one of the laziest bargain bin runs I've ever seen, effectively mutilating good concerts and in all honesty, shortening them rather than extending them. Perhaps by extended, they mean they have included a total of thirteen additional seconds of applause- I don't really know. I believe this is taken from a 1995 live recording. "Sirius" has always felt like a "concert opener," and it warms up the listener appropriately, and also segues perfectly into one of my favorite Alan Parson Project songs, "Eye in the Sky." "Raven" is another good song, boasting a great guitar solo and a Vocoder. "Time," a song I've always considered both lyrically and musically cliché, has still never failed to delight me in its simple smoothness. "Luciferama" is a rather unexciting electronic piece. "You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned" moves away from the electronic feel, taking on a corny, John Cougar Mellencamp flavor, complete with improvised shouts and shrieking to pump up the crowd. It is followed by the more laid back pop song, "Prime Time." The band takes it down another notch with the easygoing ""Limelight," in which the vocals are a little too whiny. "Don't Answer Me" sounds more like an oldies song, and even starts out as "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes. "Standing on Higher Ground" is an okay, if lackluster conclusion. I picked this up for a few dollars at a pharmacy, and I'm not really disappointed with it, except to say that I wish more material from the earlier years had been included, even if that material were still pop (one of my favorite songs by the Alan Parsons Project is "Day After Day (Show Must Go On)," by the way).