THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD

Alan Parsons Project - The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980)

APP is a symphonic crossover group around composer and famous producer Alan parsons. The sound of the group after the third album became very polished and 'professional', and fans of the progressive genre started to dislike their output. In 1980 APP returned to their symphonic roots with 'The Turn of a Friendly Card', which is one of their best albums.

The sound of the band is still very polished and controlled, but the song-writing is very good on this album. The debut and I Robot were both good symphonic albums with some amazing songs, which made them attractive.

May be A Price to Pay is a very serious opener with a nice symphonic intro theme. The song has impact because of it's urgent atmosphere, it get's my attention. Games People Play is based on a sensitizers loop and has some catchy song aspects. Time is a very slow but beautiful ballad. Great production. I Don't Wanna Go Home is another poppy symphonic track.

On side two there are some changes. The Gold Bug is still a recognizable APP instrumental with steady rhythms and lots of melodic parts. The main attraction on this album is however 'The Turn of A Friendly Card'-suite. This epic track about the gamblin' man is one of the most melodic and inventive tracks APP ever played. There are lot's of nice piano-parts, catchy themes, some instrumental parts and a great comeback of the opening theme with an orchestra. The emotional development and the progress in the lyrics make this a very strong track.

Conclusion. A good album, but nothing too special here. The title-track is recommended and I would also like to point at Maybe A Price to Pay as one of APP's better songs. For fans of crossover-prog or easy-listen symphonic rock this might be a very good addition, whilst for others this might be a bit to polished and 'normal'. Three stars.