THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD

The Alan Parsons Project were undeniably a talented bunch, but the fact is that they settled into their formula really rather too comfortably by the time this one came out. The Turn of a Friendly Card is a prog-by-numbers concept album about gambling which includes the predictable epic multi-part track, the predictable gentle ballads and more dynamic, rockier pieces (which never rock particularly hard - very staid and restrained band, the Project) and the usual impeccable production from Parsons himself.

What it comes perilously close to lacking is a soul. Every note, every lyric, every instrument is present and presented the way it is in accordance with the Project's formula, and every song is the way it is because that's the way it is expected to be. If you don't like the Project's highly-polished approach, it will come off as a third-generation photocopy of I Robot or Tales of Mystery and Imagination, thrown together in a formulaic fashion.

For my part, I've warmed to it more recently; those Andrew Powell orchestral arrangements melded with tasteful synthesiser accompaniment are magnificently done, and recent reissues have really helped to showcase what an impeccably produced disc this is. It's still kind of a shame that there's nothing on here with the wild abandon of, say, The Tell-Tale Heart on Tales of Mystery and Imagination - you'd think an album about gambling and hard living could do with that - but what's here is very, very pretty. (Nothing Left To Lose, in particular, comes as close as the Project ever did to sounding like late-1970s Camel.)