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The Turn of a Friendly Card is the fifth studio album by the British progressive rock band The Alan Parsons Project, released in 1980 by Arista Records.
The title piece, which appears on side 2 of the LP, is a 16-minute suite broken up into five tracks. The Turn of a Friendly Card spawned the hits "Games People Play" and "Time", the latter of which was Eric Woolfson's first lead vocal appearance.
With two of the Alan Parsons Project's best songs, the lovely ballad "Time" and the wavy-sounding "Games People Play," The Turn of a Friendly Card remains one of this group's most enjoyable albums.
Parsons' idea, the subject of the album's six tracks, centers around the age-old temptation of gambling and its stranglehold on the human psyche. On "Games People Play," vocalist Lenny Zakatek sounds compelling and focused, giving the song a seriousness that aids in realization of the album's concept. With "Time," it is Eric Woolfson who carries this luxurious-sounding ode to life's passing to a place above and beyond any of this band's other slower material.
The breakdown of human willpower and our greedy tendencies are highlighted in the last track, entitled "The Turn of a Friendly Card," which is broken into five separate parts.
"Snake Eyes," sung by Chris Rainbow, is the most compelling of the five pieces, and ties together the whole of the recording.
As in every Parsons album, an instrumental is included, in this case an interesting number aptly titled "The Gold Bug." Like most of the band's instrumentals, its flow and rhythm simulate the overall tempo and concept of the album, acting as a welcome interlude.
Although short, The Turn of a Friendly Card is to the point and doesn't let down when it comes to carrying out its idea.
As with the band's previous albums, The Turn of a Friendly Card is a concept album with its theme focused on the gambling industry and the fate of gamblers, with more than one reference to Las Vegas (e.g. "there's a sign in the desert that lies to west" from the title piece).
Musically it's a more melodic and accessible album than its predecessors.
The album was recorded in a record short time of two weeks in Paris. Usually the Alan Parsons Project would take many months to record an album.
Side A
A1. May Be a Price to Pay (lead vocal Elmer Gantry) (4:58)
A2. Games People Play (lead vocal Lenny Zakatek) (4:22)
A3. Time (lead vocal Eric Woolfson backing vocal Alan Parsons) (5:04)
A4. I Don’t Wanna Go Home (lead vocal Lenny Zakatek) (5:03)
Side B
B1. The Gold Bug (instrumental) (4:34)
B2. The Turn of a Friendly Card (Part One) (lead vocal Chris Rainbow) (2:44)
B3. Snake Eyes (lead vocal Chris Rainbow) (3:14)
B4. The Ace of Swords (instrumental) (2:57)
B5. Nothing Left to Lose (lead vocal Eric Woolfson) (4:07)
B6. The Turn of a Friendly Card (Part Two) (lead vocal Chris Rainbow) (3:22)
Personnel
- Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion
- David Paton – bass guitar
- Ian Bairnson – electric, acoustic and classical guitars; pedal steel guitar on "Time"
- Eric Woolfson – keyboards, piano, harpsichord, lead vocals
- Alan Parsons – Projectron on "Games People Play", whistling and finger snaps on "The Gold Bug", Clavinet on "The Gold Bug" and "The Ace of Swords", harpsichord on "The Ace of Swords", additional vocals on "Time"
- Chris Rainbow – lead and backing vocals
- Elmer Gantry (Dave Terry) – lead vocal
- Lenny Zakatek – lead and backing vocals
- The Philharmonia Orchestra, arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell
Produced and engineered by Alan Parsons
Executive producer: Eric Woolfson
Mastering consultant: Chris Blair
Sleeve concept: Lol Creme and Kevin Godley
- Ted Jensen Original LP UK & US Pressings.
Additional instrumentation
"The Gold Bug", which references the same-titled short story by Edgar Allan Poe, includes a whistling part by Parsons (in the style of Ennio Morricone's early themes for Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Western films, such as A Fistful of Dollars) and wordless vocals by Rainbow, while the main theme is played on an alto saxophone.
The saxophone player, originally credited as Mel Collins, is instead credited on the liner notes for the remastered edition as "A session player in Paris whose name escapes us"; this refers to the fact that the saxophone part is a composite of several separate takes.
Similarly, the accordion part on "Nothing Left to Lose" is credited in the liner notes to "An unidentified Parisian session player".
Notes
Release: 1980
Format: LP, Vinyl
Genre: Progressive Pop
Label: Arista Records
Catalog# 203000
Vinyl: Goed (VG)
Cover: Goed (VG)
Prijs: €10,00
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