The 1987 remaster even features narration from cinematic icon Orson Welles, who was firmly in the "I'll do pretty much anything for a paycheck" phase of his career.You can really hear that diversity of artistic sensibilities in the tracks themselves. It's really a mid-'70s progressive rock super-group lineup.
In addition to core Project members Parsons and Eric Woolfson, Tales features contributions from composer Andrew Powell, guitarist Ian Bairnson, singer/actor Leonard Whiting (of 1968's Romeo & Juliet fame), vocalists Arthur Brown, John Miles, Jack Harris and Terry Sylvester and the full rosters of both Ambrosia and Pilot. The musical approach in Tales is as diverse as Poe's stories themselves, reflected in the staggeringly long list of artists who contributed to the album. Tales of Mystery and Imagination is a musical adaptation of some of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous poems and stories, with tracks like "The Raven," "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado." Those bona fides alone justify a deeper dive into the Alan Parsons Project library, and there's no better starting point than the group's 1976 debut, Tales of Mystery and Imagination.īinge It! Band of Brothers Remains a Compelling WWII StoryMost APP works are framed as concept albums built around a clear, unifying theme, whether it's gambling and addiction in 1980's The Turn of a Friendly Card or the way 1987's Gaudi acts as a sort of musical biography of the famous Catalan Spanish architect. Not to mention that Parsons himself, before forming a band of his own, was an engineer who worked on three of the greatest rock albums of all time - The Beatles' Abbey Road and Let it Be and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Their instrumental "Sirius" is a mainstay at NBA games, and you've doubtless encountered pop-friendly tunes like "Eye in the Sky" or "Don't Answer Me" playing on a supermarket loudspeaker. The Alan Parsons Project is one of those perennial bands we've all heard even if we don't realize it.