Fans of the Alan Parsons Project are getting a wealth of solid audiophile-friendly half-speed sounds and a few extra goodies on the 2026 reissues of three of the band’s most popular albums — The Turn Of A Friendly Card (1980), Eye In The Sky (1982) and Ammonia Avenue (1984).
The Turn Of A Friendly Card is a concept album based on themes of gambling and risk. Across the 10 songs of the original release, we get lead vocalists Chris Rainbow, Lenny Zakatek, Elmer Gantry, with session musicians, guitarists Ian Bairnson and David Paton, and drummer Stuart Elliott. Plus, Alan Parson’s project partner, vocalist and keyboardist Eric Woolfson.
After an anthemic keyboard opening, the disco beat of “May Be A Nice Game To Play,” turns the cards here face up to start the proceedings. The unmistakable arpeggiating keys of “Games People Play,” and another solid beat follows for that hit. Then what is my most favorite of all APP songs: the hit ballad “Time,” sung with perfect breathy aplomb by Woolfson. Two parts of the part-part title-track suite provides a nice palette cleaner to the pop and semi-dance attempts.
This expanded, remastered deluxe edition includes four bonus tracks: a rough mix of “Games People Play,” the arpeggiated keys and great opening harmonies present even in this demo, an early studio attempt at “Time,” a single edit version of “Turn Of A Friendly Card” and an early version of the song “Snake Eyes.” The 12-page booklet included here contains lyrics and sleeve notes featuring quotes from Parsons and Woolfson.
The concept behind Eye In The Sky is related to belief systems. This concept surely informs the album’s hit title track, APP’S biggest hit to date, of somebody looking down at us all. The instrumental ‘Sirius,’ following as the second song, became one of the most used sports intro songs in music history. Musicians here familiar APP alums, lead vocalists Chris Rainbow, The Zombies’ Colin Blunstone, Lenny Zakatek, Elmer Gantry and APP partner Eric Wolfson, with APP stalwarts Ian Bairnson and David Paton and again, drummer Stuart Elliott. Songs like “You’re Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned,” a rare full-out rocker from the project and “Psychobabble” surely move along, with the great piano ballad “Old and Wise” ending the ten. As with The Turn Of A Friendly Card, we get four extra tunes here, including a demo version of ‘Sirius,’ plus again, a “Eye In The Sky,” single edit, and again, a 12-page booklet containing lyrics and sleeve notes featuring quotes from Parsons.
Ammonia Avenue focuses on the public misunderstanding of industrial scientific developments. Starting with semi-hit, mid-tempo flumpy mover of “Prime Time” into another unusual rocker for APP “Let Me Go Home,” players and singers again here include vocalists Chris Rainbow, Colin Blunstone, Lenny Zakatek and Eric Woolfson who sings on four of the tracks, including the mega MTV hit, “Don’t Answer Me.” Session musicians include guitarists Ian Bairnson and David Paton and drummer Stuart Elliott with arrangements by Andrew Powell. And a turn by legend Mel Collins playing sax on “Don’t Answer Me.”
“Dancing on a High Wire,” informed by David Paton’s economical perfectly placed electric bass and Colin Blunstone’s vocal, is a highlight. As are the grand strings, what might be some of Ian Bairson’s best acoustic and electric guitar playing (although he kills throughout here), and another wonderful Woolfson vocal ending the album on its brash title track.
The expanded version includes four bonus tracks including an early rough mix of “Don’t Answer Me,” as well as demo vocals mixes of “One Good Reason,” “Prime Time,” and “Since The Last Goodbye,” alongside a 12-page booklet containing lyrics and sleeve notes with quotes Parsons. Hearing these 80s APP records again reminds me of how powerful and pervasive this unit was, when in actuality, this was less a band and surely always a project that never toured but gave us some great songs.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
Purchase
The Turn Of A Friendly Card,
Eye In The Sky &
Ammonia Avenue
