"Games People Play" is a 1980 song by the Alan Parsons Project. It peaked at No. 16 on March 14, 1981 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as well as No. 18 on Cash Box. It appears on the album The Turn of a Friendly Card and was sung by Lenny Zakatek.
The single version of the song features two edits, one during the instrumental section preceding the guitar solo, and another shortening the guitar solo. It is also sped up slightly. The "single edit" included on the deluxe anniversary edition of The Turn of a Friendly Card from 2015 is edited differently and presented at the original pitch, so it is not the actual single version.
The song is featured in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories as part of its soundtrack in the fictional pop radio station, Flash FM.
"I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" is a song by the British progressive rock band The Alan Parsons Project, featured on their 1977 album I Robot. Written by band leaders Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" was sung by pop singer Lenny Zakatek, who would go on to sing many of the band's songs. In the United States, the song was a moderate success and charted at #36 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 1977, the song was released as the lead single from the group's second album, I Robot. The song was a moderate success, charting at #36 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #22 on the Canadian chart.
In 2013, the song was used in the best-selling video game Grand Theft Auto V in the game's classic rock channel.
In 2017, the song was used in the final scene of episode nine of the Netflix series Mindhunter.
"Don't Answer Me" is a 1984 song by the Alan Parsons Project from the album Ammonia Avenue. It reached number 15 on the Billboard charts in the United States and was the final Billboard Top 20 hit for the group. It also reached number 58 in the United Kingdom, the group's highest chart placing in their native country. The music video was rendered in comic book style, with art and animation by Michael Kaluta.
Instead of the art rock and progressive rock sounds for which Alan Parsons was well-known, Parsons crafted "Don't Answer Me" in the style of Phil Spector and his Wall of Sound technique. Eric Woolfson, the co-writer, handled lead vocals on the single, with Mel Collins providing a saxophone solo with a "soothing yet destitute wail".
The music video was filmed at the Broadcast Arts animation studio, with Kaluta acting as lead designer and animator from a script by D.J. Webster. The video took 23 days to film, using a 40-man animation team, and combined traditional cel animation (in the rendering of the figures), stop-motion animation (for the majority of the movements), and even claymation. The final cost topped $50,000.
The video is presented as a story in the fictional comic book series, The Adventures of Nick and Sugar, set in 1930s Florida. The story starts at the Flamingo Bar, where Sugar is on a date with the thuggish "Muscles" Malone. Sugar was once Nick's girl, and Nick drinks heavily (emptying a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red) as he watches Malone manhandle Sugar. After finishing the bottle, Nick leaves the bar and drives to the Burgers'N'Shakes drive-in, passing a billboard with the Ammonia Avenue album cover displayed. While admitting his heartbreak to Leslie, the carhop, a black sedan carrying Malone and Sugar pulls up next to Nick's convertible. When Sugar resists Malone's demand for a kiss, Malone moves to slap Sugar. An enraged Nick pulls Malone from his car and starts brawling with the much-larger thug. Malone appears to have beaten Nick, but Nick summons one last powerful uppercut and knocks Malone clear off the planet, sending him into the left eye of the Man in the Moon. Nick and Sugar embrace, deeply in love; as they embrace, the view quickly cuts to a still picture drawing of the band featuring Woolfson and Parsons at keyboards, dressed in 1930s cocktail lounge outfits, performing the song. Nick and Sugar drive away together, with Nick pausing to wipe Malone out of the Man in the Moon's eye with his handkerchief.
The video was nominated for Best Experimental Video at the first-ever 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, but lost to Herbie Hancock's "Rockit".
Parsons and his "Alan Parsons Live Project" band perform the song in concert, with live versions released on the albums Alan Parsons Live with Gary Howard and Chris Thompson on vocals, Eye 2 Eye: Live In Madrid, and Alan Parsons Symphonic Project, Live in Colombia, the latter two with Parsons on lead vocals.
The Essential Alan Parsons Project is a compilation album released by English progressive rock musician Alan Parsons and The Alan Parsons Project on 6 February 2007. It was released through Sony BMG as part of The Essential album series.
Track listing (3-disc version)
Disc 1
"The Raven"4:06
"The Tell-Tale Heart"4:39
"The Cask Of Amontillado""4:27
"To One In Paradise"4:38
"I Robot [instrumental] [edit]"5:15
"I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You"3:23
"Some Other Time"4:02
"Don't Let It Show"4:20
"Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)"3:43
"What Goes Up"3:30
"The Eagle Will Rise Again"4:19
"Can't Take It With You"5:06
"In The Lap Of The Gods [instrumental]"5:25
"Shadow Of A Lonely Man"5:34
"Lucifer [instrumental] [edit]"4:18
"Damned If I Do"4:52
"If I Could Change Your Mind"5:50
Disc 2
"Games People Play"4:24
"Time"5:05
"The Gold Bug [instrumental]"4:34
"Turn Of A Friendly Card, Part 1"2:45
"Snake Eyes"3:15
"The Ace Of Swords"2:58
"Nothing Left To Lose"4:06
"Turn Of A Friendly Card, Part 2"3:21
"Sirius [instrumental]"1:54
"Eye In The Sky"4:36
"Silence And I"7:20
"Psychobabble"4:53
"Mammagamma [instrumental]"3:35
"Old And Wise"4:55
"Pipeline [instrumental]"3:58
"Ammonia Avenue"6:32
"No Answers Only Questions [alternate version]"2:10
The Definitive Collection is a 1997 2 CD compilation by The Alan Parsons Project, released through Arista Records. It includes two songs taken from Alan Parsons' first solo album.
Track listing
All tracks written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, except where noted.
Disc 1
"(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" - 4.22
"The Raven" - 4.08
"I Robot" - 6.02
"I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" - 3.23
"Breakdown" - 3.51
"Don't Let it Show" - 4.26
"Voyager" - 2.25
"What Goes Up" - 3.31
"The Eagle Will Rise Again" - 4.21
"Can't Take it With You" - 5.07
"Pyramania" - 2.44
"Damned if I Do" - 4.54
"Lucifer" - 5.03
"If I Could Change Your Mind" - 5.51
"The Turn of a Friendly Card (Part 1)" - 2.43
"Snake Eyes" - 3.18
"Games People Play" - 4.25
"Time" - 5.05
Tracks 1-2 taken from Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976); they were not included on the European release of this album.
Tracks 3-6 taken from I Robot (1977).
Tracks 7-11 taken from Pyramid (1978).
Tracks 12-14 taken from Eve (1979).
Tracks 15-18 taken from The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980).
Disc 2
"Sirius" - 1.57
"Eye in the Sky" - 4.36
"Psychobabble" - 4.51
"Mammagamma" - 3.34
"Old and Wise" - 4.57
"Prime Time" - 5.03
"Don't Answer Me" - 4.13
"You Don't Believe" - 4.26
"Let's Talk About Me" - 4.29
"Days Are Numbers (The Traveller)" - 4.27
"Stereotomy" - 7.03
"In the Real World" - 4.19
"Standing on Higher Ground" - 5.47
"Too Late" - 4.32
"Turn it Up" (Ian Bairnson) - 6.13
"Re-Jigue" (Parsons, Andrew Powell) - 2.31
Tracks 1-5 taken from Eye in the Sky (1982).
Tracks 6-8 taken from Ammonia Avenue (1983).
Tracks 9-10 taken from Vulture Culture (1984).
Tracks 11-12 taken from Stereotomy (1985).
Tracks 13-14 taken from Gaudi (1987).
Tracks 15-16 taken from Alan Parsons' solo album Try Anything Once (1993).
Gaudi is the tenth album by The Alan Parsons Project, released in 1987. Gaudi refers to Antoni Gaudí, the Catalan Spanish architect, and the opening track references what is probably Gaudí's best known building, the Sagrada Família.
The songs Closer to Heaven and Money Talks were used in an episode of the third season of the TV series Miami Vice, with Paseo de Gracia (even though in Catalan – and officially – the exact name is "Passeig de Gràcia") appearing in an episode in the show's fifth season.
A musical by Eric Woolfson with the same name, and based on the songs of this album, was released in 1993 in Germany with the songs sung in English.
In the last change of core Project band members, saxophonist/keyboardist Richard Cottle's brother, Laurie, replaced David Paton on bass after he left to join Elton John's band. The album was recorded at the Grange in Norfolk and Mayfair Studios in London using a pair of Sony 3324 DASH digital tape recorders and mixed to a digital master.
This was the final canonical Alan Parsons Project studio album, as well as vocalist Lenny Zakatek's final contribution to any Parsons album. Although the album The Sicilian Defence was released in 2014, it was originally recorded in 1979 and was never intended to be heard by the public.
During the writing of what would have been the followup, Eric Woolfson turned that album into a rock opera, eventually released as Freudiana in 1990. Alan Parsons continued as a solo artist in 1993 with Try Anything Once, an album which completes the musical evolution that started with this album.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson.
Side One
"La Sagrada Familia" (lead vocal John Miles, backing vocal Eric Woolfson and Chris Rainbow) – 8:46
"Too Late" (lead vocal Lenny Zakatek) – 4:31
"Closer to Heaven" (lead vocal Eric Woolfson) – 5:52
Side Two
"Standing on Higher Ground" (lead vocal Geoff Barradale, backing vocal Chris Rainbow) – 5:03 original CD; 5:48 on 2008 Remaster
"Money Talks" (lead vocal John Miles) – 4:26
"Inside Looking Out" (lead vocal Eric Woolfson) – 6:22
"Paseo de Gracia" (Instrumental) – 3:47
Gaudi was remastered and reissued in 2008 with the following bonus tracks:
"Too Late" (Eric Woolfson rough guide vocal)
"Standing on Higher Ground/Losing Proposition" (vocal experiments)
"Money Talks" (Chris Rainbow/percussion overdubs)
"Money Talks" (rough mix backing track)
"Closer to Heaven" (sax/Chris Rainbow overdub section)
Stereotomy is the ninth studio album by The Alan Parsons Project, released in 1985.
Not as commercially successful as its predecessor Vulture Culture, the album is structured differently from earlier Project albums, containing three lengthy tracks ("Stereotomy" at over seven minutes, "Light of the World" at over six minutes, and the instrumental "Where's the Walrus?" running over seven and a half minutes) and two minute-long songs at the end. It is a full digital production and both the LP and CD releases were encoded using the two-channel Ambisonic UHJ format.
The original vinyl packaging of the album was different from all the reissues: it featured somewhat more elaborate artwork of the paper sleeve supplied with a special color-filter oversleeve. When inserted, the oversleeve filtered some of the colors of the sleeve artwork, allowing four different variations (2 per side) of it. That was supposed to symbolize visual stereotomy. In the reissues, only one variant remained. The artwork was nominated for Best Album Package at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards.
The word "stereotomy" is taken from "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe. It refers to the cutting of existing solid shapes into different forms; it is used as a metaphor for the way that famous people (singers, actors. etc.) are often 'shaped' by the demands of fame.
Stereotomy earned a Grammy nomination in 1987 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance – Orchestra, Group, or Soloist for the track "Where's the Walrus?"
Stereotomy marks the final appearance of David Paton on bass; he went on to join Elton John's touring band, and the first since Tales of Mystery and Imagination not to feature Lenny Zakatek.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson.
Side 1
"Stereotomy" (lead vocal John Miles, backing vocal Eric Woolfson) – 7:18
"Beaujolais" (lead vocal Chris Rainbow) – 4:27
"Urbania" (instrumental) – 4:59
"Limelight" (lead vocal Gary Brooker) – 4:39
Side 2
"In The Real World" (lead vocal John Miles) – 4:20
"Where's The Walrus?" (instrumental) – 7:31
"Light of the World" (lead vocal Graham Dye, backing vocal Steven Dye) – 6:19
"Chinese Whispers" (instrumental) – 1:01
"Stereotomy Two" (lead vocal John Miles) – 1:21
Stereotomy was remastered and reissued in 2008 with the following bonus tracks:
