The Alan Parsons Project: "Ammonia Avenue"

	The Alan Parsons Project
	Ammonia Avenue

This album was originally released by Arista Records in 1984. The title track was inspired in part by a Petro-Chemical plant in Middlesborough, England.

September 22, 2008 saw the release of a remastered version of this album, complete with bonus tracks and improved packaging..

Concept:

AP: "Theoretically it was inspired by Eric's visit to a petro-chemical plant in Middlesborough, after he'd struck up a friendship with the boss of ICI. Eric was just fascinated by this area containing all these hugely pollutive things; everything was pipes, factories and steam. Coincidentally, another very 1984-ish image. Among all the pipes and steam there was this street called Ammonia Avenue. Essentially the album is conceptless I think, though the title song is perhaps an observation on ecology, and how we are poisoning ourselves."

TRACK LIST

Prime Time	vocal: Eric Woolfson	(5:03)
Let Me Go Home	vocal: Lenny Zakatek	(3:20)
One Good Reason	vocal: Eric Woolfson	(3:30)
Since The Last Goodbye	vocal: Chris Rainbow	(4:34)
Don't Answer Me	vocal: Eric Woolfson	(4:11)
Dancing On A Highwire	vocal: Colin Blunstone	(4:22)
You Don't Believe	vocal: Lenny Zakatek	(4:26)
Pipeline	instrumental	(3:56)
Ammonia Avenue	vocal: Eric Woolfson	(6:30)
BONUS TRACKS
Don’t Answer Me (Early Rough Mix)	instrumental	(1:59)
You Don’t Believe (Demo)	instrumental	(2:09)
Since the Last Goodbye (Chris Rainbow Vocal Overdubs)	instrumental	(3:28)
Since the Last Goodbye (Eric Guide Vocal - Rough Mix)	instrumental	(3:40)
You Don’t Believe (Instrumental Tribute to The Shadows)	instrumental	(10:19)
Dancing on a High Wire/ Spotlight (Work In Progress)	instrumental	(10:19)
Ammonia Avenue Part 1 (Eric Demo Vocal - Rough Mix)	instrumental	(10:19)
Ammonia Avenue (Orchestral Overdub)	instrumental	(10:19)

TRACK CREDITS

Prime Time

Vocal Eric Woolfson

Additional Vocals Chris Rainbow

Wurlitzer Piano Eric Woolfson

Electric and Acoustic Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums and Percussion Stuart Elliott

Let Me Go Home

Vocal Lenny Zakatek

Backing Vocals Chris Rainbow

Guitars Ian Bairnson

Piano Eric Woolfson

Fairlight Guitars Alan Parsons

Bass David Paton

Drums Stuart Elliott

One Good Reason

Vocals Eric Woolfson

Additional Vocals Chris Rainbow

Wurlitzer Piano, Synth Eric Woolfson

Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums and Percussion Stuart Elliott

Since The Last Goodbye

Vocals Chris Rainbow

Electric and Acoustic Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums and Percussion Stuart Elliott

Choir arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Don't Answer Me

Vocal Eric Woolfson

Backing Vocals Chris Rainbow, Eric Woolfson

Keyboards Eric Woolfson, Chris Rainbow

Fairlight Alan Parsons

Guitars Ian Bairnson

Acoustic Guitars Ian Bairnson, David Paton

Bass David Paton

Drums and Percussion Stuart Elliott

Sax Solo Mel Collins

Dancing On A Highwire

Vocals Colin Blunstone

Keyboards Eric Woolfson

Electric and Acoustic Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums and Percussion Stuart Elliott

You Don't Believe

Vocal Lenny Zakatek

Fairlight and LinnDrum Alan Parsons

Additional Keyboards Eric Woolfson

Guitars and Guitar Synth Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Additional Drums Stuart Elliott

Pipeline

Synth Alan Parsons

Sax Mel Collins

Acoustic Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums Stuart Elliott

Choir arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Ammonia Avenue

Vocal Eric Woolfson

Piano and Fairlight Eric Woolfson

Backing Vocals Chris Rainbow

Electric, Acoustic and Spanish Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums and Percussion Stuart Elliott

Choir arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

AMMONIA AVENUE

BONUS MATERIAL NOTES

by Eric Woolfson & Alan Parsons, 2008

The recording process contains many magical moments on the creative journey. The process is not unlike throwing a lump of clay on a potter's wheel and then shaping and re-shaping the material an infinite number of times until the potter is satisfied. A casual observer might say "but you had the pot within the first minute, why didn't you just leave it at that." The art of the potter is to know just how far to go. The record producer's skill is to know when that point has been reached as far as the recordings are concerned and the writer has to apply a similar process to his compositions. They say a poem is never finished, it is abandoned. The same could certainly be said of music, lyrics or any creative effort. The great advantage of the recording process is that as one keeps rough mixes as a guide, one can delve into stages before the point of abandonment and revisit some of the magic from earlier attempts or stages.

From our personal point of view, it has been a fascinating experience to re-live these early stages, much of which were kept in archives and tape libraries and which might have well been forgotten with the passage of time but for the initiative of Tim Fraser-Harding at SONY BMG. We are also grateful to Haydn Bendall for his untiring patience and skill in assisting us in our trawl through the archives to complete this material.

Don’t Answer Me (Early Rough Mix) Eric was a big fan of the early Phil Spector sounds and always wanted to make a record that sounded something like his ‘Wall of Sound’. This bonus track is an early mix, which had not yet had the many layers of overdubs piled on top of the basic track. Alan, who had been an assistant engineer when Phil Spector had worked with the Beatles, was not as enthusiastic as Eric was about trying to re-create the Spector sound. However after a lot of pleading on Eric’s part, Alan eventually said ‘I suppose you mean this’ and pushed a few buttons and faders on the desk, immediately swamping the track with the most glorious reverb effect which can be heard on the final mix and contrasts with the much more basic approach on this bonus version. There is an included “false start” completely devoid of overdubs which is even emptier and gives an insight into what instrumentation was laid on the first takes of the song.

You Don’t Believe (Demo) This was a demo played and programmed into a Fairlight sampling and sequencing system – a sophisticated computer-based instrument for its time. Although the guitar is a sampled sound it remained in evidence on the final studio version since it had a character we liked, rather than replacing it with real guitars.

Since the Last Goodbye (Chris Rainbow Vocal Overdubs) This is a piece of Chris Rainbow ‘magic’ which was so well embedded in the final mix that it cannot be heard with the clarity demonstrated here.

Since the Last Goodbye (Eric Guide Vocal - Rough Mix) This track gives a good indication of how a song can evolve lyrically, very often ending up in a more simplified version, as in this case. What at one stage appeared to be an intrinsic part of the song (heard here), was eventually cut out.

You Don’t Believe (Instrumental Tribute to The Shadows) Sometimes a track meant to be an instrumental, turned into a song and sometimes a song turned into an instrumental. Although Alan had intended all along that this would be a track with vocals - under some protest he agreed to make an alternate version with Ian Bairnson’s lead guitar (sounding uncannily like Hank Marvin) inserted over the basic Fairlight track. In the end, Eric agreed to try a vocal version and completed the lyrics, and this instrumental version was excluded – “Thank God” adds Alan!

Dancing on a High Wire/ Spotlight (Work In Progress) As a writer, Eric would often come up with several different elements or ideas, then we would combine them together for a finished song. Basically, we dealt with three sections – a verse, a chorus and a middle or bridge. In this case, we attempted to put the pieces together from two different songs, but as often happened in the studio, as we continued to re-work the musical ideas, this combination was superseded as can be heard in the final mix.

Ammonia Avenue Part 1 (Eric Demo Vocal - Rough Mix) Although this is a demo vocal of a track where Eric also sang the lead on the master, it does contain some differences to the final version. This was a snapshot at a time when he was clearly still working on lyrical ideas so you get a sense of the composer at work!

Ammonia Avenue (Orchestral Overdub) An outstanding example of Andrew Powell’s brilliant orchestral scoring, soloed here, and much as we would hear it in the studio when it was recorded, with the backing track bleeding through headphones worn by the orchestra.

Produced by Alan Parsons

Executive Producer: Eric Woolfson

Engineered by Alan Parsons

Assistant Engineers: Tony Richards

The Philharmonia Orchestra

Leader: Christopher Warren-Green

Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London

Digital Master Recorded on the Sony PCM 1610 system

Very Special Thanls to: John Harvey-Jones

Special Thanks to: Smokey, Hazel, David Rockberger, Don Cohn, Leonard Green, Aron Misan, Chris Bishop, Jane Moss, John Wallace, Eric Prince, Ian Grimble, Peter James, Haydn Bendall, David Cooper, Ken Townsend and all at Abbey Road.

Not forgetting Bob Buziak

Original Sleeve Design: STd

Photography: STd, Fell/Hurworth

REISSUE CREDITS

Compiled for reissue by Eric Woolfson & Haydn Bendall (for Woolfsongs Ltd.), Tim Fraser-Harding & Jeff Magid (for SONY BMG) and Alan Parsons.

Expanded Edition Mastered by Dave Donnelly and Alan Parsons at DNA Mastering, Studio City, California.

Produced for reissue by Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson and Jeff Magid.

Special thanks to Tim Fraser-Harding, Haydn Bendall and Sally Seddon

Reisse design by Mainartery Design

Memorablia - with thanks to Steve Martin, Sally Seddon and Mainartery

All tracks written by Eric Woolfson/Alan Parsons

except "Spotlight" written by Eric Woolfson

Published by Woolfsongs Ltd./Careers Music Inc. (BMI) .

Administered by Universal Music.

Spotlight published by Woolfsongs Ltd. (MCPS)

Official website www.the-alan-parsons-project.com

One of the benefits of the Expanded Edition of the classic APP albums is the improved bookelets and extra artwork. Early in the remastering project Tim Fraser-Harding contacted Steve Martin at The Avenue about artwork and rarities.

Many of the images submitted were used within the booklet, but just like "Spotlight", some things got left on the cutting room floor. In spirit of the Extended Editions, here are three of the images that didn't make the cut.

Left: "Don't Answer Me" 7" Single Sleeve with artwork from the video; Middle: the making of the "Don't Answer Me" video; Right: "Don't Answer Me" 7" Single Sleeve - Japanese release.

Click on any image to enlarge.

Back to The Avenue Home Page

Vocal	Eric Woolfson
Additional Vocals	Chris Rainbow
Wurlitzer Piano	Eric Woolfson
Electric and Acoustic Guitars	Ian Bairnson
Bass	David Paton
Drums and Percussion	Stuart Elliott

Vocal	Lenny Zakatek
Backing Vocals	Chris Rainbow
Guitars	Ian Bairnson
Piano	Eric Woolfson
Fairlight Guitars	Alan Parsons
Bass	David Paton
Drums	Stuart Elliott

Vocals	Eric Woolfson
Additional Vocals	Chris Rainbow
Wurlitzer Piano, Synth	Eric Woolfson
Guitars	Ian Bairnson
Bass	David Paton
Drums and Percussion	Stuart Elliott

Vocals	Colin Blunstone
Keyboards	Eric Woolfson
Electric and Acoustic Guitars	Ian Bairnson
Bass	David Paton
Drums and Percussion	Stuart Elliott

Vocal	Lenny Zakatek
Fairlight and LinnDrum	Alan Parsons
Additional Keyboards	Eric Woolfson
Guitars and Guitar Synth	Ian Bairnson
Bass	David Paton
Additional Drums	Stuart Elliott

Synth	Alan Parsons
Sax	Mel Collins
Acoustic Guitars	Ian Bairnson
Bass	David Paton
Drums	Stuart Elliott
Choir arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Vocal	Eric Woolfson
Piano and Fairlight	Eric Woolfson
Backing Vocals	Chris Rainbow
Electric, Acoustic and Spanish Guitars	Ian Bairnson
Bass	David Paton
Drums and Percussion	Stuart Elliott
Choir arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Don’t Answer Me (Early Rough Mix)	Eric was a big fan of the early Phil Spector sounds and always wanted to make a record that sounded something like his ‘Wall of Sound’. This bonus track is an early mix, which had not yet had the many layers of overdubs piled on top of the basic track. Alan, who had been an assistant engineer when Phil Spector had worked with the Beatles, was not as enthusiastic as Eric was about trying to re-create the Spector sound. However after a lot of pleading on Eric’s part, Alan eventually said ‘I suppose you mean this’ and pushed a few buttons and faders on the desk, immediately swamping the track with the most glorious reverb effect which can be heard on the final mix and contrasts with the much more basic approach on this bonus version. There is an included “false start” completely devoid of overdubs which is even emptier and gives an insight into what instrumentation was laid on the first takes of the song.

You Don’t Believe (Demo)	This was a demo played and programmed into a Fairlight sampling and sequencing system – a sophisticated computer-based instrument for its time. Although the guitar is a sampled sound it remained in evidence on the final studio version since it had a character we liked, rather than replacing it with real guitars.

Since the Last Goodbye (Chris Rainbow Vocal Overdubs)	This is a piece of Chris Rainbow ‘magic’ which was so well embedded in the final mix that it cannot be heard with the clarity demonstrated here.

Since the Last Goodbye (Eric Guide Vocal - Rough Mix)	This track gives a good indication of how a song can evolve lyrically, very often ending up in a more simplified version, as in this case. What at one stage appeared to be an intrinsic part of the song (heard here), was eventually cut out.

You Don’t Believe (Instrumental Tribute to The Shadows)	Sometimes a track meant to be an instrumental, turned into a song and sometimes a song turned into an instrumental. Although Alan had intended all along that this would be a track with vocals - under some protest he agreed to make an alternate version with Ian Bairnson’s lead guitar (sounding uncannily like Hank Marvin) inserted over the basic Fairlight track. In the end, Eric agreed to try a vocal version and completed the lyrics, and this instrumental version was excluded – “Thank God” adds Alan!

Dancing on a High Wire/ Spotlight (Work In Progress)	As a writer, Eric would often come up with several different elements or ideas, then we would combine them together for a finished song. Basically, we dealt with three sections – a verse, a chorus and a middle or bridge. In this case, we attempted to put the pieces together from two different songs, but as often happened in the studio, as we continued to re-work the musical ideas, this combination was superseded as can be heard in the final mix.

Ammonia Avenue Part 1 (Eric Demo Vocal - Rough Mix)	Although this is a demo vocal of a track where Eric also sang the lead on the master, it does contain some differences to the final version. This was a snapshot at a time when he was clearly still working on lyrical ideas so you get a sense of the composer at work!

Ammonia Avenue (Orchestral Overdub)	An outstanding example of Andrew Powell’s brilliant orchestral scoring, soloed here, and much as we would hear it in the studio when it was recorded, with the backing track bleeding through headphones worn by the orchestra.