The Alan Parsons Project: "The Turn Of A Friendly Card"

	The Alan Parsons Project
	The Turn Of A Friendly Card

This album was originally released by Arista Records in 1980. In an Arista press kit, Eric described the album as, "a reflection of something that was going on in my subconscious. It's tied up with Monte Carlo, gambling there and taking risks generally."

March 10, 2008 saw the release of a remastered version of this album, complete with bonus tracks and improved packaging.

Concept:

AP: "Gambling and taking risks is the theme. No strange coincidences there, because we were already resident in Monte Carlo at the time, and recording in Paris. I think conceptually that was the most successful. I think just about all the songs related to the theme in some way, with the possible exception of 'Time'. I never really quite worked out what that had to do with gambling."

TRACK LIST

May Be A Price To Pay	vocal: Elmer Gantry	(5:01)
Games People Play	vocal: Lenny Zakatek	(4:24)
Time	vocal: Eric Woolfson	(5:14)
I Don't Wanna Go Home	vocal: Lenny Zakatek	(4:52)
The Gold Bug	instrumental	(4:34)
The Turn Of A Friendly Card Suite:
i The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Part One)	vocal: Chris Rainbow	(2:44)
ii Snake Eyes	vocal: Chris Rainbow	(3:15)
iii The Ace Of Swords	instrumental	(2:57)
iv Nothing Left To Lose	vocal: Eric Woolfson	(4:07)
v The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Part Two)	vocal: Chris Rainbow	(3:32)
BONUS TRACKS
May Be A Price To Pay (Intro/ Demo)	instrumental	(1:32)
Nothing Left To Lose (Basic Backing Track)	instrumental	(4:35)
Nothing Left To Lose (Chris Rainbow Overdub Vocal Compilation)	vocal: Chris Rainbow	(2:02)
Nothing Left To Lose (Early Studio Version with Eric’s Guide Vocal)	vocal: Eric Woolfson	(3:11)
Time (Early studio attempt)	instrumental	(4:42)
Games People Play (Rough Mix)	instrumental	(4:32)
The Gold Bug (Demo)	vocal: Lenny Zakatek	(2:49)

TRACK CREDITS

May Be A Price To Pay

Vocal Elmer Gantry

Piano and Organ Eric Woolfson

Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums and Percussion Stuart Elliott

Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Games People Play

Vocal and Vocal FX Lenny Zakatek

Keyboards Eric Woolfson

Projectron Alan Parsons

Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums Stuart Elliott

Backing Vocals Chris Rainbow

Time

Vocal Eric Woolfson

Additional Vocals Alan Parsons

Piano Eric Woolfson

Pitch Shifted Guitar Ian Bairnson

Acoustic Guitars Ian Bairnson, David Paton

Bass David Paton

Drums and Percussion Stuart Elliott

Backing Vocals Chris Rainbow

Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

I Don't Wanna Go Home

Vocal Lenny Zakatek

Piano Eric Woolfson

Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums Stuart Elliott

Backing Vocals Chris Rainbow

The Gold Bug

Human Whistle, Echoed Clavinet, Autoharp and Finger Clicks Alan Parsons

Tremolando Acoustic Guitars Ian Bairnson, David Paton

Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums and Harmonized Rotating Triangle Stuart Elliott

Sax A session player in Paris whose name escapes us

Vocals Chris Rainbow

The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Part One)

Vocal Chris Rainbow

Piano and Harpsichord Eric Woolfson

Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums and Percussion Stuart Elliott

Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Snake Eyes

Vocal Chris Rainbow

Piano Eric Woolfson

Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums and Percussion Stuart Elliott

Chorus Vocals All band and studio staff

The Ace of Swords

Harpsichord and Clavinet Alan Parsons

Piano Eric Woolfson

Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums and Percussion Stuart Elliott

Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Nothing Left To Lose

Vocal Eric Woolfson

Acoustic Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums Stuart Elliott

'Button' Accordion An unidentified Parisian session player

Backing Vocals Chris Rainbow

The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Part Two)

Vocal Chris Rainbow

Piano and Harpsichord Eric Woolfson

Guitars Ian Bairnson

Bass David Paton

Drums and Percussion Stuart Elliott

Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD

BONUS MATERIAL NOTES

by Eric Woolfson & Alan Parsons

January 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.

Whenever the core musicians compete a basic backing track, there is a sensation of having reached a plateau and although the eventual production may take the recording in a totally different direction, at that moment something rather special has been created which the music buyer is often unaware of.

Amongst this collection of bonus material, there are several examples of the magical early takes and in this re-mastered version of The Turn Of A Friendly Card, for those interested in the process, there is a unique opportunity to glimpse behind the curtain of the recording process. We have also included a track 'No Answers Only Questions' which was left out of the album, together with an early version of it which is differently constructed.

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.

May Be A Price To Pay(Intro/ Demo) It was always intended that this piece would become the opening "fanfare" for the album, but it was later butted up to the main part of May Be A Price To Pay and became a part of that track.

Nothing Left To Lose (Basic Backing Track) We have included three aspects of ‘Nothing Left to Lose’ which in a way is an anatomy of a recording. As with many Project tracks, the original track was built around a keyboard part played by Eric and was then eventually replaced by guitars. Alan felt that if a song was written on the piano and recorded with a piano, it was too restrictive and this bonus material when compared with the final mix, shows the kind of development that happened on most Project recordings.

Nothing Left To Lose ( Chris Rainbow Overdub Vocal Compilation) The section of Chris Rainbow magic, which was often incorporated on Project recordings, can really be heard in all its glory when isolated as we have done here.

Nothing Left To Lose (Early Studio Version with Eric’s Guide Vocal) The marvelous accordion solo which was added later, had its genesis as a basic keyboard sample in this attempt.

Time (Early studio attempt) The recording process for an individual backing track could literally take days and ideas developed as the musicians became more familiar with the material. This is an example of an early take of ‘Time’ which was subsequently developed and refined considerably. Sometimes, you can quickly reach a point of satisfaction with the basic track, but usually in the case of Projects, the process was quite exhaustive and many months were spent in the studio on each album – a luxury which is rarely possible in today’s music business. This album, however, was an exception and was recorded from beginning to end in six weeks in Paris. Despite the time constraints they were under at the time, both Alan and Eric consider ‘The Turn of a Friendly Card’ album to be one of their best recordings, though no doubt if they had had six months available they would have probably used it all!

Games People Play (Rough Mix) Many Project recordings used a loop instead of an electronic click or metronome and ‘Games People Play’ was a good example where the loop which controlled the tempo was incorporated itself in the final mix. To make this loop, Eric recorded a keyboard section to a click and a good section was cut out and edited into the full length. This rough mix is not far away from the final version except that it has "More Cowbell" as Christopher Walken and Will Farrell would have liked on Saturday Night Live!

The Gold Bug (Demo) The main keyboard sound on this demo is an original Hohner Clavinet with damped strings and a repeat echo (not a synth) which was also set up for the final studio version. It was difficult to get it in tune because of the short duration of the notes. ‘The Gold Bug’ was the title of an Edgar Allan Poe short story.

BONUS MATERIAL NOTES

Produced and Engineered by Alan Parsons

Executive Producer - Eric Woolfson

Orchestra Arranged and Conducted by Andrew Powell

Engineered by Alan Parsons

Mastering Consultant Chris Blair

Sleeve Concept Lol Creme & Kevin Godley

Bass: David Paton

Drums and Percussion: Stuart Elliott

Acoustic and Electric guitars: Ian Bairnson

Keyboards: Eric Woolfson

Additional Keyboards: Alan Parsons

The Orchestra of the Munich Chamber Opera Care of Eberhard Schoener

Leader - Sandor Farcas

Orchestra Coordinator Curtis Briggs

Vocals: Elmer Gantry, Lenny Zakatek, Eric Woolfson, Chris Rainbow

Backing vocals: Chris Rainbow, Lenny Zakatek, Alan Parsons

Recorded at Acousti Studio, Paris

Orchestra recorded at Arco Studio Munich

Special thanks to Colin Caldwell, Kika, Elyane, Bob, J.B., Alain, Richard, Michel, Clement, Joseph and of course, Scoubidou, all of Acousti Studios; Dave Siddle, David Rockberger, Leonard Green, Roger Selby, Peter Dean at Publison, Roger Trinder, George Bozier and Bill Timmins, Ken Townsend, Aron Misan, Charles Levison, Bob Buziak, Smokey, Hazel and Kath

Very special thanks to Charles Levison and Bob Buziak

Chris Rainbow and David Paton appear courtesy EMI Records

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.

Reissue design by Mainartery Design, London (www.mainartery.co.uk)

Memorabilia - With thanks to Steve Martin, Sally Seddon and Mainartery

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

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

Administered by Universal Music.

All tracks written by Eric Woolfson and Alan Parsons

All bonus tracks patent 2008, Licensed courtesy of Woolfsongs Ltd.

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 "No Answers Only Questions", 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: "Time" 7" single sleeve; Middle: limited-edition box-set; Right: "Time" 7" single sleeve from Japan.

Click on any image to enlarge.

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Vocal	Elmer Gantry
Piano and Organ	Eric Woolfson
Guitars	Ian Bairnson
Bass	David Paton
Drums and Percussion	Stuart Elliott
Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Vocal and Vocal FX	Lenny Zakatek
Keyboards	Eric Woolfson
Projectron	Alan Parsons
Guitars	Ian Bairnson
Bass	David Paton
Drums	Stuart Elliott
Backing Vocals	Chris Rainbow

Vocal	Eric Woolfson
Additional Vocals	Alan Parsons
Piano	Eric Woolfson
Pitch Shifted Guitar	Ian Bairnson
Acoustic Guitars	Ian Bairnson, David Paton
Bass	David Paton
Drums and Percussion	Stuart Elliott
Backing Vocals	Chris Rainbow
Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Human Whistle, Echoed Clavinet, Autoharp and Finger Clicks	Alan Parsons
Tremolando Acoustic Guitars	Ian Bairnson, David Paton
Guitars	Ian Bairnson
Bass	David Paton
Drums and Harmonized Rotating Triangle	Stuart Elliott
Sax	A session player in Paris whose name escapes us
Vocals	Chris Rainbow

Vocal	Chris Rainbow
Piano and Harpsichord	Eric Woolfson
Guitars	Ian Bairnson
Bass	David Paton
Drums and Percussion	Stuart Elliott
Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Harpsichord and Clavinet	Alan Parsons
Piano	Eric Woolfson
Guitars	Ian Bairnson
Bass	David Paton
Drums and Percussion	Stuart Elliott
Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

May Be A Price To Pay(Intro/ Demo)	It was always intended that this piece would become the opening "fanfare" for the album, but it was later butted up to the main part of May Be A Price To Pay and became a part of that track.
Nothing Left To Lose (Basic Backing Track)	We have included three aspects of ‘Nothing Left to Lose’ which in a way is an anatomy of a recording. As with many Project tracks, the original track was built around a keyboard part played by Eric and was then eventually replaced by guitars. Alan felt that if a song was written on the piano and recorded with a piano, it was too restrictive and this bonus material when compared with the final mix, shows the kind of development that happened on most Project recordings.
Nothing Left To Lose ( Chris Rainbow Overdub Vocal Compilation)	The section of Chris Rainbow magic, which was often incorporated on Project recordings, can really be heard in all its glory when isolated as we have done here.
Nothing Left To Lose (Early Studio Version with Eric’s Guide Vocal)	The marvelous accordion solo which was added later, had its genesis as a basic keyboard sample in this attempt.
Time (Early studio attempt)	The recording process for an individual backing track could literally take days and ideas developed as the musicians became more familiar with the material. This is an example of an early take of ‘Time’ which was subsequently developed and refined considerably. Sometimes, you can quickly reach a point of satisfaction with the basic track, but usually in the case of Projects, the process was quite exhaustive and many months were spent in the studio on each album – a luxury which is rarely possible in today’s music business. This album, however, was an exception and was recorded from beginning to end in six weeks in Paris. Despite the time constraints they were under at the time, both Alan and Eric consider ‘The Turn of a Friendly Card’ album to be one of their best recordings, though no doubt if they had had six months available they would have probably used it all!
Games People Play (Rough Mix)	Many Project recordings used a loop instead of an electronic click or metronome and ‘Games People Play’ was a good example where the loop which controlled the tempo was incorporated itself in the final mix. To make this loop, Eric recorded a keyboard section to a click and a good section was cut out and edited into the full length. This rough mix is not far away from the final version except that it has "More Cowbell" as Christopher Walken and Will Farrell would have liked on Saturday Night Live!
The Gold Bug (Demo)	The main keyboard sound on this demo is an original Hohner Clavinet with damped strings and a repeat echo (not a synth) which was also set up for the final studio version. It was difficult to get it in tune because of the short duration of the notes. ‘The Gold Bug’ was the title of an Edgar Allan Poe short story.