Alan Parsons Project released The Turn of a Friendly Card

Turn of a Friendly Card Alan Parsons Project

Released: November 1, 1980 Peak: 13 US, 38 UK, 16 CN, 24 AU, 14 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 2.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: progressive rock

Tracks: Click on a song title for more details. May Be a Price to Pay [4:52] Games People Play [4:17] Time [5:05] I Don’t Wanna Go Home [4:54] The Gold Bug [4:28] The Turn of a Friendly Card (Part One) [2:39] Snake Eyes [3:17] The Ace of Swords [2:58] Nothing Left to Lose [4:03] The Turn of a Friendly Card (Part Two) [3:12] Total Running Time: 40:25 The Players: Alan Parsons (production, engineering, assorted instruments) Eric Woolfson (vocals, keyboards, piano) Chris Rainbow, Elmer Gantry, Lenny Zakatek (vocals, backing vocals) Ian Bairson (guitar) David Paton (bass) Stuart Elliott (drums, percussion) The Philharmonia Orchestra, arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Rating: 4.098 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Their Commercial Peak? The Turn of a Friendly Card came at roughly the mid-point of the Alan Parsons Project’s career. It was their fifth of ten albums released between 1976 and 1987. An argument could be made that it was also their peak. They did have a couple of other albums which were bigger chart successes; 1977’s I, Robot and 1982’s Eye in the Sky hit the top 10 while Card peaked at #13, but all three achieved platinum status. However, the real kicker was that Card was the only album of the Project’s career to produce two top-20 hits. In fact, the only other album to generate even two top-40 hits was 1984’s Vulture Culture. The only bigger singles for the Project were 1984’s “Don’t Answer Me” (#15) and “Eye in the Sky” (#3). The Concept “By then well-known for their concept albums, in 1980 the Project turned its sights” JW to “the age-old temptation of gambling and its stranglehold on the human psyche.” MD “It was a reasonably original theme for a concept album, having rarely been addressed by anyone with more intellectual wattage than Kenny Rogers (insert cutting remark here)” JW “The actual theme is well above the notion of gambling. Instead, it appears to be how we look at life, especially the hand we've been dealt and what chances lie ahead of us if we're willing to take some risks.” CT Execution “The Turn of a Friendly Card is to the point and doesn’t let down when it comes to carrying out its idea.” MD It “is a strong piece of work that hangs together well and still entertains through repeated listens.” JW “The Turn of a Friendly Card remains one of this group’s most enjoyable albums.” MD “Parsons and lyricist/occasional lead vocalist Eric Woolfson co-composed the album with imagination and flair.” JW “What sets this album apart and makes it remarkably listenable…is the strength of the arrangements by keyboardist/co-composer/producer Parsons.” JW Reissue In 2015, a deluxe anniversary edition added a second disc with songwriting demos from Eric Woolfson, additional early versions of the songs, and single edits of “Games People Play,” “The Turn of a Friendly Card,” and “Snake Eyes.” The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

May Be a Price to Pay Alan Parsons Project

Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Elmer Gantry Released: The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980) Peak: 9 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.71 streaming About the Song: “Elmer Gantry's soaring vocals” JW kick things off on “the spacious, driving, synth-and-drums thumper May Be a Price to Pay.” JW

Games People Play Alan Parsons Project

Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson (see lyrics here) Vocals: Lenny Zakatek Released: single (US, November 1980), The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980) B-Side: “The Ace of Swords” Peak: 16 BB, 18 CB, 18 GR, 13 HR, 12 RR, 8 CL, 9 CN, 95 AU, 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 5.30 video, 42.69 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: On “Games People Play,” the lead single from The Turn of a Friendly Card, “our hero makes the conscious decision to walk away from the life he's been leading to try and find something different.” CT The song arguably does a better job of conveying its album’s theme than any other Project song. Each of the group’s ten albums was wrapped around a concept, but the message wasn’t always clear. However, the themes behind Card about gambling and playing with others’ emotions were readily apparent on “Games.” Parsons explained that they were living in Monte Carlo at the time and that “it’s very linked to the content of the album…which was all about gambling, gamblers, the problems of gamblers, and games people play.” SF This was the Project’s fourth top-40 hit and a song which has become a staple on album-rock radio. It is what Songfacts.com calls “one of the most high-tempo, rock-style songs that this progressive group recorded.” SF “There is a dynamism to the very progressive way Parsons mixes strings with exotic synth tones and…acoustic drums that creates one terrific pop hook after another.” JW This “is a great example of the AP approach at this stage of his career in that it has a basic pop structure, but features unusual shifts in tone and tempo, an ambient middle section, great use of orchestral elements and a generous guitar solo – all decidedly progressive touches.” JW The song features Lenny Zakatek on vocals. He also stepped up to the mike on two of the band’s previous top-40 hits – 1977’s “I Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You” and 1979’s “Damned if I Do.” He “sounds compelling and focused, giving the song a seriousness that aids in realization of the album's concept.” MD

Time Alan Parsons Project

Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Eric Woolfson Released: single (4/18/1981), The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980) B-Side: “The Gold Bug” Peak: 15 BB, 14 CB, 10 GR, 13 HR, 7 RR, 10 AC, 20 CL, 30 CN, 3 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 6.50 video, 34.15 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “Time” features Eric Woolfson on lead vocals for the first time. WK This ballad “immediately tugs on the heart strings and stays with you for a long time.” CT Woolfson’s “vocals are pitch-perfect,” JW “floating along amongst sighing strings and synthesizer washes and layered background vocals.” JW He “carries this luxurious-sounding ode to life's passing to a place above and beyond any of this band's other slower material.” MD It “may…be the best on the entire album” JW and “one of the Alan Parsons Project's best numbers.” CT

I Don’t Wanna Go Home Alan Parsons Project

Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Lenny Zakatek Released: The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980) Peak: 19 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.33 streaming About the Song: “No sooner has our hero left his old life behind when the voice of reason kicks in on I Don't Wanna Go Home,” CT voiced, by the way, by the “gritty ‘tattered and torn’ despair” JW of Lenny Zakatek. “This also could be the voice of doubt -- you take your pick: ‘You can't win you damn fool / You drank all the wine from the cup / And your painted lady's gone now / And you're way back on the downside, Lookin' up.’ As our hero realizes his plight, he decides not to return to his past - possibly because he can't face ridicule on his return.” CT

The Gold Bug Alan Parsons Project

Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: NA (instrumental) Released: single (EU, November 1980), B-side of “Time” (4/18/1981), The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 6.24 streaming About the Song: The album features a pair of instrumentals. First up is “an interesting number aptly titled ‘The Gold Bug.’ Like most of the band's instrumentals, its flow and rhythm simulate the overall tempo and concept of the album, acting as a welcome interlude.” MD The song references the Edgar Allan Poe short story of the same name WK and includes a whistling part from Parsons where he imitates the spaghetti western film themes of Ennio Morricone. WK The saxophone was originally credited to Mel Collins, but in the remastered edition is noted as “a session player in Paris whose name escapes us.” WK

The Turn of a Friendly Card (Part One/Part Two) Alan Parsons Project

Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Chris Rainbow Released: single (UK, October 1980), The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980) Peak: 44 CL, 90 AU, 2 DF (Part Two) Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2.10 video, 24.35 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: The second half of the album is comprised of a five-part suite bookended by parts one and two of “The Turn of a Friendly Card.” The suite highlights “the breakdown of human willpower and our greedy tendencies.” MD It “is the only part of the album that squarely addresses gambling.” JW Part two wraps up the album. This song rightly showed up on the Project’s second anthology, released in 1988, but was never a hit, despite nicely showcasing the album’s concept and still standing firmly on its own. This could well be the Project’s best forgotten song.

Snake Eyes Alan Parsons Project

Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Chris Rainbow Released: single (September 1981), The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980) First Charted: 3/21/1981 Peak: 67 BB, 83 HR, 47 AR, 25 CL, 13 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.26 streaming About the Song: On “The Turn of a Friendly Card (Part One),” “our hero continues to press his luck, if only to return to what he used to be on Snake Eyes.” CT “Sung by Chris Rainbow, [this] is the most compelling of the five pieces [of the Turn of a Friendly Card suite on side two of the album], and ties together the whole of the recording.” MD

The Ace of Swords Alan Parsons Project

Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: NA (instrumental) Released: B-side of “Games People Play” (November 1980), The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.51 streaming About the Song: “The Ace of Swords” “features expert incorporation of the orchestra into a largely futuristic, synthesizer-driven cut. The APP core of Ian Bairnson (guitars), David Paton (bass), Stuart Elliott (drums) and Andrew Powell (orchestral arrangements), along with Parsons and Woolfson on keys, is at the height of its powers here.” JW

Nothing Left to Lose Alan Parsons Project

Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Eric Woolfson Released: The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980) Peak: 8 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 5.82 streaming About the Song: Although our protaganist “thinks luck is about to come his way, he eventually hits rock bottom with a deafening thud... which leads us to Nothing Left to Lose. On this number, the realization finally comes to him, and he is left with a clean slate to start his life again: "You read the book you turn the page / You change your life in a thousand ways / The dawn of reason lights in your eyes / With the key you realise / To the kingdom of the wise.’” CT

Resources/References: MD Mike DeGagne, AllMusic.com SF Songfacts page for “Games People Play” CT Christopher Thelen, DailyVault.com JW Jason Warburg, DailyVault.com WK Wikipedia WK Wikipedia page for “Games People Play” Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/24/2008; last updated 9/24/2025.