It was the last week of March in 1984 that I became an Alan Parsons Project fan. “Don’t Answer Me” was climbing the charts, eventually becoming a top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. I knew of the Project before that – “Damned if I Do” and “Games People Play” were album rock staples and “Eye in the Sky” had been a huge pop hit (the biggest of the Project’s career) a couple years before. However, I hadn’t plunked down change for an APP album – until that week when I took the leap and grabbed up not just Ammonia Avenue, which featured “Don’t Answer Me,” but also The Best Of collection which had been released just a few months earlier.
A year later I would joyously plump for 1985’s Vulture Culture and a year after that for Stereotomy. As I was prone to do when discovering music in the ‘80s, I started dipping into the back catalog. Beyond the hits, I stumbled across gems like “Old and Wise” and “Turn of a Friendly Card.” Most amusingly though was, in May 1986 when I was anticipating a new album by Styx frontman Dennis DeYoung. I fell in love with this song on the radio that I thought was surely by him. I was wrong – it turned out to be “Breakdown,” from the nearly-decade old APP album I, Robot.
I learned the requisite back story necessary to claim a band as a new favorite. It turns out the Project’s namesake did engineering work on classic albums such as The Beatles’ Abbey Road and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. However, Alan Parsons wasn’t alone in the creation of those prog-lite concept albums forged from 1976 to 1987 that sold over 40 million albums worldwide. The group owed as much to Eric Woolfson – a songwriter, keyboardist, singer, and manager who lent his chops to some of the group’s best-known songs such as the aforementioned “Eye in the Sky” and “Don’t Answer Me.”
Following 1987’s Gaudi, the Project disappeared for three years, returning in 1990 with Freudiana. The thing confusingly was not credited to anyone, suggesting that it was a new group called Freudiana. However, this Eric Woolfson-helmed project was clearly the Project with Parsons producing and credits including longtime APP players Ian Bairnson on guitar, Stuart Elliott on drums, and orchestral arrangements from Andrew Powell. John Miles and Chris Rainbow, who’d warbled on past-Project tunes, also put in appearances.
There was something different, though. Peppered with far more guests and stretched to twice the length of the average APP album, this felt more like a musical cast album. Sure enough, there in the liner notes was the statement that “the first stage production of Freudiana has its world premiere in December 1990 in Vienna.” Hmm. This was definitely a new direction for the band.
It proved to be a new direction, but for Woolfson, not Parsons. While Woolfson was eager to explore musical theater, it was the jumping off point for Parsons. The Project was no more. Woolfson went on to craft the musicals Gaudi (1995), Gambler (1996), and Poe (recorded 2003, premiered 2009). He also wrote the music and lyrics for 2007’s Dancing Shadows, which won for Best Musical at the Korean Tony Awards.
This year, I was overjoyed to stumble across The Alan Parsons Project That Never Was, an album from Woolfson that combined some unreleased material from the Project days alongside songs crafted for his musicals. Sadly, it would be Woolfson’s finale. As I scanned the various comments on Facebook this morning about who was headed off to work and who needed coffee and who wasn’t enjoying the weather, I stopped sharply upon a fan notice: Eric Woolfson had died of cancer at the age of 64 on December 2, 2009 – a date that will now, sadly, overshadow that wonderful week in March 1984 when I became a fan. Farewell, Eric. You will be missed.
“Somewhere in the midst of time/ When they ask you if you knew me
Remember that you were a friend of mine
As the final curtain lifts before my eyes/ When I’m old and wise.”
- “Old and Wise” – Alan Parsons Project
Click here to hear an early version of the song that featured Eric Woolfson’s guide vocal.
Also check out my page on the detailed history of the Alan Parsons Project as well as the solo work of Parsons and Woolfson at DavesMusicDatabase.com.
DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up album and song reviews, best-of lists, music history snapshots, and music-related essays.
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Showing posts with label Ammonia Avenue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ammonia Avenue. Show all posts
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Saturday, March 3, 1984
Alan Parsons Project “Don’t Answer Me” charted
 | Don’t Answer MeThe Alan Parsons Project |
This post has been moved here. |
Tuesday, February 7, 1984
Alan Parsons Project Ammonia Avenue released
Ammonia Avenue |
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Released: February 7, 1984 Peak: 15 US, 24 UK, 29 CN, 16 AU, 13 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, -- UK, 1.35 world (includes US and UK) Genre: progressive rock lite |
Tracks:Click on a song title for more details.
Total Running Time: 40:22 The Players:
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Rating: 3.613 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings)
Quotable:”The sum of the parts is greater than the whole product, which can’t be said for all of the Alan Parsons Project’s albums” – Mike DeGagne, AllMusic.com >Awards:(Click on award to learn more).
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Following Up Eye in the Sky“Conventional wisdom suggests that middle-of-the-road soft rock and highbrow intellectual conceits shouldn’t make for happy bedfellows.” UCR However, the Alan Parsons Project “built a remarkably successful career by applying pop music of many stipes to Steely Dan’s studio-bound perfectionism and Pink Floyd’s dreamy progressive rock signature.” UCRAfter the top-ten, platinum success of 1982’s Eye in the Sky and the dissolution of Pink Floyd following 1983’s The Final Cut, “all conceivable commercial lanes seemed cleared for the Alan Parsons Project to find even greater success with their seventh studio effort, Ammonia Avenue.” UCR Ammonia Avenue did generate two top-40 hits and reached the top 20 on the album chart, but it failed to match the platinum success of its predecessor, settling for gold status instead. “One can’t help but wonder whether the Alan Parsons Project’s sudden incompatibility with the new, image-conscious marketplace dominated by MTV – clearly no fit place for balding old men sporting studio tans – wasn’t partly to blame for this shortfall.” UCR “The Project would never do so well on the charts again.” DV The Theme“One of the most interesting aspects about the Alan Parsons Project is the band’s ability to forge a main theme with each of its songs, while at the same time sounding extremely sharp and polished. Much of this formula is used in Ammonia Avenue, only this time the songs rise above Parsons’ overall message due to the sheer beauty of the lyrics partnered with the luster of the instruments. The album touches upon how the lines of communication between people are diminishing, and how we as a society grow more spiritually isolated and antisocial. But aside from the philosophical concepts prevalent in the lyrics, it is the music on this album that comes to the forefront.” AMIn the end, ”the sum of the parts is greater than the whole product, which can’t be said for all of the Alan Parsons Project’s albums.” AM The Production and Engineering”As one can expect from Parsons’ work, the production and engineering is flawless; so flawless, in fact, that this is one of the few Project CDs where the sound is – perhaps purposefully – just one step short of sterile. Musicianship is brilliant, with the severely underrated Ian Bairnson turning in several very tasty bits on guitar. This leaves the songs and the arrangements, traditionally the areas where Parsons and his band of studio musicians either rose or fell. In this case, it’s both.” DV “Parsons and…Eric Woolfson have crafted a set of songs, in their overseer role, that are texturally attractive and sonically impeccable…but it's merely a sonic soufflé, empty calories puffed full of hot air.” RS “What works is where Parsons leaves in the…orchestra…in the middle of a lovely rock song, [the Project would] suddenly pop in a full string section and some brass. There are great sweeping chunks of Ammonia Avenue where there's nary an orchestra pit to be found, and that absence results in two huge clunkers; Let Me Go Home and the execrable One Good Reason.” DV Sonically, we have great production as always and “vocalists Eric Woolfson, Chris Rainbow, Lenny Zakatek, and Colin Blunstone equally shine, placing their talents above and beyond the album's main idea.” AM At the same time, “paying more attention to the Project’s orchestral and progressive roots might have made it a great album.” DV ReissueA 2008 reissue added alternate mixes and demos as bonus tracks.The SongsHere’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs. |
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Prime TimeAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Eric Woolfson Released: single (3/31/1984), Ammonia Avenue (1984) B-Side: “The Gold Bug” Peak: 34 BB, 33 CB, 26 GR, 33 RR, 10 AC, 3 AR, 6 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.40 video, 8.91 streaming About the Song:After “Don’t Answer Me,” the lead single from Ammonia Avenue, “broke with many of the familiar Alan Parsons Project sonic hallmarks” UCR the follow-up single, “Prime Time,” gave the band another top-40 hit “while returning to more familiar sounds.” UCR “The briskness of Eric Woolfson’s wording throughout Prime Time makes it one of the Project’s best singles.” AM
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Let Me Go HomeAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Lenny Zakatek Released: Ammonia Avenue (1984) Peak: 23 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.04 streaming |
One Good ReasonAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Eric Woolfson Released: Ammonia Avenue (1984) Peak: 33 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.98 streaming |
Since the Last GoodbyeAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Chris Rainbow Released: Ammonia Avenue (1984) Peak: 15 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.19 streaming About the Song:”The subtlety of the ballad comes to life on the elegant Since the Last Goodbye, which focuses on a failed attempt at a relationship.” AM |
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Don’t Answer MeAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson (see lyrics here) Vocals: Eric Woolfson Released: single (2/28/1984), Ammonia Avenue (1984) B-side: “Don’t Let It Show” Peak: 15 BB, 17 CB, 8 GR, 10 RR, 4 AC, 15 AR, 58 UK, 22 CN, 2 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 10.10 video, 65.28 streaming About the Song:The top-20 ballad “Don’t Answer Me” “broke with many of the familiar Alan Parsons Project sonic hallmarks and took the ensemble down a unique and nostalgic trip back to Phil Spector’s vaunted ‘Wall of Sound’ aesthetic.” UCR Eric Woolfson, the only mainstay in the Project other than Parsons himself, handled vocal duties. Lyrically, the song finds the narrator reaching out to someone who is lonely, SF which fit with the album’s concept of social isolation. AMGThe “soothing yet destitute wail of Mel Collins’ saxophone” AMG adds to the song’s “lonely atmosphere” AM and infuses it with “ its perfectly abandoned mood.” AMG A “recipe of subtle keyboards and dusty percussion enhance the song’s romanticism and intensify the desperate plea of Woolfson’s to be heard.” AMG The Dick Tracy style video was designed by Michael Kaluta, who worked on comic books. SF It combined traditional cel animation and stop-motion as well as claymation. It took a 40-man team 23 days to film at a cost of $50,000. WK The band appears in cartoon form toward the end of the video. At the first MTV Video Music Awards, “Don’t Answer Me” was nominated for Most-Experimental Video, losing to Herbie Hancock’s “Rock-It.” |
Dancing on a HighwireAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Colin Blunstone Released: Ammonia Avenue (1984) Peak: 25 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.81 streaming About the Song:“Dancing on a High Wire is a brooding, complex song that bears repeated listen.” DV Still, one has to question lines like “’The silver-plated hero meets the golden-hearted whore.’ Later, she's ‘the ivory madonna.’ Huh?” RS |
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You Don’t BelieveAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Lenny Zakatek Released: single (10/31/1983), Ammonia Avenue (1984) B-Side: “Lucifer” Peak: 54 BB, 12 AR, 43 CN, 4 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.75 streaming About the Song:The Alan Parsons Project peaked in 1982 with the song “Eye in the Sky,” their only top-10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and its top-10, platinum-selling parent album. They followed it up the next year with a compilation capturing highlights from 1976 to 1982, plus new song “You Don’t Believe.” It was released as a single, but failed to crack the top 40, a shock considering the #3 peak of 1982’s “Eye in the Sky.”The song also appeared on the group’s next studio album, Ammonia Avenue. It is one of the album’s “punchy rockers.” UCR, “The seriousness of the lyrics works well with the song’s energetic pace.” AM
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PipelineAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: NA (instrumental) Released: Ammonia Avenue (1984) Peak: 39 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 5.56 streaming About the Song:The “evocative” UCR “Pipeline” is the token instrumental (there’s always at least one per Project album). |
Ammonia AvenueAlan Parsons Project |
Writer(s): Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson Vocals: Eric Woolfson Released: Ammonia Avenue (1984) Peak: 7 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 3.70 video, 4.69 streaming About the Song:“The gorgeous title track’” RS is one of the album’s “weepy ballads.” UCR Still, there are lyrical “non sequiturs like this one…’Is there no sign of light as we stand in the darkness / Watching the sun arise?’” RS that threaten to derail the album. |
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First posted 3/24/2008; last updated 9/25/2025. |
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