The Alan Parsons Project: The Turn of A Friendly Card I Louder
Alan Parsons interviewed by Prog magazine Editor Jerry Ewing about his 1980 album, The Turn of A Friendly Card.
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00:00 [Music]
00:04 [Music]
00:12 Obviously, Tournament of Friendly Cards is coming out as a reissue.
00:16 Now, when you go back and listen to something like that, what's your feelings about it?
00:20 We, of course, had a lot of single success on Tournament of Friendly Cards. We had two fairly big singles, Games People Play and Time.
00:32 It was Eric's debut as a singer. I'd not let him loose on the vocal mic for a master take before then.
00:44 He didn't do too bad in the end, did he?
00:46 He did really well. I'm never allowed to forget that it was clearly a mistake that I forbade him from singing until that point.
00:58 He ended up singing other hits like Don't Answer Me and Primetime was another one he sang.
01:12 It's been great to revisit it. It's interesting to hear Eric's songwriting diaries, which were the initial moments,
01:26 the initial plucking the ideas out of thin air for the songs. They make an interesting chronicle.
01:34 There's a couple of my own instrumental demos as well. It gives a little insight into how the album came together.
01:50 This was the first big commercial breakthrough, really, because you said the hits, wasn't it?
01:56 You were the first to get on the band. Yet, as you say, you can still walk into Tesco and not get noticed.
02:02 What was that like, having big, massive success, and yet no one knew who you were?
02:10 It was amazing. There's a story I've told occasionally of going to Tower Records in Hollywood. It's no longer there, unfortunately.
02:24 Arguably one of the most famous record stores in the world. Right there in Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard.
02:32 I walked in there because I was short of copies for promotion. I bought four copies of iRobot, four copies of Tales of Mystery and Imagination,
02:44 four copies of Pyramid, plunked them down on the desk, gave them my credit card, and said, "Yes, sir. Fine. Can I see some ID, please?"
02:52 So, yeah, I've reveled in being unrecognized. The fact is, we vowed that we were a studio outfit.
03:08 We said, "We're not going to go out and play live," which was actually a huge mistake.
03:13 I think if we'd taken the plunge and said that we would go out and play live, we could have been as big as anybody.
03:20 However, given the longevity that the project and you, yourself as a musician, since have, the endearing appeal still,
03:32 do you think that perhaps, had you done what you said you weren't going to do, perhaps we wouldn't almost be sat here now talking about Don't Have A Friendly Card.
03:44 I know it's all hypothetical, but there is a chance that that could have blown the mystique in a way.
03:50 The fact that because you were so unique, because there really weren't that many what were seen as studio projects,
04:00 I'm sure there were people that probably didn't think Alan Parsons was a person.
04:06 That maybe what's endured wouldn't have endured quite the way it has.
04:13 I think there was strength in our mystique, and I believe that to this day.
04:20 But if I hadn't gone on the road, I'd be broke now, I think.
04:25 It's with the record business the way it is.
04:28 As a fan, getting to see you perform these great songs is terrific. I just love it.
04:35 I'm not the only one.
04:38 What was it like for you being able to suddenly, was it breaking free, it's like finally I'm on stage doing...
04:43 Well, I'm no virtuoso. I can play keyboards and guitar well enough to put a song together.
04:54 I'm okay as a rhythm guitarist, but the last time I played lead guitar was in this blues band in the 60s.
05:01 So I really pretty much, when I came to work here at Abbey Road, I pretty much hung up my guitar for it.
05:11 Blew the dust off many years later.
05:14 I concentrated on the studio career rather than the musician career.
05:18 But hey, the first tour was magical.
05:22 Standing on a stage, playing the songs, getting the reaction. Beyond belief experience, really.
05:31 So you really enjoy it?
05:32 Oh yeah, love it.
05:34 It's a pity we don't see you more often over here, I have to say.
05:37 Funnily enough, our level of success in the UK is nothing like what it is in mainland Europe and in places like South America, Mexico.
05:48 We have a huge following in those places.
05:51 The UK somehow, from the live market, is eludious.
05:55 One thing we were talking about before you came in was the way that The Outer Pastures Project has ingrained itself into the cultural psyche.
06:05 In a bizarre way, Sirius is such a popular song to use in American sport on TV, the Mike Myers films.
06:16 You must enjoy that, but it must be a bit bizarre as well.
06:23 It's a little bizarre, yes.
06:27 Sirius was not written as a sports theme, and yet it seems to be used by just about every basketball team in America for walk-on music.
06:37 It was used also by the New Orleans Saints at their successful win at the Super Bowl a few years back.
06:49 It was just written as an intro for Eye in the Sky, not as anything else.
06:53 So, yeah, strange.
06:56 [Music]