The Alan Parsons Project: The Turn of A Friendly Card
Alan Parsons interviewed by Prog magazine Editor Jerry Ewing about his 1980 album, The Turn of A Friendly Card.
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00:00Obviously, Tournament of Friendly Cards is coming out as a reissue now, when you go back
00:17and listen to something like that, what's your feelings about it?
00:22We of course had a lot of single success on Tournament of Friendly Cards. We had two fairly
00:30big singles, Games People Play and Time. It was Eric's debut as a singer. I'd not let
00:38him loose on the vocal mic for a master take before then.
00:44He didn't do too bad in the end, did he?
00:46He did really well. I'm never allowed to forget that it was clearly a mistake that I forbade
00:54him from singing until that point. He ended up singing other hits like Don't Answer Me
01:01and Primetime was another one he sang. It's been great to revisit it. It's interesting
01:17to hear Eric's songwriting diaries, which were the initial moments, the initial plucking
01:28the ideas out of thin air for the songs. They make an interesting chronicle. There's
01:35a couple of my own instrumental demos as well. It gives, especially to a projectologist as
01:44we call them, it gives a little insight into how the album came together.
01:50This was the first big commercial breakthrough, because you said the hits, wasn't it, for
01:56the band? And yet, as you say, you also can still walk into Tesco and not get noticed.
02:02What was that like, having big, massive success, and yet no one knew who you were?
02:11It was amazing. There's a story, I've told it occasionally, of going to Tower Records
02:22in Hollywood. It's no longer there, unfortunately, but arguably one of the most famous record
02:28stores in the world, right there in Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard. I walked in there because
02:35I was short of copies for promotion. I walked in and bought four copies of iRobot, four
02:41copies of Tales of Mystery and Imagination, four copies of Pyramid, plunked them down
02:46on the desk, gave them my credit card and said, yes sir, fine, can I see some ID, please?
02:58So yeah, I've reveled in being unrecognized. The fact is, we vowed that we were a studio
03:07outfit. We said, we're not going to go out and play live, which was actually a huge mistake,
03:13I think. I think if we'd taken the plunge and said that we would go out and play live,
03:18we could have been as big as anybody.
03:20However, given the longevity that the project and you, yourself as a musician, since have
03:28the endearing appeal still, do you think that perhaps, had you have gone, sort of, done
03:36what you said you weren't going to do, perhaps we wouldn't almost be sat here now talking
03:41about Don't Have A Friendly Card. I know it's so hypothetical, but there is a chance
03:47that that could have blown the mystique in a way. The fact that because you were so unique,
03:54because there really weren't that many, what was seen as studio projects. I'm sure there
04:00were people that probably didn't think Alan Parsons was a person, it was just the name.
04:06But maybe what's endured wouldn't have endured quite the way it has.
04:13I think there was strength in our mystique, and I believe that to this day. But if I hadn't
04:21gone on the road, I'd be broke now, I think. It's, you know, with the record business the
04:26way it is.
04:28I mean, as a fan, getting to see you perform these great songs is terrific. I mean, I just
04:34love it. And I'm not the only one. What was it like for you, though, being able to suddenly,
04:40was it a sort of breaking free? It's like, finally, I'm on stage doing, you know?
04:43Well, you know, I'm no virtuoso. I mean, I can play keyboards and guitar well enough
04:51to put a song together. And I'm okay as a rhythm guitarist. But the last time I played
04:59lead guitar was in this blues band in the 60s. So, I mean, I really pretty much, when
05:05I came to work here at Abbey Road, I pretty much hung up my guitar for it, blew the dust
05:11off many years later. But I concentrated on the studio career rather than the musician
05:17career. But, hey, the first tour was magical. I mean, standing on a stage, playing the songs,
05:25getting the reaction, beyond belief experience, really.
05:30So you really enjoy it?
05:32Oh, yeah. Love it.
05:33It's a pity we don't see you more often over here, I have to say.
05:38Funnily enough, our level of success in the UK is nothing like what it is in mainland
05:43Europe and in places like South America, Mexico. You know, we have a huge following in those
05:50places. The UK somehow, from the live market, is elusive.
05:56One thing we were talking about before you came in was the way that The Outer Pastures
06:00project has ingrained itself into the cultural psyche in a kind of bizarre way. Sirius is
06:08such a popular song to use in American sport, on TV, the Mike Myers films. I mean, you must
06:19sort of enjoy that, but it must be a bit bizarre as well.
06:25It's a little bizarre, yes. I mean, Sirius was not written as a sports theme, and yet
06:32it seems to be used by just about every basketball team in America for walk-on music. It was
06:37used also by the New Orleans Saints at their successful win at the Super Bowl a few years
06:47back. It was just written as an intro for Eye in the Sky, not as anything else. So,
06:54yeah, strange.