"Lucifer"

I've been reading Robert Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys, and yester-day, I encountered a chart of the Morse code signals (on page 65).  It reminded me that the album title Eve is spelt out in Morse code in "Lucifer" (the APP website notes this in the comments on the expanded edition of the album).

The part is basically a repeated, one-measure phrase (in the last iteration of each section, however, the final note drops to an C#).  In the notation below, I delineated the Morse code letters by color:  blue for E (•) and gray for V (• • • -).

Note that the lengths for • vary:  those for the two Es are the same (eighth notes), but the initial two of the three in V (a pair of sixteenth notes) are shorter than the third (an eighth note).

"Lucifer"

I learned a part for "Lucifer" to-day, and while it's not listed among the instruments in the credits on the Alan Parsons Project's website, I think it's kantele.  It first appears at ~1:42 and is repeated at ~3:02.  I was writing out the notation as I learned the part, and it reminded me of the kantele part in "I Robot," so I found my notation for that and compared the two.

Here's what I think is a kantele in "Lucifer":

And here's the kantele part in "I Robot" (starting ~4:26):

There's a bit of similarity in the melodies, but only in that there are a fair number of conjunct note groups (more in "Lucifer" than in "I Robot").  The main similarity is rhythm.  In both, almost every other measure consists of a whole note that's tied to a note in the following measure.

Of course, both "Lucifer" and "I Robot" are also instrumental tracks that start their respective albums, so this might be an intentional resemblance.

"Lucifer"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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After mentioning it a few days ago, I kept thinking about "Lucifer."  Last night I figured out the guitar parts for one section (I'm pretty sure it's doubled with auto-harp).  I might have the rhythm wrong in the second half though.  I figured out an-other part too, but I'm not sure what instrument it's actually played on.  I used electric piano, but the APP website lists only "synths," so…?

In looking that up, I've discovered that the rhythm in that part spells out EVE - the name of the album - in Morse code.  I'd been suspicious of something like that.

As a basis for my recording I used the early rough mix that's a bonus track on the CD re-issue, so there might be slight differences between this and the final version.

Ammonia Avenue

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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A few weeks ago, I got Ammonia Avenue on CD (with bonus tracks!), so - excepting The Sicilian Defence - I now have all of the APP albums on CD.  I listened to Ammonia Avenue to-day, and I noticed two things:

There are recurring drum parts in "You Don't Believe" that sound really similar to recurring drum parts in "Lucifer" from Eve.  The first one in "You Don't Believe" is at about 0:20, and in "Lucifer," the first one is at about 1:28.  According to the APP website, Stuart Elliot played drums on both tracks.

The other thing I noticed is a line in "Ammonia Avenue" - the title track.  After the first verse, there's this couplet:

And who are we to criticize or scorn the things that they do?
For we shall seek and we shall find Ammonia Avenue

I think that the line "we shall seek and we shall find" is a Biblical reference.  I'm not really sure how it relates to the rest of the song, but at the very least, there's a strong resemblance between that line and Matthew 7:7: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."