"Silence and I"

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Last night, I tried figuring out some parts for some songs.  I didn't end up getting anything, but I noticed something about the middle part of "Silence and I."  At about 3:39, there's a three-note phrase (D, Eb, F) where the first two notes are quarter notes and the third is a half note.  It's not sure specifically what instrument it's played on, but I'm pretty sure it's a woodwind (I'd guess flute or clarinet).

That same phrase (albeit in a different key, so it's F, Gb, Ab) is also in "Pyramania."  There, it's the vocal melody for "I had read" (and for "I've been told" and "It's no lie" later in the song).

According to the Alan Parsons Project's website, Andrew Powell did the orchestration for "Silence and I."  While he wasn't involved with "Pyramania," he was involved with other songs on the Pyramid album (and even back to Tales of Mystery and Imagination), so I think he deliberately put in that little quotation as a reference to that earlier APP song.

"Prime Time"

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A few days ago, I listened to Ammonia Avenue for my Collection Audit project.  Last night I tried figuring out the opening part of "Prime Time."  I think I have most of it.

I hadn't realized until figuring this out, but - like "Eye in the Sky" - "Prime Time" has palm-muted chords.  There's not really a similarity in tonality though.

"The Raven" and "Breakdown"

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Recently, I remembered something that I probably should have written about a few months ago.  Back in September, Alan Parsons posted a picture of a set list:

I noticed that he has "Breakdown/Raven."  I'm assuming that the slash indicates a transition from one to the other (like a medley), so it seems like he's aware that the same bass phrase is in both.  I figured this out and wrote about it last year, although where I was then just sort of suspicious that I had other sections wrong, now I'm pretty sure some of it's wrong.

"What Goes Up"

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Similar to what I did with "Beaujolais" a few days ago, when I wrote out the tab for what I know of "What Goes Up" last night, I discovered that I had a few errors in the bass part.  Also, I learned a guitar phrase (just three notes).

"Beaujolais"

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Last night, I wrote out a tab for the bass part for "Beaujolais," and in doing so, I figured out that part I was having problems with last week.  This is still only the first two minutes or so.

"Vulture Culture"

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I just listened to Vulture Culture, and then I figured out the repeating bass phrase at the beginning of the title track.  It's not a great deal of progress, but it's still progress.

"One More River"

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A couple days ago, I learned the opening for "One More River."  I'm not super confident in the keyboard parts though.

"What Goes Up"

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Last night I figured out a few parts for "What Goes Up."  While I was recording this, I realized that I had the bass part wrong.  I think I've fixed it, but since it was a quick correction, it might still have some errors.

Pyramid

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After I figured out the bass part for "Beaujolais" last night, I discovered that the only album I hadn't either written about or figured out a part from was Pyramid, so I listened to it this morning and came up with a few things to write about (and this afternoon, I figured out a few parts, which I'll post in the next few days).

"The Eagle Will Rise Again"

In the first part of the song, each phrase (apparently on the virginal, according to the credits on the APP website) is ascending.  So while the lyrics include a few references to falling ("I could easily fall from grace," "they fall from your open hand," and, metaphorically "They [words] fall upon the ears of those who don't know the way"), those ascending musical phrases seem to provide assurance that "the eagle will learn to fly" and "the eagle will rise again."

"One More River"

I was surprised I hadn't previously noticed that this includes the phrase "it's the time of the season."  I'm not sure if this is really the case, but I'd be happy if that were a reference to the Zombies' "Time of the Season," which includes the same phrase ("It's the time of the season for loving").  A few seconds after the first occurrence of that phrase, there's an exhalation, which is similar to an effect in the Zombies' song.

Colin Blunstone - the Zombies' lead singer - provided lead vocals on "The Eagle Will Rise Again" (the track immediately preceding "One More River") and backing vocals on "Shadow of a Lonely Man" (the last track on the album), so I'm assuming that Woolfson and Parsons were at least somewhat familiar with the Zombies.  I think there's a recent interview with Blunstone where he says something about Parsons' being a tape-op when they recorded "Time of the Season" at Abbey Road.

"Beaujolais"

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I knew I hadn't done anything for this project for a while, so last night I figured out almost all of the bass part for "Beaujolais."  At the beginning of the choruses, there are some more elaborate figures that are still a bit elusive.  This is only the first two minutes or so; the rest is just the same part repeated, which I didn't think would be too interesting to listen to by itself.

"Snake Eyes"

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Because of the new edition of The Turn of a Friendly Card that's coming out, the APP have posted a few audio clips of interviews with Eric Woolfson about the album.  A few days ago, they tweeted this one, which includes the opening of "Snake Eyes."  When I heard it, I realized that the bass part is just one note, so I thought, "That'd be pretty easy to figure out."  And the melody didn't sound too hard either.

This is just the first twenty seconds or so.

The Turn of a Friendly Card Deluxe Edition

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[source]

35th Anniversary Deluxe edition of 'The Turn of a Friendly Card' will be released on 6th November 2015. 2CD package includes re-mastered original album, 17 previously unreleased bonus tracks (including Eric Woolfson's songwriting diary home demos) plus 10 bonus tracks and new booklet with lyrics, notes on the making of the album and rare photos. 2CD and Standard Digital format will be available as well as a Limited Edition vinyl 7" of three single edits.