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The Alan Parsons Project - Eve CD (album) cover

EVE

The Alan Parsons Project

Crossover Prog


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IsaMeraz@aol.
5 stars "..The Raven was the very first song from APP that I listened to, since then I started acquiring their recordings, I was never disapointed. This is probably their only work that includes songs performed by a lady in lead vocals, now I don't remember where but I read that the Lady that sings is Dusty Springfield. And do correct me if I'm wrong on this point please."
Report this review (#5592)
Posted Thursday, December 18, 2003 | Review Permalink
Sean Trane
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Prog Folk
1 stars Although this has moments , stick with the first three( or start with them and see for yourself), but one has the feeling that with each new album the APP made , the less inspiration was present and the more the general public started liking this and somehow ...... doesn't that reflect the 80's so well?
Report this review (#5593)
Posted Tuesday, February 3, 2004 | Review Permalink
greenback
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Like on "Turn of A Friendly Card", there are orchestral arrangements here. I'd rather be a man is excellent, with this usual discrete fast keyboards notes like on "Pyramid"'s HYPER-GAMMA-SPEEDS. You have the chance to hear the wonderful voice of Clare Torry (PINK FLOYD's Great gig in the sky) on don't hold back. My favorite one is probably "Secret Garden", where amazing loud bass, orchestral and vocal arrangements are played through fast and discrete keyboards. "If I Could Change The World" is a James Bond-esque main song, with beautiful female lead vocals. Most of the rest is very pop, accessible, rather addictive and well made: when ALAN PARSONS makes a pop song, he rarely misses his shot.
Report this review (#5594)
Posted Monday, April 5, 2004 | Review Permalink
Easy Livin
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
3 stars Not a fig leaf in sight

"Eve " is a pretty good outing for the prolific Alan Parsons Project, with one notably strong track, a good selection of guests, and some nice instrumental work.

The usual melodic pop prog Is here, with strong melodies and fine performances. The Moody Blues, Barclay James Harvest, and later Renaissance all offer indications of the type of music to expect. The prog influences, which were at their strongest on the first album ("Tales of Mystery and Imagination") have all but dried up with the tracks all being shorter, individual pieces.

It tends to be when they do ballads that APP really shine, and in this case, "If I could change your mind" is the standout track. Vastly underrated singer Lesley Duncan (try to hear her lovely version of Elton John's "Love song" sometime) takes the lead vocals on this track. This makes for a beautiful contrast with the normally male dominated vocals.

The other tracks are pretty standard APP tracks, pleasant enough, but not particularly memorable. "Damned if I do" for example is one of Parson's ubiquitous mid-paced, easy listening numbers, interchangeable with any one of the similar tracks on many of their other albums. It's not quite strong enough to make a single, and not quite interesting enough for a decent album track. "You won't be there" is a rare example of a Parsons ballad which fails to hit the mark. It is just a bit too wet and self pitying to warrant repeated listening. All the tracks are of course performed impeccably.

Looking for prog here would be a pretty fruitless exercise, but as a relaxing alternative, the album would make for an acceptable choice.

One of the better APP offerings.

Report this review (#5591)
Posted Friday, May 28, 2004 | Review Permalink
mark.stevenso
4 stars In short, this is their best album IMHO (i have them all - one way or another). The songs lean towards the pop; even, dare i say it, disco end of prog, but i reckon that is APP's strength. Almost all the songs are memorable quality. Standout for me is closing track "If I could..." with a superb vocal by L.Dunlop & best lyrics ever by APP. Only shame is that the legendary Clare Torry only gets to sing one of the weaker entries. 4.5 stars... check it out!
Report this review (#5597)
Posted Thursday, June 3, 2004 | Review Permalink
2 stars Let's point out something: The lyrics and the intention of the of the concept are quite well produced, the performance and the music are not so...If we compared the album with the previous ones. Lucifer and Secret Garden are the highlights along with I'd rather be a man and If I Could Change Your Mind. The sounds is not progressive and so what more can I say, this could be easily a love it or hate it album...in other words, you can't live without it...you can live without it. I'd not recommend this.
Report this review (#5599)
Posted Thursday, August 26, 2004 | Review Permalink
Chris S
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Eve was not all bad and has some good moments about it like the instrumentals ' Lucifer' and ' Secret garden'. Other interesting songs were ' Damned if I do' and ' You lie down with dogs'. At a time when prog was definitely on the way out Eve was still a welcome relief from some of the other junk out at the time. Conceptually a good theme too and the first album by APP to introduce female vocals ( well it sounds like it ) on ' If I could change your mind'
Report this review (#5600)
Posted Wednesday, September 1, 2004 | Review Permalink
Proghead
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Often referred to as the ALAN PARSONS PROJECT's worst album of the 1970s. To me, I think the album is a mixed bag, and doesn't quite live up to the greatness of their previous three albums. Certainly there's songs on here every bit as good as those on "I Robot", but there are some ballads that don't quite work. "Lucifer" is a truly wonderful instrumental, dominated by orchestrations and John Leach's dulcimer and zither (they are actually a cimbalom and kantele, respectively). "Damned if I Do" was the minor hit on the album, a rocking number with orchestration with vocals from Lenny Zakatek. "I'd Rather Be a Man" and "You Lie Down with Dogs" are more rocking numbers, but there are some ballads too, like "You Won't Be There", and "If I Could Change Your Mind". The biggest criticisms of this album, aside from the lyrics, was the presence of female vocals on two cuts (Claire Torrey and Leslie Duncan). I guess I have less a problem with the vocals, and more a problem with the quality of material they were singing on ("Don't Hold Back" and "If I Could Change Your Mind"). The ballads on "Pyramid", "I Robot", and "Tales..." (like "The Eagle Will Rise Again", "Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)", and "To One in Paradise", for example) were well done without being overly mushy or shlocky, but the ones on "Eve" often get a little to close to Muzak. And then the other instrumental, "Secret Garden", dominated by piano, is rather unremarkable in light of "Lucifer". The album has its good material, but has some rather obvious low points too.

My rating: 3 1/2 stars

Report this review (#5602)
Posted Friday, October 29, 2004 | Review Permalink
Guillermo
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars This album is a combination of Pop Rock songs with orchestral arrangements and some Prog Rock arrangements. It is enjoyable and "light". As always, Parsons and Woolfson have very good musicians and singers to record their songs, and Parsons produced an album with songs "very clearly" recorded and mixed. "Lucifer" is a very good instrumental song. The other instrumental song, "Secret Garden", is one of my favourites, with good orchestral arrangements, and some very good vocals sung without lyrics. From the rest of the songs, my favourites are: "Don`t Hold Back" (sung by Clare Torry), "Damned if I Do" (sung by Lenny Zakatek), "Winding Me Up" (sung by Chris Rainbow, it also has a very good orchestral arrangement with "classical music influences"), and the best song of this album IMO, a Pop Rock ballad called "If I Could Change Your Mind" (sung by Lesley Duncan). This last song has very good orchestral arrangements and very good lead vocals. It could have been a hit single, but I don`t know if this song was released as a single. In general, this is a good album, but more oriented to Pop Rock than Prog Rock.
Report this review (#39383)
Posted Wednesday, July 13, 2005 | Review Permalink
Gatot
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Typical with previous albums, this one starts off with an atmospheric and ambient music in the form of instrumental exploring keyboard sounds combined with choirs and orchestration by Andrew Powell through "Lucifer". This track was once very popular as the band's track in the seventies. The next tracks "You Lie Down With Dogs" and "I'd Rather Be A Man" are pop outfit with good vocals. "You Won't Be There" slows down the music into a mellow style with a bit boring vocal line - it's probably the composition is not that tight. "Winding Me Up" closes Side 1 of the LP with another pop song with easy to predict beats. Until this point I get bored with the music.

"Damned If I Do", "Don't Hold Back", and "Secret Garden" share the same style in pop and it's enough to make me getting "bored" with the album. Fortunately the concluding track "If I Could Change Your Mind" has different style with previous tracks and it's mellower with better melody and good orchestration.

"Eve" is not as strong as "Pyramid" but it's still a good album. If you have limited budget to spend for CD, do not invest with this one, get other stuffs with proggier touch! Keep on proggin'.!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Report this review (#75715)
Posted Friday, April 21, 2006 | Review Permalink
3 stars Before i went to become a big prog fan, i was a Alan Parsons Project freak!!!! I was listening to at least 30 hours of Alan Parsons every week !!!!! Now, it's about 4 hours every years but, every time i listen to their music i still like it a lot :)

Eve was i o.k. album when i discovered it but, the album grew on me and now, it's a must have to all Alan Parsons fan.

The album starts with the wird instrumantal "Lucifer" not their best track or instrumantals but, it's good music, i really like the acoustic guitar parts, the way it sound + there are very good choir.

"You Lie Down With Dogs" it's the first highlight of the album, a very good groove plus a very good chorus "You lie down with dogs, you fall in with thieves..." The song is sang by Lenny Zakatec, i really like is voice.

"I'd rather be a man" is sang by David Paton. Good keyboards loop + in the middle you have a simple but very strong, keyboards melody wow! I really like that parts a lot :)

"You Won't Be There" is sang by Dave Townsend and is the first ballad on the album, nothing incredible here except a good guitar solo and a beatiful strings section.

"Winding Me Up" is the second highlight of the album. The guitar here is very groovy and there is a good flute melody in the middle but it's the orchestra that steal the show here. Andrew Powell is a really strong orchestral arranger.

"Damned if I Do" may be one of the best track Alan Parsons have done. Just for this one track alone you need this album, and Ian Bairnson guitar solo, wow! He's difinetly one of my favorites guitar player, not technically but emotionally and melodicly.

"Don't Hold Back" is another highlight of the album. The signer Clare Torry is the same female signer who sang the vocal solo in "The Great Gig In The Sky" by Pink Floyd. What a voice!!!!

"Secret Garden" is the second instrumantal of the album and my second favorite song on the album. It's not a well known instrumantal by Alan Parsons but a very strong one IMO.

"If I Could Change Your Mind" haven't change my mind about this song, it's the socond ballad on the album, it came out as a single and i don't like it a bit! So after "Secret Garden", i push stop and it stop there ;)

A four stars for a Alan Parsons Project album but for the Prog Archives it's a 3, good album but non- essential.

Report this review (#83373)
Posted Monday, July 10, 2006 | Review Permalink
ClemofNazareth
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Prog Folk Researcher
2 stars I borrowed this album just for the purposes of this review, and I’m glad I did instead of buying it, because it’s not really very good.

I had a copy of this album on 8-track years ago just because at the time I was buying just about anything with Alan Parsons’ name on it. But even then it wasn’t something that got played all that often, since besides “Lucifer” and maybe “Damned if I Do”, there wasn’t much on it that interested me at the time. Listening to it again now after almost twenty years, my opinion hasn’t changed much.

The Parsons trademark opening instrumental is “Lucifer” for this album, and like most Project instrumentals it has some creative keyboard work (especially the bell-like organ), but the rhythm is pretty repetitive and doesn’t really vary enough to make it interesting. Even the backing choral chants seem a bit flat and cursory. The theme of this album is women (hence the title), and the interrelationships of men with the fairer sex, so the title of this song is probably referring to the Biblical temptation scene in the garden of Eden, I suppose.

“You Lie Down With Dogs” is a pretty biting tune (no pun intended) with Lenny Zakatek verbally dressing down his woman and apparently accusing her of tramping around. This sounds like something (musically and lyrically) that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Foreigner’s ‘Head Games’ album. Maybe either Parsons or Woolfson was coming out of a bad relationship around the time this song was written, who knows.

Long-time Project collaborator David Paton sings on “I’d Rather be a Man”, yet another pop/rock tune with pretty basic rhythm and not much interesting in the instrumentation. This is really poor ‘women are evil’ theme and is pretty forgettable as a whole.

Some guy named David Townshend sings on “You Won’t be There”, a mellow love-and- leave tune in the vein of so many seventies pop singers. There are some decent orchestral arrangements here, but the lyrics are rather awkward and as a whole this is just pure pop drivel. Not at all worthy of the Parsons name.

Chris Rainbow aka Chris Harley serves up his own pop single with “Winding Me Up”, another seventies-inspired tune that could have been a one-hit-wonder for someone like Paper Lace or Orleans.

The other hit single from this album (“Lucifer” was the first) was “Damned If I Do”, with a keyboard/guitar cadence that sounds very much like most of the front side of ‘Turn of a Friendly Card’, with bouncy keyboards, basic tempo, and almost invisible guitars. There’s a little string orchestration on this one, but the stilting organ dominates in between the poppish lyrics except for a brief and uninspired guitar solo near the end. This was a catchy tune in its time, but again is nothing more than radio-targeted pop.

Since this album is about women, it makes sense that one or two of them would appear on the album, and Parsons doesn’t disappoint. He taps into his previous Pink Floyd association once again and delivers Claire Torry on “Don’t Hold Back”. Torry actually has an interesting voice when she’s actually singing lyrics as opposed to her other- worldly scat from ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, although here again the sound is very dated, and the date is 1979. Musically this track has nothing interesting to offer.

The other instrumental is “Secret Garden”, and as usual it is heavy on keyboards and light on variation. This has some nice strings but they almost sound like a combination of the real thing and some synthesizer magic, which wouldn’t be too surprising considering the time in which this album was produced.

Lesley Duncan (another ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ connection) is the other female vocalist on the album, closing it out with “If I Could Change Your Mind”. This would have sounded just about the same if Olivia Newton-John or Kiki Dee had recorded it instead. Move along citizens, nothing to see here.

So in all this is a pretty mediocre album. I can’t believe you are still reading this actually – I would have given up long ago were I not the one who wrote it. The production is technically proficient of course - this is Alan Parsons we’re taking about, after all. But the arrangements are uninspired, the lyrics bitter without any pretense of being clever or multi-faceted, and the overall word that comes to mind is – bland.

Two stars as a pop album, and don’t look for anything resembling progressive music here.

peace

Report this review (#94003)
Posted Tuesday, October 10, 2006 | Review Permalink
Chicapah
PROG REVIEWER
1 stars By 1979 the world-wide plague known as disco had done its dirty work and sucked all the soul out of modern pop music and this album is a true reflection of that sad situation. I don't have a problem with this studio group being included on this site but finding anything even approaching the realm of prog on this record is harder than finding the Ark of the Lost Covenant and not nearly as exciting.

Parsons & Co. start things off with an instrumental named "Lucifer," that is only mildly interesting and becomes downright comical if you envision in your mind the Prince of Darkness doing his best John Travolta to this tune on a disco dance floor. "You Lie Down With Dogs" is an example of the "funky" disco sound that was popular at that time. Lyric-wise I think it would do rather well as the theme song for an anti-STD public service program. If there is a track that comes within a mile of being considered prog related it's the next cut, "I'd Rather be a Man." It has the unmistakable Alan Parsons Project atmosphere and it should be on the all-time top ten list of put-down tunes. It's hard to come up with a line more degrading than "I'd rather be a man 'cause a man don't crawl like you do." Ouch.

"You Won't Be There" is just a sappy torch song that brings to mind Air Supply. 'Nuff said. This is followed by "Winding Me Up," a lame wimp-rock song that begins with a requisite crank-up-the-toy sound effect. So clever. Alan tries to pull off an ELO imitation here but he fails miserably because the tune is so inferior. "Damned If I Do" starts with an ambience similar to some of his work on his excellent "Tales of Mystery and Imagination - Edgar Allan Poe" debut but it doesn't last long because before you know it the number turns into yet another funky disco dirge. Yark. "Don't Hold Back" is another wimp rock ditty that could have been inspired by Olivia Newton-John. You get the picture.

"Secret Garden" is an instrumental that sounds great but ultimately goes nowhere. There's not even a decent melody. It does have some nice Beach Boys kind of harmonies in the middle section but, other than that, it would fit right in as background music on the Weather Channel during the "Local on the 8's" breaks. Last but not least you get exposed to "If I Could Change Your Mind," a Carly Simon-styled torch ballad that does nothing for me at all. I get more stimulus from watching. well, the Weather Channel.

It seems to me that Alan Parsons and his partner Eric Woolfson had stopped being trendsetters and had started trying to create hit songs by mimicking what was being played on the radio. While that makes a certain kind of logical sense business-wise, it rarely works even though the record executives of that era vehemently crusaded and defended that mindset. In the case of "Eve" it only resulted in the creation of an album of incredibly mediocre quality. Skip this one altogether. 1.4 stars.

Report this review (#127810)
Posted Saturday, July 7, 2007 | Review Permalink
ghost_of_morphy
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Ok, I've got some extra time today and I've been looking for an album to review. You know, an album where you end up saying more than "Ditto" to umpteen million reviews.

And I think I've found one. Eve, by The Alan Parsons Project is going to get 4 stars from me as an excellent addition to any prog collection.

Now let me start justifying that opinion, because I'm obviously not in the mainstream on this.

First of all, this is one of the few albums where Alan manages to get a concept across. Yeah, I know every APP album is a concept album, but in most of them you have to strain really hard to find the concept. Not in this one, though. The concept is in your face from Lucifer to If I Could Change Your Mind.

The second reason for liking this album is the instrumentals. We've got two of the best featured here. Secret Garden is a nice one, and Lucifer may be the best instrumental they ever released. APP instrumentals are some of the best reasons for liking this band, and here we get a high quality double helping. Cool.

Thirdly, we've got some really good (albeit misogynistic) songs here. You Lie Down With Dogs, I'd Rather Be A Man, and Damned If I Do are all top notch, and that's half of the songs on the album (I'll admit that Winding Me Up and You Won't Be There are not of the same high quality, but that's the reason I'm giving out 4 stars instead of 5,) The masterpiece here is the last track, If I Could Change Your Mind. Lush instrumentation and a kick-ass guest female vocalist makes this a high point of the album.

Eve is probably my favorite APP album (although it faces some stiff competition from The Turn of a Friendly Card) and is fully deserving of 4 stars and a lot of respect for what was created.

Report this review (#149598)
Posted Thursday, November 8, 2007 | Review Permalink
progaardvark
COLLABORATOR
Crossover/Symphonic/RPI Teams
2 stars The Alan Parsons Project's fourth studio album dealt with the concept of women and is suitably called "Eve." This would be the only APP album to feature lead vocals by women (although only two tracks). One of the singers is Clare Torry, of Pink Floyd fame. The other was Lesley Duncan, who never really achieved any commercial success. Again, like on previous albums, a host of guests make their presence here. However, there aren't really any standouts worth mentioning. The album still features Parsons' trademark production and engineering, but somehow even this is not enough to save this album from being one of the worst releases of the entire APP discography.

The album is chiefly pop rock, including a number of danceable numbers and a few ballads. The only track worth listening to is the powerful instrumental called "Lucifer." Although repetitive in nature, the soundscapes on this song are quite powerful sensing a strong feeling of evil. After that first track, it's mostly a "skipfest" for your CD player. Definitely a two-star album. For collectors and die-hard fans only. Even many APP fans are not too fond of this album.

Report this review (#153941)
Posted Monday, December 3, 2007 | Review Permalink
progrules
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars I can't believe this was at one point my all time favourite band. You can imagine my prog collection was very poor then and I hadn't even discovered the great prog bands of the seventies like Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd. In fact this was one of the first (near) progressive encounters for me, I was still in my teenages so please forgive me.

But why is it that I can't believe I loved it so much ? Because I'm more of a rock fan so in fact this is far too soft for me. But I must have been in a period that I wanted to discover real smooth beautiful music and then you're in the right place with APP.

This was my third or fourth purchase of an APP album and I was really into it I can remember. This wasn't a bad album at all and I still quite like it but now it really depends on my mood and my APP mood doesn't really occur too much last few decades. I mainly loved the APP instrumentals like Lucifer and Secret Garden in this case. The others are no more than nice to me now.

If you like smooth, mellow high quality and melodic music you could easily take an APP album and this would be a good choise. 3 stars for old times sake.

Report this review (#155280)
Posted Thursday, December 13, 2007 | Review Permalink
2 stars Secret Garden and the instrumental opening Lucifer are the highlights of an unequal album. Eve is among the least interesting APP albums. To be listened to one or two times, but you'll probably find this really deceiving. Anyway, Lucifer is really a great track. But You Lie Down With Dogs, You Won't Be There and Damned If I Do are very poor songs. Definitely not the best APP work.
Report this review (#164154)
Posted Monday, March 17, 2008 | Review Permalink
Tarcisio Moura
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Alan Parsons Projet's last album of the 70's showed a kind of turning point for the band. It is still proggy, but also more radio friendly than any of the three previous effords. It has some great tunes on it and it is probably one of his most interesting 'crossover' moments: there are enough progressive moments here to warrant more than a passing interest on a prog lover and still the record is filled with great pop tunes that could have made the top ten list of pop hits of the time (1979 was a very transitional year). As it happend only the mid-paced rocker Damned If I Do was a hit (and a minor one)

Eve was always an album I liked very much since most of my favorite bands were not exactly releasing their best stuff at the time. The album has two of APP's best instrumentals (Lucifer and Secret Garden), plus a good selection of rockers (You Lie Down With Dogs, I'd Rather Be a Man), ballads (Don't Hold Back, If I Could Change Your Mind) and the perfect prog influenced pop song that should have been a great hit on Winding Me Up (great vocal lines, fantastic arrangement, especially the orchestrated middle part). The main novelty may be the presence of female singers Claire Tory (of The Dark Side Of The Moon fame) and Leslie Duncan. Unfortunalty the tunes they sing are simply not as strong as the singers they chose for them.

Overall I really like this album. It has many fine moments, although the prog influences were starting to wane rapidly. As usual the production and engineering are absolute fabulous, the musicians are outstanding and the singers very well chosen. If you like tasteful pop songs with strong prog influences, this may be a CD to choose. However, if you're new to APP, I suggest you get their first 3 albums before tackling this one (in chronological order). As it is, I enjoy this album after all these years, but it is not their best. 3,5 stars for me.

Report this review (#194586)
Posted Sunday, December 21, 2008 | Review Permalink
SouthSideoftheSky
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Symphonic Team
1 stars Lucifer is a woman?

Alan Parsons fourth album is a very weak one with only one good track, the opening instrumental Lucifer. The rest of the songs are so lacklustre, generic and middle-of-the-road that I find it difficult to find words to describe them in detail. The worst songs from the previous Pyramid album give you a very good idea of what the majority of the songs here sound like. Some are Disco-ish Pop tunes, others are Rock 'N' Roll numbers and yet others are mildly symphonic ballads. But nothing here comes even remotely close to Prog.

The concept this time - as we all know there is always a concept behind the Project's albums - is women, or rather perhaps the relation between men and women. 'Eve' obviously refers to that famous character in The Bible which according to that particular story was the very first woman ever. I'm not really sure whether this album is a bit sexist or not? Anyway, if Parsons and Woolfson wanted to make the point that women are evil, then they really succeeded to make an album that is from hell! I would say that Eve is the low-point of the entire career of the Alan Parsons Project.

Thankfully, the Project would go on to make a much better album with their next one, Turn Of The Cards. Eve is for completionists only.

Report this review (#210765)
Posted Wednesday, April 8, 2009 | Review Permalink
kenethlevine
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Prog-Folk Team
3 stars Women's Liberation and the International Year of Women notwithstanding, this gal is, at least on the surface, a remarkably misogynist album, given its subject matter and songs like "Lucifer", "You Lie Down with Dogs", and "I'd Rather be a Man". I understand the likelihood of some irony here, but poorly handled in this way, you can set back rights movements for every minority a half decade or so. Were it not for the fact that "Eve" shows a marked musical improvement over "Pyramid", it would be in my circular file under "Incorrect", and not just politically.

Luckily, tracks like the aforementioned "Lucifer" and the dreamlike "Secret Garden" are probably among the best 5 instrumentals ever conveyed by APP, while "I'd Rather be a Man" is a TGV of a diatribe, culling some of the flippancy of "I Wouldn't Want to be Like You" and even borrowing its main lyric. "You Won't be there" portrays the sensitive new age guy who doesn't get that he's a chauvinist pig, but does it with charm and a bit of humility, and "Winding me Up" is simply Chris Rainbow at his quality pop best. Then there is the standout "Damned if I Do", which presaged "Games People Play" and gave APP a shot in the arm when they most needed it; without it, the project might have died right here. True, their best work was already behind them, but the future held a few gems, and in the 1980s we couldn't be too picky.

Dock a half star for sinful behaviour and pick up this apple for its quality pop with prog blossoms.

Report this review (#212428)
Posted Saturday, April 25, 2009 | Review Permalink
Sinusoid
PROG REVIEWER
1 stars I'm on the outside looking in here; I have never considered the Alan Parsons Project to be that special of a group, and I fail to understand what it is that makes APP a prog rock band. EVE does not sound anything like a prog record to me; it has 80's pop music written all over it. Some of the dullest sounds I've ever heard on any album come from here. Not a single song stands out other than ''Damned If I Do'', and that song is just another slick pop hit. I would avoid this record if you enjoy lots and lots of prog rock.
Report this review (#219097)
Posted Sunday, May 31, 2009 | Review Permalink
4 stars I'm torn between a 3 star and a 4. I'm giving it the four, because this is a generally underrated album. What I didn't know before listening to this is it's pop. Eve is a concept album that focuses on womens' effect on men.

The first track (Lucifer) is a fine listen. It was all instrumental, a typical song for The Project. This is probably a more practical song for anyone's progressive rock library. You Lie Down With Dogs is the second track. This is a pop song, and as such, I like the lyrical content (though harsh) and the catchy tune. This was not their more successful prog song, but it is not an average song for pop rock. I'd Rather Be a Man is a successful song as far as instrumentals go. I really like the synth-oriented sound in this track. The lyrics (though catchy and clever) are a tad upsetting. I don't mind it, in fact, I enjoy the perspective in the song. You Won't Be There is on the boring side. The singing doesn't catch my attention, though the chord progression was easy to follow. Winding Me Up is one of my favorite tracks in this album. The cute intro is what originally drew me to this song, but I realize that the orchestration is just marvelous. The chorus is easy to follow, the beat is strong, and I enjoyed this one's message as well. The climax is lacking in my opinion, but all together, it is one of the most accessible tracks to listen to for less prog-educated people. This next song (Damned If I Do) was a minor hit and is definitely a higher than average piece for a pop song. Like the entire conceptual theme of the album, this song was a narration of one aspect of a relationship between a man and a woman. Again, this has a great intro, a nice synth part. The bass took a large role in this song. This is probably one of the most critiqued tracks in the album, and I wish they focused less on listenability and more on the artistic aspect. I really liked the orchestration in this song as well. Clare Torry, in Don't Hold Back, did one of the greatest jobs in the entire album. Her entire rock career is one of the most noteworthy for any female vocalist. As far as the song goes, I like it. The drumming of Stuart Elliot is very important, especially before the chorus. Secret Garden is another more practical song for the purposes of prog rock. It is entirely instrumental, besides the vocalists singing du-du-du near 2:00. I liked the synth lead in this song, though by this track it is a little overused. The sound was pleasing, though almost "cheesy". It is clear that although completely prog, this entire album was conceived for the purposes of being popular, which, in my mind, is completely acceptable even though others are resentful. If I could Change Your Mind is the last track to this album. This one was more successful than Clare's lead song in orchestration and seriousness, though I liked Clare's performance better than Lesley Duncan's. This one seems to be led by piano, with the afterthought of guitar

The entire album was a success, a bridge between popular music and prog, which is very important. In the end, the album was full of mainly light-hearted, almost cute tracks. This is a great purchase for anyone who likes The Alan Parsons Project, likes crossover-prog, or who wants to fill a vast library with excellent music.

Report this review (#220042)
Posted Saturday, June 6, 2009 | Review Permalink
ZowieZiggy
PROG REVIEWER
1 stars I can't be called a die-hard APP fan. I moderately appreciated their first two albums and it is almost logical that I am not praising this one.

Electro-pop-disco music, superbly produced and played for sure, but it still remains what it is. Easy listening stuff with little to no flavour. If you believe that the opener is a mistake, you are wrong. It is a good indication of what's coming next (although it is the best track from this album).

I wish the eve would never show up while listening to this album. Unless you appreciated ''Saturday Night Fever'', there is no reason to like a track like ''You Lie''. But actually, there is no reason to like this album. Period.

Most songs are on the weak side, and I can't find any prog in here. Synths maybe? But when coupled with these unbearable electro beats, I just feel nausea. The same ''Bee Gees'' feel can be ''experienced'' during the weak and syrupy ballad ''You Won't Be There''. Definitely, I won't?

It is a useless exercise to find any other good track in this album. It is a huge ''press next'' effort. The best has been heard with the opening number and the rest is mostly poor music. Some sort of second rate ELO from the eighties: do you see what I mean?

If ever you are into disco music, you might find this album intersting. I don't. And for me it isn't worth a ? cent. Since I can't go lower than one star, this is the verdict (''Secret Garden'' is OK though).

Report this review (#222940)
Posted Wednesday, June 24, 2009 | Review Permalink
3 stars A very mysterious album. By the time their fourth was released, it was pretty much expected that an Alan Parsons Project album was going to begin with a dark electronic intrumental, and while "Lucifer" is OK, it also could have been the first song on I Robot or Pyramid. The rest of Side One is made up of songs dealing with the concept, which is done in with a very cynical approach, and while some of these songs would stand alone as decent individual relationhip commentaries, when put to an album about the nature of women, they often come across as unfair generalizations. For the most part that is. "You Won't Be There" conveys the intended expression of hurt and dissapointment very effectively with great orchestration and singing, and lyrics that do make a good point, which is something that can't exactly be said about "You Lie Down With Dogs" or "I'd Rather Be a Man." The latter of those two actually has some pretty interesting music with some really cool synth stuff going on, but those lyrics are really strong, to put it mildly. Fortunately, "You Won't Be There" is right after that one. There's one more song on Side One, and "Winding Me Up" is OK. The Side Two opener, "Damned if I Do" sums up the general attitude of the album, and is much catchier than any of the rockers on the first side. The album then attempts to show a nicer approach to the concept, and for the most part succeeds. "Don't Hold Back" is great anthem of encouragement sung by Claire Torry that gets stuck in my head for hours after hearing it. By far the best lyrics on the album; I just love that chorus: "Don't hold back/don't hold back/don't hold back and reach out/touch the sky with your mind's eye/don't be afraid to reach out." When I first heard Eve, it being a concept album about women, I was very surprised that there weren't any love songs on it. Then I realized after becoming more familiar with the album that the instrumental, "Secret Garden" is a wonderful tribute to the beauty of women, a masterpiece of composition, and a nice statement of love for the things that can't be expressed with words. Seriously, this is one their best intsrumentals - even the grooves on the record when spinning are a work of art. This very enigmatic album closes out with "If I Could Change Your Mind", which is a very beautiful, orchestrated ballad sung expertly by Lesley Duncan, who is smart enough to sing the pleading lyrics with a tinge of irony, which was probably the composer's intention. It leaves an exoticly bittersweet taste, and always makes me want to listen to the whole thing again. So in the end, Eve turns out to be a good album that just gets off to a really rough start.
Report this review (#546017)
Posted Saturday, October 8, 2011 | Review Permalink
1 stars In 1979 they all went "disco" somehow - as if there had been any need to follow the Bee Gees ! I remember I felt devastated at the time, what f.e. had happened to ELO ? Even BJH had started their first Album without Woolly with an attempt at filling dancefloors ( "Love on the Line" )... and The Alan Parsons Project sounded like a flat edition of themselves with "Lucifer". "Nevermind, Roop, that's the single and it's a hit, not really bad but listen to the album, it's Alan Parsons Project and they haven't made a bad one yet !" was what I was thinking. And I was absolutely disappointed. Then. "Lucifer" appeared to be the only track of any merit, even the other instrumental failed to have any impact... and the songs ? Boring. Bland. Emotionless.

The years have passed and I consider "Saturday Night Fever" as the best "phase" the Bee Gees had, starting with "Main Course" and ending with "Spirits ( having flown )". It's brilliant stuff. I have come to terms with Roxy Music's later phase ( love much of it now ) and even enjoy "Discovery" by ELO, BJH's Album - as my favourite Band ever - has quite some great stuff on it including "Love on the Line" with its spacey groove and feel. But APP ?

I have tried. More than once, believe me. Nothing has changed. Not even "Damned if I do" does anything for me. It's all about the songs and the songs here are immature from the second to the last track. "Lucifer" is still best but... compared to other APP-Instrumentals even this one can't live up to "Hyper Gamma Spaces" or the later "Gold Bug" or "Where's the Walrus ?". And it cannot save the album. Any other from APP, even "Stereotomy" is beating it out... or "Try anything once" without the "Project" in the name. It's been a mistake. If its successor hadn't been a strong album like "Turn of a friendly Card" was, I'd have solely written them off. As others have said here already: "Eve" is a "skipper".

Now there's been enough of information saying that Alan Parsons himself wasn't happy with that album either, putting it down to record-company pressures so they had to release it long before it was finished to their full satisfaction. This may be an excuse but I even can't imagine more work going into that poor collection of songs to better it. Nothing comparable here to what had made "I robot" or "Pyramid" so special. I sure don't mind "commercial" albums. But the songs have to be there. Here all of them sound the same - and very uninspired. Prog ? By no means. But I don't lower the rating because of that... and I can't give any more than one star for the concept, either. What's so special about writing songs about men and women ? Or filling a whole album with them ? Lots of people did that and lots of people will do that in future time. There's nothing wrong with it - as long as the songs are good. Relying on the bible for the concept, okay, that would have been something if APP had stayed true to the theme and explored new and interesting views about characters from the holy book - and investigating further there. Perhaps they should have taken "Lucifer" for a totally different album and called it "Lilith" ?

Report this review (#613102)
Posted Wednesday, January 18, 2012 | Review Permalink
Andrea Cortese
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars Despite its ugly cover, bad reputation and subdued drums, this album still has its moments.

Devoted to woman, it opens with "Lucifer", a (provoking and misogynous) catchy instrumental number in the vein of "Hyper Gamma Spaces" (from the Pyramid album) and it is by no means the weakest records of APP as some reviewers have pointed out.

Ok, there are some polished and pure pop oriented numbers as "You Won't Be There", "If I could Change Your Mind" (female vocals), "You Lie Down with the Dogs" but, on the other side there are still interesting tracks as "Secret Garden" (very pleasant instrumental with elegant vocalisings), "I'd Rather Be a Man" (similar to "Lucifer"), "Damned If I Do" (amazingly bitter with powerful orchestra), the decadent loop (in my humble opinion) of "Winding Me Up".

Report this review (#640326)
Posted Friday, February 24, 2012 | Review Permalink
AtomicCrimsonRush
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars 'Eve' is the followup to 'Pyramid' and after the first 3 albums that were dynamic and full of inventive ideas, 'Eve' did not deliver the same innovation and has no prog. There are some great tracks and the odd instrumental such as Lucifer, though it is not a shadow of the greatness of other APP instrumentals such as I, Robot, or Hyper Gamma Spaces. Coming from 1979, the album suffers the same fate as many early 80s albums that date quickly and have hyper treble production and tinny sounds, and the dreaded disco sound. The poppy You Lie Down With Dogs has a familiar funky keyboard sound like other APP singles but it wears its welcome out by the time it gets to the end. The album is very pop oriented and doesn't take the same type of experimental risks as previous albums, so it is rather disappointing, right down to the dull coverart. I'd Rather Be A Man has a nice rocking sound sounding too similar to material on 'Pyramid', though I always liked those reverberating guitar sounds. The melody is infectious and I like the synth screams in the chorus section. The keyboard instrumental is excellent too and this is one of the better tracks on the album.

You Won't Be There is another ballad sounding uncomfortably like The Bee Gees in vocal style. I am not a fan of this soft ballad material from APP. Winding Me Up opens with a clock winding, a musical box melody, violins and then the trademark keyboard funk. It unfortunately settles into soft melodic pop and the mediocrity of the album begins to reveal itself in horrible contrast to previous albums. Hopefully it will get better, I was thinking at this point.

Damned If I Do is one of the album singles so one would expect it would be a decent song. It opens with synthesizer loops and an intriguing synth horn sound. The tempo goes into 4/4 and the commercial radio opens wide its arms to embrace this type of pop so little wonder it became a single. Finally a nice synth instrumental enters and some gorgeous violin strings, before a well executed lead break.

Next up is Don't Hold Back and it is just more of the pop radio sounds that I have already tired of. The vocals are okay coming from the wonderful Clare Torry, but this song is very dull after a minute or so. It is still nice to hear Clare Torry again, having made such a huge splash on Pink Floyd's Great Gig in the Sky.

Next is more instrumental work on Secret Garden. The keys sound like Hyper Gamma Spaces but it is not enough to save this track from being just another filler. It locks into a slow beat after a while which I kind of liked but it is ruined by all the 'oo be do be do be do be wah's that are simply frustrating rather than adding anything to this.

Last is another single with If I Could Change Your Mind, with Leslie Duncan's vocals that are very welcome at this point, but this is simply another slow ballad. The vocals make this one of the best tracks on the album but it is not up to the standard of excellence from previous APP albums.

Overall 'Eve' is disappointing, and very frustrating, as the band are capable of great progressive innovation but it is all thrown out the window to make way for the 80s synth pop sound that permeated the radiowaves but simply is outdated. There is not enough material on this worthy of salvage for a 3 star rating and it barely scrapes 2 stars only because of Lucifer and I'd Rather Be A Man, as well as Clare Torry. The rest is filler or will only appeal to the pop AOR fanbase, rather than a progressive listening audience.

Report this review (#895506)
Posted Saturday, January 19, 2013 | Review Permalink
3 stars "Eve" is Alan Parsons Project's fourth studio album and it was released in 1979 and has a picture of the women with dark veils covering their faces looking at us with melancholic eyes. The musicians on this record are David Paton (bass), Stuart Elliott(drums and percussion), Ian Bairnson(guitars), Eric Woolfson and Duncan MacKay(keyboards), Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson(miscellaneous instruments), Chris Rainbow and David Paton(backing vocals) and Christ Rainbow, Kenny Zakatek, Dave Townsend, Lesley Duncan, David Patton, Clare Torry(Lead vocals) and The Orchestra of the Munich Chamber Opera with Andrew Powell(orchestra and choir).

"Eve" is a very well produced and fine sounding album which you can listen to if you want smooth and shimmering music that not disturbs anyone. In my opinion the music is a little bit too laid back. I would have wanted more scars and disturbancies through the record. But well, why complain about beautiful music. "Eve" certainly has a lot to praise: fine vocal themes, light symphonic passages and a rich and good soundscape. But the music is too soft and easy achieved to be considered prog or get my fully interest. "If I Could Change Your Mind" is the finest song but actually every track is good. Alan Parsons Project's first record was magic in my ears, after that they have just been okay, and with "Eve" I would say the same. Three stars!

Report this review (#1173360)
Posted Saturday, May 10, 2014 | Review Permalink
stefro
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Considered controversial at the time of release, and saddled with a reputation that has been hard to shake, The Alan Parsons Project's 1979 album 'Eve' is, for many reasons, considered one of the group's lesser works.

A kind of quizzical concept album about the nature of woman kind - conceived and written by two men we must add - 'Eve' features a selection of songs that meditate on both the positive and negative aspects of the fairer sex, and features cover art despicting two models wearing veils. Only look a bit closer, and the glamourous women are revealed to have beauty-blighting facial scars.

Along with the concept, the cover was one of the many ill-conceived ideas featured on an album that was, sadly, symptomatic of it's era. The late seventies was still a time of overt male rule in the workplace, and despite the best intentions of both Alan Parsons and his erstwhile writing partner Eric Woolfson, 'Eve' as a concept is, at best, a clumsy mistake.

The duo's fourth album following 'Tales of Mystery & Imagination', 'I Robot' and 'Pyramid', 'Eve' was a calculated break from the progressive pop imprint of it's predecessors, and was the first Alan Parsons album not to start with an instrumental opener. Instead, this was a song-based album that sought to widen the group's appeal, a ploy that didn't work as well as intended.

Fronted by guest vocalists Chris Rainbow and Lenny Zakatek, and with Parsons and Woolfson once again backed by three quarters of the Scottish rock group Pilot, 'Eve' features the usual crisp production values, yet at first listen seems rather unexceptional.

However, like all good albums, 'Eve' needs multiple listens to fullt grasp.

The strength of the Parsons and Woolfson creative team was always the outstanding mix of first-grade production skills and hook-laden songwriting, and their ability to graft catchy melodies onto deceptively progressive music. Whilst the latter is largely absent here, it only goes to accentuate the former.

Tracks such as the groove-laden opener 'Lucifer', which postulates about the vices of woman, kicks proceedings off with a surprisingly tangy guitar-led sound, and features strong vocals from Rainbow, whilst the edgy 'Damned If I Do' powers along with sharp guitars and snapping snare drums.

There are less impressive moments.

'I'd Rather Be A Man' borders on the downright offensive, whilst also sounding like the kind of sub R'n'B-schtick Gloria Gaynor ended up doing in the mid-eighties, and the jerky 'Secret Garden' is beyond maudlin.

But the album actually holds together, even if the subject matter jars badly in the moden era.

There are few better at concocting string melodic progressive pop, which is both thoughtful and popular, than The Alan Parsons Project, and even on an album considered one of their weakest, their are still many strong songs, all once again brough out by the crystal clear production.

Parsons started as an Abbey Road engineer of course, working on Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' album in 1972 before becoming a fully-fledged in-house producer, overseeing albums for Steve Harley, Ambrosia, Al Stewart and The Hollies.

A songwriter, Woolfson worked for Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label, before leaving to conceive his dream project, a musical based on the works of noted horror author Edgar Allan Poe.

Their combined skills, and the unique nature of the group, which saw musicians brought in on an album-by-album basis to play the music written by Parsons and Woolfson, meant every album had it's unique concept, and it's own sound.

'Eve' is certainly one of their more mediocre efforts, yet there is still much to recommend.

STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2016

Report this review (#1663800)
Posted Sunday, December 4, 2016 | Review Permalink
3 stars After three excellent productions, no one should be disappointed that The ALAN PARSONS PROJECT (TAPP)'s fourth album has not reached such high levels of quality and inspiration. Without being really bad, by comparison, it shines very little ... although, honestly, I've heard dozens of worse records that have sold more copies than this one! After exploring the future and the past on the two previous albums, creative duet PARSONS/WOOLFSON embarked on a concept as fascinating as it is problematic: women, and more specifically, relationships between men and women, with songs sung by (more) men and (less) women. Following the exact same recipe that worked so well on "Pyramid," pop songs are interspersed with a couple of instrumentals, all tied by the central concept. The album starts with an instrumental theme that would soon become a classic: 'Lucifer,' which immediately sets the tone for the entire first part of the album. There is little point in trying to make controversial with what TAPP meant by naming the opening track of an album dedicated to women with such a name, right? Two very memorable songs follow 'Lucifer': 'You Lie Down With Dogs' which is by far the most misogynistic song Eric WOOLFSON has ever written, and 'I'd Rather Be A Man' which it barely lags a little behind. But these compositions do not impress me because of the violence of the lyrics, nor because of the hate contained in their message, but because of the atmosphere so well achieved that it is created with music, ominous and perverse; the playful rhythm with which Lenny ZAKATEK and David PATON sing (I personally like Lenny's timbre in the first one more than David's in the second), and the instrumental solos, which lead to a terrifying climax: not even in moments. Darker than "Tales of Mystery and Imagination," the Project had sounded so poisonous ... The album continues with other songs less interesting than those two, armed with the typical warm and monotonous melodies, and the well-known vocal harmonies that TAPP quickly accustomed us to. The apparent intention is to face the feelings of men and women in the typical battle of the sexes; for example, in 'You Won't Be There,' sung melodramatically by Dave TOWNSEND, it talks about male insecurities, while the theme in 'Winding Me Up' is the female ability to dominate your partner (interesting detail: notice at the initial sound of the music box mechanism breaking?) The bitter 'Damned If I Do' is a more traditional song, with a style that anticipates the pop music of the next decade, with its synthesizer arrangements and catchy choruses. The bitter 'Damned If I Do' is a more traditional song, with a style that anticipates the pop music of the next decade, with its synthesizer arrangements and catchy choruses, although more emotional than much of the New Wave music later produced in England. The female point of view appears until the end of the album: Clare TORRY sings 'Don't Hold Back,' about the malice and intellectual ability of the erroneously called "weak sex." At the same time, Lesley DUNCAN takes over 'If I Could Change Your Mind,' which does not need further clarification, as the title is quite eloquent. - Martín HERNÁNDEZ
Report this review (#2375877)
Posted Thursday, April 30, 2020 | Review Permalink
Warthur
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars The fourth Alan Parsons Project album is yet another crisply produced collection of tunes. Sonically speaking, things lean a little more towards a prog-pop direction than the first three albums (though not enormously so, since there'd always been a dose of that in the mix), though perhaps a little less inspired and catchy than preceding releases from the group, and lyrically speaking the album is a mess.

The participants have insisted that the idea was about the challenges women face, though frankly it comes across more like a bunch of men demonising women - indeed, no women are heard at all on 7 of the 9 tunes here, with only Clare Torry and Lesley Duncan getting a chance to be heard, and it's hard not to see the album as being more about mens' views of women than it is about women themselves.

This might be a clever and insightful theme for a concept album if more of an attempt were made to challenge and self-criticise those views, rather than simply taking them as read - but as it stands, it just feels faintly embarrassing, with points which sound like the audio equivalent of an incel message board.

This is exacerbated by the structure of the album; the idea seems to have been to present the negative side of women on side one, and the positive side on side two (which includes the two tracks which have women on lead vocals). There's two issues that mean it doesn't quite work; the first is that it's a concept which inherently is based around grand, sweeping generalisations, and the second is that the condemnation on side 1 seems to vastly outweigh the praise in side two, leaving the whole thing seeming imbalanced.

To be fair, only I'd Rather Be A Man would stand out as being especially misogynistic if you took it on its own - the rest of the compositions here would be inoffensive if heard in isolation. It's when you put them all together in one package that side 1 ends up seeming so ugly and bitter, and overshadows side 2's more conciliatory tone so much.

The bitterness may have been exacerbated by the fact that Parson and Woolfson were at odds with Arista at this time, and were grumpy about their contract. Indeed, this would be around the time that they knocked off The Sicilian Defence in three days, delivering it to the record company simultaneously with Eve, in order to burn through their contractual obligations and leverage Arista back to the barganining table. The end result was a renewed contract and something of a return to form on The Turn of a Friendly Card.

The Sicilian Defence was an infamous goof-off - a deliberately lazy effort that Parsons and Woolfson didn't seriously expect to see the light of day - but it's hard not to feel like they may have been holding back a little here, keeping back their most choice ideas just in case that contract negotiation fell through and they needed to offer something tasty and tempting to some other record company.

The end result is that Eve barely scrapes to three star status off the back of the pristine production and lush instrumental backing to its compositions, but the combination of Parsons and Woolfson semi-phoning it in and the bitter tone of the whole thing means it's hard to give it more credit than that.

Report this review (#2895316)
Posted Tuesday, February 28, 2023 | Review Permalink

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