EVE

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.