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The Alan Parsons Project - Stereotomy CD (album) cover

STEREOTOMY

The Alan Parsons Project

 

Crossover Prog

2.77 | 250 ratings

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Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
4 stars Gary Brooker in the limelight

The Alan Parsons Project, being as they were a studio based "project" led by Eric Wolfson and Alan Parsons, had the luxury of being able to call upon guest vocals whom they felt would be appropriate for a particular track. This gave their albums the potential for great diversity, a facet they did not always exploit to the full. Too often, the various singers end up sounding similar to each other, overwhelmed by the everything but the kitchen sink approach adopted during production.

"Stereotomy" however is different. The chosen vocalists are individually strong, including as they do John Miles, Chris Rainbow, and the great Gary Brooker (Procol Harum). There is still the familiar APP pop sound, particularly on the lightweight tracks such as "Beujolais" and "In the real world" There is also the obligatory couple of instrumentals which always seem to sound the same, but there are also some more adventurous, well constructed pieces too.

The title track is a great upbeat opener, with the single word title being used to great phonetic effect (similar to the way Russ Ballard used to do so well on Argent tracks like "Liar" and "Tragedy".)

"Limelight", the track featuring Gary Brooker's voice stand head and shoulders above the other tracks. It is truly one of the APP's defining moments. Admittedly Brooker could make any lyric sound emotional, but when he gets the right song, as he does here, the results can be stunning.

For those wishing to discover the APP, this would make a good early choice.

Easy Livin | 4/5 |

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