TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION

The Alan Parsons Project's debut album was a musical tribute to Edgar Allan Poe and although there are times when the music is fitting for Poe's horror tales, at other times it seems to miss the mark. This album would have been much better if it had a more "macabre" feel to it. Anyhow, for the most part, it is an enjoyable listen and showcases the engineering genius of Alan Parsons' sound, a formula he would use over and over in what would seem like a never-ending series of Project albums.

APP would also make it a regular habit of incorporating new musical technology into each of its albums, most notably the vocoder on this album. Parsons also incorporated a group of guest vocalists and often hired session musicians for his various projects. Examples on this album include John Miles, Francis Monkman (of Curved Air), the amazing Arthur Brown, and Terry Sylvester (Hollies), among others. This album also features choirs and an orchestra. Everything you could ever want for a concept album, right?

Unfortunately, Tales of Mystery and Imagination lacks one major ingredient and that's a good dose of progressive rock. I'll be the first to admit that it has a sort of "progressiveness" to it, but when you listen more closely, it only shows itself in a few spots here and there. This is basically an artsy-style of plain old rock and I can see why it has been placed in the "prog-related" category. Maybe pop-prog would be a more appropriate label as many of these songs could have easily been released as singles (Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether and The Raven both were).

I'm not doubting that this is a great work, it is. It's just it would get a better rating on a "Rock Archives" site then here. For me, it deserves three stars, good but not essential to the prog rock genre. Think about it. Is it in the same league as Close to the Edge, Wish You Were Here, or Selling England by the Pound? Not even close.