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ERIC WOOLFSON

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Eric Woolfson biography
Eric Norman Woolfson - 18th March 1945 (Glasgow, UK) - 2nd December 2009

Eric Woolfson is best known as the driving force behind the ALAN PARSONS PROJECT. Born in Glasgow in Scotland in 1945, he moved to London, England at the age of 18 finding work as a session pianist. He then signed up as a house writer for the Immediate record label.

In 1975, he met up with Beatles and Pink Floyd engineer Alan Parsons, and the Alan parsons Project was born. It was Woolfson who brought the vast majority of the compositions to the project, Parsons' role being largely behind the scenes. Woolfson also sang on many of their songs. Woolfson moved into writing musicals for theatre resulting in creations such as "FREUDIANA" and "GAUDI", the latter being the title of an album by the Alan Parsons Project.

When Woolfson left the Alan Parsons Project, the "Project" part of the name was dropped. Woolfson's only official solo album was the 2003 release "Poe, more tales of mystery and imagination". Sadly, Eric Woolfson died of kidney cancer in the early hours of the 2nd December 2009, aged 64.

Bob McBeath (Easy livin) - With thanks to the official Eric Woolfson website.

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ERIC WOOLFSON discography


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ERIC WOOLFSON top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.48 | 133 ratings
Freudiana
1990
4.00 | 3 ratings
Gaudí (The Musical)
1995
3.67 | 3 ratings
Gambler
1997
3.38 | 21 ratings
Poe - More Tales of Mystery and Imagination
2003
3.71 | 24 ratings
Eric Woolfson Sings The Alan Parsons Project That Never Was
2009

ERIC WOOLFSON Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

ERIC WOOLFSON Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

ERIC WOOLFSON Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

5.00 | 1 ratings
Eric Woolfson's Somewhere in the Audience
2013

ERIC WOOLFSON Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

5.00 | 1 ratings
San Tokay
1971

ERIC WOOLFSON Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Freudiana by WOOLFSON, ERIC album cover Studio Album, 1990
3.48 | 133 ratings

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Freudiana
Eric Woolfson Prog Related

Review by Mirakaze
Special Collaborator Eclectic Prog & JR/F/Canterbury Teams

3 stars A breath of fresh air after the Alan Parsons Project's dreadful stagnation throughout most of the 80s. It's still not up to the standards of something like I Robot of course; the album still devolves into generic arena rock a few times too often and the lyrics are a bit iffy in spots (you were at least several years too late to still be singing about "the danger zone", guys) but there's clearly some good new ideas here, a variety of styles and moods that are covered, a lot of care that's gone into the production and the arrangements (as opposed to the shopworn 80s production on the preceding albums) and a healthy, sorely needed dose of humour.
 Freudiana by WOOLFSON, ERIC album cover Studio Album, 1990
3.48 | 133 ratings

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Freudiana
Eric Woolfson Prog Related

Review by sgtpepper

3 stars After the 1980's Turn of the friendly card, this is the most progressive output of Eric Woolfson and Alan Parsons. Catchy poppy tracks are not as aggressive as few years ago. I have the impression that both APP's masterminds decided to create more solid work of challenging and memorable music without any pressure to sell. The album clocks at 74 minutes but still, it has enough to offer - both guys had enough time to recover and collect new ideas. Album feels like a collection of various tracks, moods and singers although there is a concept behind.

"The Nirwana principle" is the track with the motive that gets repeated throughout the album. "Freudiana" is also one of the main music motives with great melody - and subtle melancholy in the vein of APP. "I am a mirror" is a catchy track reminiscent of previous golden era. The ballad slot is filled with a high quality "Dora" sung by legendary voice of Eric Woolfson. Another ballad "There but for the grace of God" brings the great voice of John Miles. "Far away from home" brings me the Christmas spirit each time a hear it. One a more progressive note, listen to "The ring" was more interesting instrumentation. "Don't let the moment pass" is a symphonic track that is unusual for APP.

Overall, this is a well structured and crafted piece of progressive pop.

 Freudiana by WOOLFSON, ERIC album cover Studio Album, 1990
3.48 | 133 ratings

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Freudiana
Eric Woolfson Prog Related

Review by Asiostygius

4 stars After a terrible sequence of pop/mainstream and radio-friend albums in the 1980s, I consider this concept album as a come back to the glorious days of the first 3 Alan Parsons Project's albuns. This is surely an underrated album.

I don't care about the controversy about if this is in fact an APP or not, the fact is that the music is more than good enough to me. The album is centered on an interesting concept about Sigmund Freud life and work, with tons of different styles, from ballads through a very enjoying Beatlesque track to almost hard rock tracks. There are even humour tinges in some narrated places. Perhaps this album would need at least 2 to 3 attentive auditions to be fully appreciated, but for me it deserves solid four stars, without a doubt!

 Freudiana by WOOLFSON, ERIC album cover Studio Album, 1990
3.48 | 133 ratings

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Freudiana
Eric Woolfson Prog Related

Review by DrömmarenAdrian

4 stars Wow, what an incredible end of this great band's discography! "Freudiana" is Alan Parsons project's eleventh studio album and it was released 1990. I am convinced this is the band's second best album and I believe it is underrated. Why has so few rated and reviewed it here. Perhaps it's beacuse some don't consider it to be an APP' record. But even if the name isn't the is the line up and everything similar with the band and its characteristics. It has a fine cover and a line of of Eric Wooldson, Richard Cottle, Stuart Elliott, Ian Bairnson, Laurie Cottle, Alan Parsons, Leo Sayer, Graham Dye, The FLying Pickets, Kiki Dee, Eric Stewart, Frankie Howerd, Marti Webb, Gary Howard, Chris Rainbow, Andrew Powell and John Miles.

Long albums could be anoying, but not when they are as good as this one. You could perhaps call it more progressive than other releases of the band but what I feel most clearly here it that the album is simialr to musicals and rock operas. I compare it with Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserables and other fantastic musical and Woolfsosn here could have done a musical of this. I like everything on the album but it has its highlights. Three tracks are so wonderful that I give them the highest rating(10/10). "I am a mirror" with Leo Sayer on vocals is a wonderful rock sond with both great instrumantation and vocals. "Sects therapy" - sung by Frankie Howerd is so typical English and fits an old classical and noble world of dances and the lyrics are so funny. Funny is also "Funny you should say that" which seems to be inspired by Zappa but it's much better than him and it is a powerful and very funny piece of music. The lyrics are extraordinary and the players singing it do it great. Then we have the rock opera "No one can love you better than me" which is theatralic and very interesting(9/10) with vocals from Kiki Dee, Marti Webb, Gary Howerd and Eric Woolfson. I am also so glad to hear Eric Stewart which I like from 10cc, singing "The ring"(8/10) and "Upper me"(8/10). Eric Woolfson sings great in "Freudiana"(8/10) too! The little sixites pop song "Little Hans" sung by Grahan Dye (8/10) is as lovely as "Don't let the moment pass"(8/10) with vocals of Marti Webb. The album ends very well with "There but fot the grace of god" with vocals of John Miles which is a powerful song and concludes this perfectly.

All the other songs are good so the evenness of the album is evident! The least interesting song is "Dora" which I rate to (6/10). If we think about how even this record is and how many great and interesting songs, lyrics and craftsmanship it contains I would almost give it five stars. But that would be wrong so a smashing four have to be my answer. My journey through Alan Parsons Project's carreer has come to an end and I'd rank the album's is this way: 1. Tales of mystery and imagination - Edgar Allan Poe(76)- 5/5, 2. Freudiana(90)-4/5, 3. Eye in the sky(82)-4/5, 4. The turn of a friendly card(80)-4/5, 5. I robot(77)-3/5, 6. Ammonia avenue(84)-3/5, 7. Pyramid(78)-3/5, 8. Gaudi(87)-3/5, 9. Stereotomy(85)-3/5, 10. Eve(79)-3/5 and 11. Vulture Culture(84)-2/5. What do you think?

 Freudiana by WOOLFSON, ERIC album cover Studio Album, 1990
3.48 | 133 ratings

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Freudiana
Eric Woolfson Prog Related

Review by tdfloyd

4 stars In what started out as the eleventh album of the Alan Parsons Project, over time morphed into solo project with the band name and album title called Freudiana. Like APP this is headed up by Eric Woolfson, who wrote all of the lyrics and most of music. What is different is Brian Brolly, who convinced Woolfson to make the new album adaptable to the stage. The changes produced two different results. First, the album successfully married Freud, pop, rock, prog and Broadway into something that is quite unique and interesting. The second result was that without the Alan Parsons Project moniker, the album was either not released in the USA or had such a small footprint that it sank pretty much without a trace. It's unfortunate because it is a very good piece of work. I had tried to track down the album for 10 years until I finally found it overseas in a small New Zealand CD store.

Lyrically, the songs all deal with the works of Sigmund Freud. Eric Woolfson again displays his writing prowess to great success. A little bit of background reading may be necessary to fully understand a couple of the songs but it is not a prerequisite to enjoy the album. Musically, it sounds like an APP album: multiple vocalists, an orchestra, a very solid band, wonderful production with some stage musical mixed in. Don't let that last piece stop you from tracking down Freudiana. A shame that bad marketing decisions prevented Freudiana from reaching the audience it deserved.

A strong 4 star rating.

 Freudiana by WOOLFSON, ERIC album cover Studio Album, 1990
3.48 | 133 ratings

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Freudiana
Eric Woolfson Prog Related

Review by SouthSideoftheSky
Special Collaborator Symphonic Team

2 stars There is some dispute over whether this should be seen as an Alan Parsons Project album or not. Personally, I do sort this album under Alan Parsons Project in my collection. The theme (there is always a theme) of the album is the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud. This sounds like a pretty pretentious project, but the result is not really pretentious at all. They tackle the topic with some irony and a sense humour. However, it is a very intellectual type of humour and you might not understand it if you haven't studied Fraud. eh, sorry Freud. Personally, I find it really funny as well as serious, since I believe that Freud's theories have done more harm than good. So the source is very rich on material both to make fun of and to criticise.

I must admit that I was quite blown away by the first two or three tracks of this album that are very good (by Alan Parsons Project standards). The opening instrumental is very typical of the Alan Parsons Project, with its programmed rhythms and sax. The six minute title track that follows is, together with the more straightforward rocker I Am A Mirror are, in my opinion, better than anything (else) done by the Project. The guitar work is very good here, and I Am A Mirror has great, and very symphonic instrumental breaks. Great!

Little Hans, is pure Paul McCartney. This song could easily have been on Rubber Soul or Revolver! I like The Beatles a lot, but here it sounded a little bit out of place, but ok. Dora is an ok song as well, a slow and sweet ballad. But, by the time we reach It's Funny You Should Say That, it became painfully clear to me that the hopes set by the three first tracks were too high, very much so. It is really funny, but it hardly is what I would call great music. This music has value to me, but it is a very different type of value from what I seek from progressive music. This is enjoyable in about the same way as Monty Python's Flying Circus or something. (And really only if you know something about Freud).

After this point, the album visits many more musical places and it slowly disintegrates, becoming more and more disjointed and on some tracks you might legitimately wonder whether it is the same album playing or if you accidentally turned the radio on instead. Not saying that it is all radio friendly pop with absolutely no prog credentials. It just doesn't sound like a coherent concept album to me, rather it sounds like a "tribute" album to Sigmund Freud, done by several different bands and artists with no real musical connection to each other.

It is not until towards the end of the album when the title track is reprised that there is any sign of the album getting back on track again, but it does not happen, unfortunately. And even if it would have happened, it would still have been too late to save the album from mediocrity. What started out so good turned out to be quite unsatisfying in the end.

For fans and collectors only.

.and for Freud scholars.

 Poe - More Tales of Mystery and Imagination by WOOLFSON, ERIC album cover Studio Album, 2003
3.38 | 21 ratings

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Poe - More Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Eric Woolfson Prog Related

Review by Easy Livin
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin

3 stars When is a "follow up" not a follow up?

In Eric Woolfson's notes for this album, he lays claim to the idea of dedicating the first Alan Parsons Project album to the works of Edgar Allan Poe. He asserts that, at that time he already had ideas for a second album of Poe related themes, but a change of record labels meant that a different direction was taken. In 2003, he staged a concert dedicated to Poe in the Abbey Road studios, going on to record an album which he credited as being the "follow up" to APP's "Tales of mystery and imagination". The album contains about half of the songs from the stage show. Thus, while this album is credited to Eric Woolfson, a dominant sticker on the sleeve indicates that it is "From the creator and writer of The Alan Parsons Project".

The album starts off in good APP form, although it has to be said that this is not the APP of their first album, the original "Tales..", but of the later more pop based product. As such, overtly promoting it as some sort of follow up to that album can only lead to frustration and disappointment on the part of the unsuspecting. From the brief instrumental "Angel of the Odd", we quickly move into the typical Woolfson upbeat contribution to APP albums with "Wings of eagles". Skipping "Train to freedom" for a minute, "Somewhere in the audience" represents the strong ballad side fans of APP are so familiar with. So far, all is fairly predictable, almost prosaic.

We need though to return to "Train to freedom", as this is where things start to take a decidedly unexpected turn. This upbeat Negro spiritual is pure stage show. Any links with Poe are at best tenuous, the song being "inspired by the atmosphere of political campaigning which might have prevailed in a bar where Poe was found badly beaten and left for dead".

"The bells" and "The murders in the Rue Morgue" are also pure theatre, while "Goodbye to all that" is a highly effective chorale. Even here, we suddenly veer off into a hillbilly burst ("You're the one who'll marry a farmer's daughter"). It is not prog of course, or anything like it, but it is worthy of a spin.

There are other more traditional APP songs such as the three part "The pit and the pendulum", the soft "Tiny star", and the "Dream within a dream" reflections of "Immortal", complete with Orson Welles quotation.

Strangely, Woolfson takes a back seat when it comes to the vocals, thrusting stage show performer Steve Balsamo into the limelight. Balsamo is certainly an accomplished singer, but I can't help but feel that Woolfson could have carried off the vocals himself with equal aplomb.

There is enough here to recommend this collection to fans of the Alan Parsons Project. The stage show numbers may however come as something of a shock to the system, and will inevitably fail to appeal to those seeking more traditional fare from the unheralded mainstay of APP albums.

 Freudiana by WOOLFSON, ERIC album cover Studio Album, 1990
3.48 | 133 ratings

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Freudiana
Eric Woolfson Prog Related

Review by eddietrooper

4 stars This is a forgotten album and as I feel that it deserves more attention, I have decided to review it. The album was released with the title of "Freudiana", without the name of Alan Parsons printed on the sleeve. My copy had a sticker indicating that it was an Alan Parsons & Eric Woolfson album. Actually it's more like a solo album by Eric Wooolfson, produced by Alan Parsons, who gives him some help writing the instrumental tracks as well. Freudiana is a concept album based on the world of Sigmund Freud. It's probably the most varied album in the discography of Alan Parsons and it really contains very interesting compositions. At certain momnets the album looks like a rock opera, with hilarious theatrical numbers like Funny You Should Say That or Sects Therapy, and songs with several characters appearing making dialogues (like in No One Can Love You Better Than Me). But most of the tracks are individual songs with many different styles and moods. There are several interesting instrumentals, typical form Parsons,with a good balance between synths, orchestration and conventional instruments like sax and guitar. These instrumentals are the most progressive part of the album, along with the title track, sung by Woolfson, which is very atmospheric. There are also more straight-ahead rockin' tracks like I Am A Mirror (my personal favorite) and You're On Your Own. Little Hans is a lovely Beatle-esque pop song with great melody. Don't Let The Moment Pass is a beautifull song with female voice and orchestarl arrangements. The rest of the tracks are mainly more conventional APP ballads, but not bad. This is not a prog rock album, although it does have some prog ingredients, as well as many others. Good music, after all.
 Freudiana by WOOLFSON, ERIC album cover Studio Album, 1990
3.48 | 133 ratings

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Freudiana
Eric Woolfson Prog Related

Review by Fishy
Prog Reviewer

3 stars This album was released in 1990. For years the Alan Parsons project was working on another project based on the life and work of Sigmund Freud. What a surprise the album wasn't released as the next album of TAPP. It seems Parsons and his musical architect Woolfson didn't get on very well at the time. During the recording of this album Woolfson got into musicals and wanted to tour some theatres in Europe, which he did afterwards, with a play, based on the material for this album. After Woolfson and Parsons recorded this album, the two of them went on separate ways. But listening to this album, only one conclusion can be drawn. This is in fact the 11th album of The Alan Parsons Project. A pity so many fans of APP didn't get to know this due to the lack of the TAPP moniker. Half the songs on Freudiana could have ended up on any other Project release. We all know most of the APP don't sound as what we would call progressive rock. APP delivered perfect pop music with some symphonic flavours. Taking in consideration the length of this album is double the length of a normal Parsons album, you still have an amount of typical Parsons tunes. "Little Hans" is a Beatlesque track with chart possibilities. Tracks like "Dora" and "let yourself go" are the kind of typical ballads you'll find on other APP efforts. Not bad but cheesy, slick and unmemorable. "You're on your own" is more powerful and features Kiki Dee on vocals. Progressive highlights are the instrumental tracks like "the Nivana principle" and the title track. Especially the title track is something to write about. The lush atmosphere at the background is full of exotic sounds & percussion and a powerful solo of Bairnson ends up the track quite nicely and of course the lyrics are most interesting. "I am the mirror" is in essence a rock track but the full blown symphonic arrangement of Andrew Powell makes it suitable for incorporation on an album like Tales from mystery and imagination". Splendid !

But there's more. On some tracks you can guess the direction Woolfson is heading to in the near future. Tracks like "Funny you should say that" or Sects therapy" seems to be conceived as they were intended as part of a musical" with its many voices in conversation with each other. Especially "Funny you which includes a magnificent chorus. You may like the musical thing or not. It's up to you.

Overall not a perfect album in any case but there's definitely some interesting moments worthwhile of checking out if you like the work of TAPP.

 Freudiana by WOOLFSON, ERIC album cover Studio Album, 1990
3.48 | 133 ratings

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Freudiana
Eric Woolfson Prog Related

Review by mls1968m

3 stars This album is a rarity(I ordered my copy from Arkansas)way back in the 90's...Exellent production quality...More variety here than on your average APP effort...Did'nt expect to hear kiki dee again(she's on one of the tracks)You might say this is for collectors only...Don't let this stop you from checking this one out...
Thanks to easy livin for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

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