The Alan Parsons Project: The Turn of A Friendly Card
Alan Parsons interviewed by Prog magazine Editor Jerry Ewing about his 1980 album, The Turn of A Friendly Card.
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:12 Obviously, Turn of Friendly Card is coming out as a reissue.
00:16 Now, when you go back and listen to something like that, what's your feelings about it?
00:20 We, of course, had a lot of single success on Turn of Friendly Card.
00:28 We had two fairly big singles, Games People Play and Time.
00:32 It was Eric's debut as a singer.
00:37 I'd not let him loose on the vocal mic for a master take before then.
00:44 He didn't do too bad in the end, did he?
00:46 He did really well, and I'm never allowed to forget that it was clearly a mistake that I forbade him from singing until that point.
00:56 He ended up singing other hits like "Don't Answer Me" and "Prime Time" was another one he sang.
01:08 It's been great to revisit it.
01:16 It's interesting to hear Eric's songwriting diaries, which were the initial moments, the initial plucking the ideas out of thin air for the songs.
01:31 They make an interesting chronicle.
01:34 There's a couple of my own instrumental demos as well.
01:38 It gives a little insight into how the album came together.
01:50 This was the first big commercial breakthrough, because you said the hits, wasn't it?
01:56 As you say, you can still walk into Tesco and not get noticed.
02:01 What was that like, having big massive success and yet no one knew who you were?
02:09 It was amazing.
02:12 There's a story I've told occasionally of going to Tower Records in Hollywood.
02:22 It's no longer there, unfortunately, but arguably one of the most famous record stores in the world.
02:29 I walked in there because I was short of copies for promotion.
02:38 I bought four copies of "I, Robot", four copies of "Tales of Mystery and Imagination", four copies of "Pyramid", plunked them down on the desk, gave them my credit card and said, "Yes, sir, fine. Can I see some ID, please?"
02:52 I've reveled in being unrecognized.
03:02 The fact is, we vowed that we were a studio outfit.
03:08 We said we're not going to go out and play live, which was actually a huge mistake.
03:13 I think if we'd taken the plunge and said that we would go out and play live, we could have been as big as anybody.
03:20 However, given the longevity that the project and you, yourself as a musician, since have, the endearing appeal still, do you think that perhaps, had you done what you said you weren't going to do, perhaps we wouldn't almost be sat here now talking about "Don't Have a Friendly Card".
03:43 I know it's so hypothetical, but there is a chance that that could have blown the mystique in a way.
03:49 The fact that because you were so unique, because there really weren't that many what was seen as studio projects, I'm sure there were people that probably didn't think Alan Parsons was a person.
04:03 It was just the name.
04:05 That maybe what's endured wouldn't have endured quite the way it has.
04:12 I think there was strength in our mystique and I believe that to this day.
04:19 But if I hadn't gone on the road, I'd be broke now.
04:23 With the record business the way it is.
04:27 As a fan, getting to see you perform these great songs is terrific.
04:33 I just love it and I'm not the only one.
04:36 What was it like for you being able to suddenly, was it sort of breaking free, it's like finally I'm on stage doing...
04:43 Well, you know, I'm no virtuoso.
04:47 I mean I can play keyboards and guitar well enough to put a song together.
04:53 And I'm okay as a rhythm guitarist.
04:56 But the last time I played lead guitar was in this blues band in the 60s.
05:01 I mean I really pretty much, when I came to work here at Abbey Road, I pretty much hung up my guitar for it.
05:10 Blew the dust off many years later.
05:13 I concentrated on the studio career rather than the musician career.
05:18 But hey, the first tour was magical.
05:22 Standing on a stage, playing the songs, getting the reaction.
05:28 Beyond belief experience really.
05:31 So you really enjoy it?
05:32 Oh yeah, love it.
05:34 It's a pity we don't see you more often over here, I have to say.
05:37 Funnily enough, our level of success in the UK is nothing like what it is in mainland Europe and in places like South America, Mexico.
05:47 We have a huge following in those places.
05:51 The UK somehow, from the live market, is eluded.
05:55 One thing we were talking about before you came in was the way that The Outer Pastures Project has ingrained itself into the cultural psyche.
06:05 In a kind of bizarre way, Sirius is such a popular song, it's used in American sport on TV, the Mike Myers films.
06:16 You must enjoy that, but it must be a bit bizarre as well.
06:23 It's a little bizarre, yes.
06:27 Sirius was not written as a sports theme, and yet it seems to be used by just about every basketball team in America for walk-on music.
06:37 It was used also by the New Orleans Saints at their successful win at the Super Bowl a few years back.
06:49 It was just written as an intro for Eye in the Sky, not as anything else.
06:53 So, yeah, strange.
06:56 [Music]
07:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]