Alan Parsons helmed the Alan Parsons Project for 12 albums beginning with the original Woolfson idea for Tales Of Mystery And Imagination, a work based on the ideas of Edgar Allan Poe. That album set the stage for the enormity of the I Robot album that generated the first official single with “I Wouldn’t Want To Be like You”. Since, The Alan Parsons Project, along with Eric Woolfson, created conceptual albums that found a receptive audience.
On February 24, Esoteric Records plans a content-rich 3CD/BD Deluxe Box set of 1980’s The Turn Of A Friendly Card to celebrate the classic album. The label, along with Alan Parsons, and Sally Woolfson (daughter of Eric), are working to produce a satisfying box for fans. The Turn Of A Friendly Card produced the hit singles, “Games People Play”, and “Time”, along with a lesser charting song with “Snake Eyes”.
The Esoteric Limited Edition Deluxe Box will feature the original album remastered and remixed by Alan Parsons from the original master tapes. The bonuses include an astounding inclusion of 42 tracks that are demos, session tracks, rough mixes, single edits, and “diary tracks”. There will be a Blu-ray disc of 5.1 Surround mixes, as well as a high resolution Stereo mix. Also included are four videos, one a TV ad piece.
A book will provide photos, a new essay, and much more to complement the box set. A poster is also packed in to complete the boxed set. Pre-order here.
The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Limited Edition Deluxe Box) – Alan Parsons Project
CD1 (Original Album Remastered)
01 May Be A Price To Pay
02 Games People Play
03 Time
04 I Don’t Wanna Go Home
05 The Gold Bug
06 The Turn Of A Friendly Card (PT 1)
07 Snake Eyes
08 The Ace of Swords
09 Nothing Left To Lose
10 The Turn Of A Friendly Card (PT 2)
Bonus Tracks
11 May Be A Price To Pay (Intro Demo)
12 Nothing Left To Lose (Basic Backing Track)
13 Nothing Left To Lose (Chris Rainbow Overdub Vocal Compilation)
14 Time (Early Studio Attempt)
15 Games People Play (Rough Mix)
16 The Gold Bug (Demo)
CD2 (Eric Woolfson’s Songwriting Diaries)
01 May Be A Price To Pay
02 Games People Play
03 Time
04 I Don’t Wanna Go Home
05 The Turn Of A Friendly Card
06 Snake Eyes
07 Nothing Left To Lose
08 TOFC / Snake Eyes / I Don;t Wanna Go Home
09 La La La Lah
10 Next Year
11 Someone Else
12 Taking It All Away
13 To Those Of You Out There
CD3 (Recording Sessions Bonus Tracks)
01 May Be A Price To Pay (Early Version – Eric Guide Vocal and Unused Guitar Track Solo)
02 Games People Play (Early Version – Eric Guide Vocal)
03 Time (Orchestra and Chris Rainbow Backing Vocals)
04 The Gold Bug (Early Reference Version)
05 The Gold Bug (Chris Rainbow Backing Vocals)
06 The Gold Bug (Clavinet With No Delay)
07 The Turn Of A Friendly Card – Part One (Early Backing Track)
08 Snake Eyes (Early Version – Eric Guide Vocal)
09 The Ace of Swords (Early Version with Synth Orchestration)
10 The Turn Of A Friendly Card – Part Two (Eric Guide Vocal and Extended Guitar Solo)
Single Edits
11 Games People Play
12 The Turn Of A Friendly Card
13 Snake Eyes
BD (Blu-ray Disc with 5.1 Surround Mix [2019] and Hi Resolution Stereo Mix by Alan Parsons/Videos)
High Resolution Stereo Mix
01 May Be A Price To Pay
02 Games People Play
03 Time
04 I Don’t Wanna Go Home
05 The Gold Bug
06 The Turn Of A Friendly Card (PT 1)
07 Snake Eyes
08 The Ace of Swords
09 Nothing Left To Lose
10 The Turn Of A Friendly Card (PT 2)
5.1 Surround Sound Mix
01 May Be A Price To Pay
02 Games People Play
03 Time
04 I Don’t Wanna Go Home
05 The Gold Bug
06 The Turn Of A Friendly Card (PT 1)
07 Snake Eyes
08 The Ace of Swords
09 Nothing Left To Lose
10 The Turn Of A Friendly Card (PT 2)
Videos
1 The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Album Ad)
2 Games People Play (Video)
3 The Gold Bug (Video)
4 The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Video)
I’ll definitely get this, but the question I have is – why have they dropped a Vinyl pressing from the package? Without it I worry they won’t follow the same form-factor, and it’ll stick out in the series. The previous three sets (Mystery, Eye, and Ammonia) were all in nice 12″ formats. Oh well, this is cheaper I guess, but seems to be a miss.