Tales of Mystery and Imagination (CD - 1975)

Personnel: Alan Parsons (vocals, keyboards); John Miles, Leonard Whiting, Arthur Brown (vocals); Orson Welles (spoken vocals); David Paton (guitar, bass, background vocals); Laurence Juber, Kevin Peek, Ian Bairnson, David Pack (guitar); Hugo D'Alton (mandolin); David Snell (harp); Billy Lyall (recorder, keyboards); Eric Woolfson (harpsichord, keyboards, background vocals); Francis Monkman (harpsichord); Christopher North (keyboards); Joe Puerta, Darryl Runswick, Les Hurdle (bass); John Leach, Burleigh Drummond, Stuart Tosh (drums, percussion); The Westminster City School Boys Choir, Jack Harris, Terry Sylvester, Jane Powell, Bob Howes and The English Chorale (background vocals).

Includes liner notes by Alan Parsons.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Personnel includes: Alan Parsons (vocals, guitar, keyboards); John Miles, Leonard Whiting, Arthur Brown (vocals); David Paton (guitar, bass, background vocals); Laurence Juber, Kevin Peek, Ian Bairnson, David Pack (guitar); Hugo D'Alton (mandolin); David Snell (harp); Billy Lyall (recorder, keyboards); Eric Woolfson (harpsichord, keyboards, background vocals); Francis Monkman (harpsichord); Christopher North (keyboards); Joe Puerta, Darryl Runswick, Les Hurdle (bass); Burleigh Drummond, Stuart Tosh (drums); The Westminster City School Boys Choir, Jack Harris, Terry Sylvester, Jane Powell, Bob Howes, The English Chorale (background vocals).

Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, England between July 1975 and January 1976.

The maiden voyage of the Alan Parsons Project, 1976's TALES OF MYSTERY & IMAGINATION, finds Parsons paying homage to the thrilling work of suspense legend Edgar Allan Poe. Although such an ambitious undertaking would likely be a disaster for most debuting artists, Parsons had engineered albums by the Beatles and Pink Floyd, making the British musician more than familiar with adventurous, highly textured records.

TALES opens with no less than film legend Orson Welles providing narration over Parsons's mesmerizing melody for "A Dream Within a Dream," while "The Raven" and "(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" prove to be the most pop-oriented tracks on the album, employing electronically treated vocals and prog-rock pomp and circumstance to convey the arch strangeness of these stories. Much of TALES consists of keyboard-driven instrumentals that capture the suspenseful nature of Poe's work, most notably the haunting "Intermezzo" and the spine-chilling "Fall," both part of the "Fall of the House of Usher" suite. To listen to TALES OF MYSTERY & IMAGINATION is to hear a young artist challenging himself from his creative outset and crafting an intriguing set of songs in the process.

The maiden voyage of the Alan Parsons Project, 1976's TALES OF MYSTERY & IMAGINATION, finds Parsons paying homage to the thrilling work of suspense legend Edgar Allan Poe. Although such an ambitious undertaking would likely be a disaster for most debuting artists, Parsons had engineered albums by the Beatles and Pink Floyd, making the British musician more than familiar with adventurous, highly textured records.

TALES opens with no less than film legend Orson Welles providing narration over Parsons's mesmerizing melody for "A Dream Within a Dream," while "The Raven" and "(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" prove to be the most pop-oriented tracks on the album, employing electronically treated vocals and prog-rock pomp and circumstance to convey the arch strangeness of these stories. Much of TALES consists of keyboard-driven instrumentals that capture the suspenseful nature of Poe's work, most notably the haunting "Intermezzo" and the spine-chilling "Fall," both part of the "Fall of the House of Usher" suite. To listen to TALES OF MYSTERY & IMAGINATION is to hear a young artist challenging himself from his creative outset and crafting an intriguing set of songs in the process.

Tales of Mystery and Imagination is an extremely mesmerizing aural journey through some of Edgar Allan Poe's most renowned works. With the use of synthesizers, drums, guitar, and even a glockenspiel, Parsons' shivering effects make way for an eerie excursion into Poe's well-known classics. The instrumental "Dream Within a Dream" has Orson Welles narrating in front of this wispy collaboration of guitars and keyboards. The EMI vocoder is used throughout "The Raven" with the Westminster City School Boys Choir mixed in to add a distinct flair to its chamber-like sound. Parsons' expertise surrounds this album, from the slyness that prevails in "(The System Of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather" to the bodeful thumping of the drums that imitate a heartbeat on "The Tell-Tale Heart." "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a lengthy but dazzling array of musicianship that keeps the album's persona intact, while enabling the listener to submerge into its frightening atmosphere. With vocalists Terry Sylvester, John Miles, and Eric Woolfson stretched across each track, this variety of different singing styles adds color and design to the album's air. Without any underlying theme to be pondered upon, Alan Parsons instead paints a vivid picture of one of the most alluring literary figures in history by musically reciting his most famous works in expert fashion. ~ Mike DeGagne minimize