The Alan Parsons Project - Ammonia Avenue Box Set
The Alan Parsons Project
Ammonia Avenue
(Cherry Red/Esoteric)
9/10
By Decibel Report - Mar 26, 2020
Masters at utilising a recording studio to its maximum capacity, this seventh release by distinguished duo Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson continued the pair's guileful blend of songwriting and studio craft.
As much a manual in studio production and songwriting arrangements, executed by a trusty cohort of top session musicians, each APP release brought with it an expectation for ineffable perfectionism.
The magic begins as opening song Prime Time builds up its pulsing sonic swell for Woolfson to deftly opine its first verse to goosebump the listener. As does the rocked -up rhythms on Let Me Go Home sung by the irrepressible Lenny Zakatek with Ian Bairnson's jaunty guitar creeping under the skin.
The Zombie's Colin Blunstone golden voice delivers gravitas to Dancing On A Highwire, as all players excel in performance to reveal the essence of how this collaboration produced timeless tunes. Not forgetting that no APP album is complete without their inventive use of a head expanding instrumental and Pipeline plumbs this trope to its boundless depths.
Fans are further rewarded with bonus discs (see below) including the late Eric Woolfson's song diaries revealing the bare bones of how these treasured recordings were finally moulded into sonic sculptures of music.
A model example of studio craft which has been enhanced to even loftier heights with audiophile surgical precision on this lovingly curated and bounteous box set.
A DELUXE LIMITED EDITION BOXED SET OF THE CLASSIC ALBUM BY THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT
• NEWLY REMASTERED & REMIXED FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES BY ALAN PARSONS
• FEATURING 3 CDs, 1 BLU-RAY DISC (NTSTC/ REGION FREE) & 2 x 45 RPM 12-INCH VINYL IN GATEFOLD SLEEVE
• FEATURING AN ADDITIONAL 53 BONUS TRACKS DRAWN FROM ERIC WOOLFSON’S SONGWRITING DIARIES, STUDIO SESSION OUT-TAKES AND STUNNING NEW 5.1 SURROUND SOUND & STEREO MIXES FROM THE ORIGINAL MULTI-TRACK MASTER TAPES BY ALAN PARSONS AND THE PROMOTIONAL VIDEOS OF ‘DON’T ANSWER ME’ & ‘PRIME TIME’
• INCLUDES A LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED BOOK WITH NEW ESSAY FEATURING RECOLLECTIONS FROM ALAN PARSONS, THE WOOLFSON FAMILY, DAVID PATON & IAN BAIRNSON, A REPLICA POSTER & A REPRODUCTION PRESS KIT FOLDER.
