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Expand your Music tastes


This, right here, is one of my all-time favorite albums. Released in 1993, it's got everything I like in music - rock guitars, saxophones, unique lyrics, easy melodies, fine-tuned synthesizers, David Pack's amazing voice (from Ambrosia) on certain songs, the Hipgnosis art, and even a bit of new age mixed in. For those who don't know, Parsons was the main sound engineer on Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, and is also a well-known music producer - he helped out with a few albums by Pink Floyd, Al Stewart, Pilot, Ambrosia, and several others. He later decided to create his own band, named The Alan Parsons Project, which was active from 1976 until the early '90s. Try Anything Once was Parsons' debut solo album, and the first without his longtime Project partner Eric Woolfson, who had decided to part ways a few years earlier, though the two would collaborate again several times after. A breakdown of a few of my favorite tracks:
  • Turn It Up: Everything about this song is great. It starts off calm, builds up a bit, and essentially takes a break after the second chorus. It then gives off some soothing new age-like woodwind sounds, builds up again, then an electric guitar solo. The song makes one more loud hurrah before it suddenly ends. The whole thing is simply a pleasure to listen to.
  • Wine from the Water: Probably the most consistent-sounding song on the album. It maintains an easy sound throughout, and the mix of keyboards and guitar is great.
  • Mr. Time: Sung by a female guest artist (Jacqui Copeland), it is a very powerful track. Again, a mix of slow and exciting parts that are blended well together in an 8-minute span.
  • I'm Talkin' to You: The track is energetic throughout. David Pack is one of my favorite pop rock vocalists, and he did a great job making this song pop out even more.
  • Siren Song: This song reminds me of a track off the Project's 1976 debut album, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, which is a collection of songs based off Edgar Allan Poe's works. This track has some similarities to that album's final track, To One in Paradise, in that both songs are pretty slow throughout. Siren Song is sung by 10cc's Eric Stewart.
  • Dreamscape: The most relaxing song on the album. Entirely instrumental, it's very new-age like with a calming electric guitar solo throughout. It's only 3 minutes long, but it's amazing.
 
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