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The Turn of a Friendly Card is the fifth studio album by the British progressive rock band The Alan Parsons Project, released in 1980 by Arista Records. The title piece, which appears on side 2 of the LP, is a 16-minute suite broken up into five tracks. The Turn of a Friendly Card spawned the hits "Games People Play" and "Time", the latter of which was Eric Woolfson's first lead vocal appearance.

The Turn of a Friendly Card
Studio album by The Alan Parsons Project
Released	7 November 1980 [1]
Recorded	1979-1980
Studio	Acousti Studio, Paris, France
Genre	Progressive rock, symphonic rock, new wave
Length	40:25
Label	Arista
Producer	Alan Parsons
The Alan Parsons Project chronology
Eve (1979) The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980) Eye in the Sky (1982)
Singles from The Turn of a Friendly Card
"Games People Play" Released: December 1980 "Time" Released: April 1981 "Snake Eyes" Released: September 1981

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Rolling Stone	[3]

Up to this album, all Alan Parsons Project albums had been packaged in gatefold sleeves. Increasing budgetary constraints of record companies made The Turn of a Friendly Card the beginning of all subsequently released Alan Parsons Project albums to be single sleeve packaged.[4]

The album was recorded in a record short time of two weeks in Paris. Usually the Alan Parsons Project would take many months to record an album.[5]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson.

Though numbered as a single work, "The Turn of a Friendly Card" is split into five tracks on most compact disc and all digital and streaming releases.

The Turn of a Friendly Card was remastered and reissued in 2008 with the following bonus tracks:

11. "May Be a Price to Pay" (Intro/demo) 1:32
12. "Nothing Left to Lose" (Basic backing track) 4:36
13. "Nothing Left to Lose" (Chris Rainbow overdub compilation) 2:02
14. "Nothing Left to Lose" (Early studio version with Woolfson's guide vocal) 3:11
15. "Time" (Early studio attempt) 4:42
16. "Games People Play" (Rough mix) 4:33
17. "The Gold Bug" (Demo) 2:50

Bonus track detail (2008 remaster)

• The Gold Bug (demo) was named after an Edgar Allan Poe short story. The main keyboard sound is a Hohner Clavinet with damaged strings and a repeat echo. This was also used for the final album version. The short duration of the notes made it difficult to get in tune.[6]

De Luxe Edition (2015)

In 2015, a "deluxe anniversary edition" was released on double CD.[7] This featured a new remaster of the album, the bonus tracks of the 2008 edition on disc 1 and an additional disc of excerpts from Eric Woolfson's songwriting demos, rough mixes and the three single edits.

"Eric's Songwriting Demos"

1. "May Be a Price to Pay" 3:26
2. "Games People Play" 3:06
3. "Time" 4:06
4. "I Don't Wanna Go Home" 2:12
5. "The Turn of a Friendly Card" 3:19
6. "Snake Eyes" 3:13
7. "Nothing Left to Lose" 2:46
8. "TOFC / Snake Eyes / I Don't Wanna Go Home" 4:32

"Extra Bonus Tracks"

9. "May Be a Price to Pay (Early version - Eric Guide Vocal & Unused Guitar Solo)" 5:03
10. "Games People Play (Early Version - Eric Guide vocal)" 4:32
11. "Time (Orchestra & Chris Rainbow Backing vocals)" 4:19
12. "The Gold Bug (Early Reference Version)" 5:08
13. "The Turn Of A Friendly Card Part One (Early Backing Track)" 2:18
14. "Snake Eyes (Early Version - Eric Guide Vocal)" 3:20
15. "The Ace Of Swords (Early Version With Synth "Orchestration")" 3:03
16. "The Ace Of Swords (Early Version With Piano On Melody)" 2:40
17. "The Turn Of A Friendly Card Part Two (Eric Guide Vocal And Extended Guitar Solo)" 3:32

"Single Edits"

18. "Games People Play" 3:35
19. "The Turn of a Friendly Card" 3:44
20. "Snake Eyes" 2:26

Personnel

• Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion
• David Paton – bass guitar
• Ian Bairnson – electric, acoustic and classical guitars; pedal steel guitar on "Time"
• Eric Woolfson – piano, harpsichord, lead vocals
• Alan Parsons – Projectron on "Games People Play", whistling and finger snaps on "The Gold Bug", Clavinet on "The Gold Bug" and "The Ace of Swords", harpsichord on "The Ace of Swords", additional vocals on "Time"
• Chris Rainbow – lead and backing vocals
• Elmer Gantry (Dave Terry) – lead vocal
• Lenny Zakatek – lead and backing vocals
• The Philharmonia Orchestra, arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Produced and engineered by Alan Parsons
Executive producer: Eric Woolfson
Mastering consultant: Chris Blair
Sleeve concept: Lol Creme and Kevin Godley

• Ted Jensen Original LP UK & US Pressings.

Additional instrumentation

"The Gold Bug", which references the same-titled short story by Edgar Allan Poe, includes a whistling part by Parsons and wordless vocals by Rainbow, while the main theme is played on an alto saxophone. The saxophone player, originally credited as Mel Collins, is instead credited on the liner notes for the remastered edition as "A session player in Paris whose name escapes us"; this refers to the fact that the saxophone part is a composite of several separate takes.[8] Similarly, the accordion part on "Nothing Left to Lose" is credited in the liner notes to "An unidentified Parisian session player". Also on "The Gold Bug", the newer liner notes credit a "Harmonized Rotating Triangle" to drummer Stuart Elliott. This refers to the phasing sound effects heard throughout the rhythm-free introduction to the piece.

Charts

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[24]	2× Platinum	200,000^
Germany (BVMI)[25]	Gold	250,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[26]	Gold	50,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[27]	Gold	7,500^
United States (RIAA)[28]	Platinum	1,000,000^
Summaries
Worldwide	—	2,000,000[29]
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Covers

The album's title track was covered by German funeral doom metal band Ahab for their album The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" in 2015.

Notes

На других языках

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[de] The Turn of a Friendly Card

The Turn of a Friendly Card ist ein Progressive-Rock-Album der britischen Band The Alan Parsons Project und wurde 1980 veröffentlicht. Das Konzeptalbum behandelt das Thema Glücksspiel und gibt in groben Zügen die Geschichte eines Mannes mittleren Alters wieder, der, ruhelos geworden, den Entschluss fasst, ins Casino zu gehen und dort all sein Geld aufs Spiel setzt, nur um schließlich alles zu verlieren. Seite 2 der ursprünglichen Vinyl-LP bestand aus dem Instrumentaltitel The Gold Bug und einem zusammenhängenden Musikstück, welches in älteren CD-Versionen mit Indexpunkten versehen und in den Neueren in fünf Einzeltitel aufgeteilt ist. The Turn of a Friendly Card ist außerdem durch die Auskopplung der moderaten Hits Games People Play und Time bekannt, wobei bei letzterem Eric Woolfson an den Leadvocals debütierte.

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- [en] The Turn of a Friendly Card

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[es] The Turn of a Friendly Card

The Turn of a Friendly Card es el quinto álbum de estudio de la banda inglesa The Alan Parsons Project.[1] Publicado en 1980 por Arista Records[2] se trata de un álbum conceptual, encuadrable en el rock progresivo,[3] que gira en torno a las apuestas y los juegos de azar al estilo de lo que se ve en las salas de juego y casinos de Montecarlo y Las Vegas.[4]

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[ru] The Turn of a Friendly Card

The Turn of a Friendly Card — пятый студийный альбом английской арт-рок-группы The Alan Parsons Project, выпущенный в 1980 году.

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