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 | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
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 | ||||
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Singles from The Turn of a Friendly Card | ||||
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Source | Rating |
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Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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]
All songs written and composed by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson.
No. | Title | Lead vocals | Length |
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1. | "May Be a Price to Pay" | Elmer Gantry | 4:58 |
2. | "Games People Play" | Lenny Zakatek | 4:22 |
3. | "Time" | Eric Woolfson | 5:04 |
4. | "I Don't Wanna Go Home" | Lenny Zakatek | 5:03 |
No. | Title | Lead vocals | Length |
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1. | "The Gold Bug" | None | 4:34 |
2. | "The Turn of a Friendly Card
| Chris Rainbow (1, 2, 5), Eric Woolfson (4), none (3) | 16:24 |
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:
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"
"Extra Bonus Tracks"
"Single Edits"
Produced and engineered by Alan Parsons
Executive producer: Eric Woolfson
Mastering consultant: Chris Blair
Sleeve concept: Lol Creme and Kevin Godley
"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.
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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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. |
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.
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Studio albums |
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Compilations | |
Singles | |
Related articles |
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