Alan Parsons Project: Ammonia Avenue (remaster)

After the Top 10 success of 1982's Eye In The Sky, The Alan Parsons Project were hitting something of a commercial peak, the title track itself giving them their biggest ever hit single climbing as high as # 3. Two years later they returned with Ammonia Avenue which, whilst not scaling the same heights, took them back into the Billboard Top 20 with a concept that centred around environmental concerns and saving the planet. Of course this was the mid - 80's and there was plenty of new technology for studio boffins Parsons and Woolfson to experiment with and at times this seems to drag them down with the seemingly random interjection of synth effects at times sounding jarringly out of place. Woolfson was the featured vocalist on four of the albums nine tracks and makes his presence felt immediately on the upbeat, radio friendly "Prime Time", the chugging riff and insistent melody seeking to replicate the commercial slickness of "Eye In The Sky". Lenny Zakatek gives his usual high quality performance on the lightweight pop of "Let Me Go Home" and much of Ammonia Avenue is full of hooks, taking a more poppier direction and with less of the progressive tendencies of some of the Project's earlier releases.

Chris Rainbow provides the vocal on the throwaway ballad "Since the Last Goodbye" and it seems like the Project are on auto-pilot before Mel Collins adds a touch of class with his sax solo to the otherwise unmemorable "Don't Answer Me". Collins is also featured on the ambient instrumental "Pipeline" with the six and a half minute title track closing out the albums original running order in typical Project style and does at least showcase a few prog embellishments with some nice acoustic touches. Overall there is a distinct feeling that perhaps their hearts weren't really in it this time around and this now rates as one of the Project's more mediocre efforts and newcomers should approach with caution. What makes the current version more appealing is, of course, the bonus tracks and there are no fewer than eight included in the remastered package which makes it a far more worthy purchase than it would otherwise have been.

Track Listing
1. Prime Time
2. Let Me Go Home
3. One Good Reason
4. Since The Last Goodbye.
5. Don't Answer Me
6. Dancing On A Highwire.
7. You Don't Believe
8. Pipeline.
9. Ammonia Avenue
Bonus tracks
10. Don't Answer Me (early rough mix)
11. You Don't Believe (demo)
12. Since The Last Goodbye (Chris vocal overdubs)
13. Since The Last Goodbye (Eric guide vocal)
14. You Don't Believe
15. Dancing On A Highwire/Spotlight (work in progress)
16. Ammonia Avenue (Eric demo vocal)
17. Ammonia Avenue (Orchestral overdub)

Added: March 19th 2009
Reviewer: Dean Pedley
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 2665
Language: english

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