The Alan Parsons Project Album: “Tales of Mystery and Imagination”

I'll never forget the first work by Edgar Allan Poe I ever read: it was "The Tell-Tale Heart," and Poe's short story about a madman who kills and dismembers an old man by whose "evil eye" he feels haunted soon outgrew the high school class assignment it had originally been for me; and the narrator's nightmares began to haunt me, too. (Yes, I was an impressionable 16-year-old, but Poe really *was* the master of horror for all ages.) Alan Parsons's rendition of the story on the third track of "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" does full justice to its sense of lunacy masquerading as clairvoyance, and the urgency of the narrator's acts, driven by the sound of the old man's beating heart, hidden below the floor boards of his room, and symbolized here by the steady bass and drum beat underlying the entire track - except for the deceptively serene bridge ("And he won't be found at all, not a trace to mark his fall nor a stain upon the wall"), after which it returns with all the greater force, accentuated by the grating sound of an electric guitar which, along with the bassline and drums, causes some to describe this song as more of a traditional rock song than the other parts of this album.

The album starts with an instrumental based on the poem "Dream Within a Dream," and the brief Poe quote from 1846's "Marginalia" (where "Dream Within a Dream" was also published), spoken by Orson Welles and added only on 1987's remastered CD. In many ways, this quote sets the theme for the entire album, and for Poe's work in general: "There is ... a class of fancies of exquisite delicacy which are not thoughts ... These fancies arise in the soul, alas how rarely ... at those weird points of time, where the confines of the waking world blend with the world of dreams. ... I captured this fancy, where all that we see, or seem, is but a dream within a dream." (I owned and loved the vinyl version of this album long before the CD was released; but for the life of me I cannot understand why this quote was not included from the start - unlike others I don't find it an intrusion but an enrichment.) And like the quote, the entire track weaves around the listener's thoughts and thus, leads us into the rest of the album, at the end introducing the drum-enforced bassline which also dominates the next two tracks on what used to be the vinyl original's first side.

Thus, "Dream Within a Dream" blends seamlessly into the interpretation of Poe's classic "The Raven" - the epitome of a story about a nightly visitor from hell, come to torment the narrator and to leave Nevermore. (Parsons maintains the poem's gloomy mood, although he makes little to no references to its more explanatory parts.) And like the "The Raven" and "The Tell-Tale Heart," the album's fourth track deals with a soul damned forever, setting to music the tale of "The Cask of Amontillado," that bait used by its narrator Montresor to lure and immure alive in his palace's labyrinthic vaults one pointedly named Fortunado. The song's heavily textured vocals layer Fortunado's pleas for help with Montresor's gloating, while gentle keyboard and string tunes contrast his horrifying act. Horns, guitars and a choir emphasize the story's somber end.

The tales then move on to the chillingly hilarious account of the madhouse reigned by the inmates themselves (insufficiently "soothed" by the prior system and now partying wildly) and the "System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether," administered on their former guards.

The orchestral suite "Fall of the House of Usher," the centerpiece of the vinyl album's second side, puts to music Poe's ghastly tale of an ancient mansion causing the ruin of its owners. Here again, Orson Welles lends his voice to Poe's words, written in 1831, eight years before the tale itself but foretelling it with its references to "[s]hadows of shadows passing," "colour becom[ing] pallor, man becom[ing] carcase, home becom[ing] catacomb, and the dead [who] are but for a moment motionless." (Again, I fail to understand why this was not included on the vinyl version of the CD.) The suite's individual movements mirror the breadth of emotions contained in Poe's tale, with (alternatively and conjunctively) wailing strings, sinuous guitars, and thundering, hard-driving drums and bassline.

And as in anyone of Poe's tales, there simply cannot be an upbeat ending - the album's last track is a melancholy interpretation of the ode "To One in Paradise," mourning the death of the speaker's love.

"Tales of Mystery and Imagination" is a quintessential concept album; the auspicious debut of that "anonymous outfit that never play[ed] gigs," as Parsons wrote in the liner notes of the remastered CD; a "project" whose name was initially not intended to be the name of the band but rather their product, the album itself. In addition to close contributor and keyboardist Eric Woolfson, Alan Parsons recruited a talented group of individuals: conductor Andrew Powell, who later produced Kate Bush's first albums, scored Richard Donner's Ladyhawke and worked with artists as diverse as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, Leo Sayer, Chris de Burgh, Kansas and the Philharmonia Orchestra; guitarist Ian Bairnson (now known for his cooperations with George Martin, Mick Fleetwood and again, Kate Bush); actor Leonard Whiting (Romeo the 1968 Zeffirelli film), Elton John's bassist David Paton, 10CC drummer and Bairnson ex-co-Pilot Stuart Tosh, Tina Turner sidekick-to-be John Miles, and Terry Sylvester, Graham Nash's replacement in the Hollies.

If you didn't know this is Parsons's and his "Project"'s first album, you certainly wouldn't be able to tell this from the record's tight, first-rate production and musicianship. I am not the world's greatest fan of electronic music ' but this album has so much more to offer than synthesizers and vocoders. It has been one of my all-time favorites ever since its 1975 release, and I still listen to it with great regularity.

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1976's "Tales Of Mystery & Imagination," a concept album based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, is the album that started it all for the great studio group known as The Alan Parsons Project, and it arguably remains their best work (even Alan Parsons himself names it as his personal favorite Project album). "Tales" is a spellbinding prog-rock classic, filled to the brim with outstanding drama, moods, sounds & atmospheres, as well as tremendous musicianship, singing, songwriting, & production. Who'd expect anything less from a group led by the man who engineered the Pink Floyd classic, "Dark Side Of The Moon"?The opening instrumental, "A Dream Within A Dream," is an astonishing slice of dramatic progressive rock that instantly grabs you, and it sets up the rest of the album perfectly. "The Raven," "The Tell-Tale Heart" (featuring wonderfully insane vocals by Arthur Brown), "The Cask Of Amontillado," & the Project's first hit, "(The System Of) Doctor Tarr & Professor Fether," are all Project classics. Then comes the album's centerpiece, the sprawling, adventurous instrumental take on "The Fall Of The House Of Usher," complete with orchestra & sound effects. It's simply a mindblower. Finally, the album concludes with "To One In Paradise," a truly gorgeous song that leaves you breathless. This CD version of "Tales" is the 1987 remix version, in which Alan Parsons added some extra keyboard & guitar parts, as well as a pair of marvelous narration pieces by Orson Welles, in order to strengthen the album for it's 1987 CD release (not too unlike what George Lucas did to his "Star Wars" movies for their 1997 re-release). Although I have tremendous affection for the original mix of the album (only released on the Mobile Fidelity Gold CD version of "Tales"---good luck trying to find one), this 1987 remixed version has been done with a lot of great care, and Alan Parsons has definitely kept the beauty & integrity of the original album intact.The Alan Parsons Project have released so many terrific albums over the years: "I Robot," "Pyramid," "Eve," "The Turn Of A Friendly Card," "Eye In The Sky," just to name a few. They're ALL worth adding to your CD collection. But if I had to pick the Project's masterpiece, I'd have to go with this one. "Tales Of Mystery & Imagination" is a truly groundbreaking prog-rock classic. :-)

In the words of Alan Parsons himself on the liner notes, "We never expected the Alan Parsons Project to become the name of an act. The phrase was designed to describe the identity of the album you are now holding." Tales of Mystery and Imagination is the first and, in my opinion, still the best work of the Project. Every song is inspired by a specific work of Edgar Alan Poe. The first half consists of great rock songs with catchy licks, top-notch musicianship and very high production values.

The second half is dominated by the orchestral piece "The Fall of the House of Usher". I have no idea why the liner notes don't credit Claude Debussy on this piece. Much of the orchestral parts in Parsons' Usher, including Prelude are adapted from parts of a 2-act opera of Debussy (also called the Fall of the House of Usher) which was unfinished at the time of his (Debussy's) death. The manuscript was partially reconstituted separately by two composers in 1976 just before the Project put out this album. For the Parsons score of Usher, Andrew Powell wrote new sections, as well as added sound effects and electronic instrumentation, which adds to the atmosphere, tension and overall power of the piece.

For those who are interested, Amazon lists, but does not have in stock, a CD with a version of the Debussy opera. It is coupled with The Mask of the Red Death (listed by Amazon as "Fantastic Tale") by Andre Caplet which is a piece for harp and orchestra inspired by Poe's tale of the same name and which is an amazing, spooky piece that sends shivers up my spine every time I listen to it.

As with many reviewers I also own the original vinyl copy of Tales from its first release and listed to it steadily over the years until this CD came out. However, perhaps I am in the minority in that I prefer this latter CD with the extra guitar solos, the Welles narration and overall cleaner sound. In any event this is one of the best (progressive) rock albums ever released and would likely make it on my "Desert Island Disks" list.

The 1987 CD re-release in no way diminished this work as a classic, but the changes made to the original were a mixed bag. Orson Welles' incredible voice (Why was it left off the original?!) would improve practically anything, but the new guitar solos by Ian Bairnson were unnecessary and somewhat distracting, with the synth additions by Parsons and Eric Woolfson making only a minor difference. All the tracks shine, but a special mention should be made of Andrew Powell's beautiful instrumentals for "Fall of the House of Usher", especially the Pavane. Incidentally, anyone who especially values this as a "theme" album should also check out Woolfson's amazing "Freudiana", which even more "mystery and imagination" than this did. It's an import, and somewhat pricey, but well worth it.

The Alan Parsons Project's TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION is one of the best horror-themed rock albums ever produced. Every track is based on a work by that master of the morbid, Edgar Allan Poe, and the band--actually only two musician-songwriters, Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, backed up by some outstanding session musicians--does a fantastic job of weaving Poe's eerie narrative and lurid atmosphere into a macabre musical tapestry.

Some of Poe's best works are interpreted here, not the least of which are "The Raven," "The Tell-Tale Heart," and "The Fall of the House of Usher." The more widely-known piece on the album is probably "The Raven," having been granted a lot of radio play when it debuted in the 1970s, and "The Tell-Tale Heart" stylistically stands as the album's most traditional rock-and-roll song. But from an aesthetic standpoint, "The Fall of the House of Usher" is undoubtedly the best track. The entire song lasts for more than 16 minutes, contains no lyrics (other than a newly added voiceover at the beginning), and is divided into different movements in much the same way as a classical symphony. Like the Poe story that inspired it, it runs the gamut of human emotion, starting off with a serene yet melancholy classical passage, then seamlessly moving through jazzy new-age and rock segues towards an intense symphonic crescendo. When listening to the song from start to finish, it is impossible to NOT feel that sense of inexorable deterioration and downfall that is inherent to the Poe work, and it is altogether quite artistically satisfying.

TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION was originally released in 1976 and was, to the dismay of some fans, re-released a few years later with different jacket illustrations. Though the remixed and remastered CD version reviewed here uses the original jacket art for the cover and liner illustrations, there are other aspects of the disc that will nonetheless upset fans who are "purists." For example, musical passages such as guitar riffs or background synths have been blatantly superimposed onto some of the tracks, and many of the tracks are now tied together with narrative voice-overs recorded by the late Orson Welles (yes, THAT Orson Welles). However, one must bear in mind that these alterations have been executed by none other than Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson themselves, and they claim to have done everything possible to ensure that the music contains the same spirit that endeared it to fans when it was originally released in 1976.

Still, musically speaking, the album has undergone a noticeable facelift. Of course, if this CD represents your first exposure to the music, the changes probably won't matter to you in the least. But if you're someone who has loved the album since its original debut, you'll just have to give this version a listen and decide for yourself if the changes either deface or enhance. To most fans, though, the album will most certainly remain a classic.

This CD is highly recommended to fans of horror, those who love the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and anybody who fondly remembers the concept rock of the 1970s.