Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Alan Parsons Project - Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Tales of Mystery and Imagination
List Price: $11.98
Category: Music CD
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CD Details

Artist: Alan Parsons Project
Brand: PARSONS,ALAN
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1990-10-25
Music Label: Island / Mercury
Soundtracks:
  1. Dream Within a Dream [Instrumental]
  2. Raven
  3. Tell-Tale Heart
  4. Cask of Amontillado
  5. (The System Of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether
  6. Fall of the House of Usher: Prelude [Instrumental]
  7. Fall of the House of Usher: Arrival [Instrumental]
  8. Fall of the House of Usher: Intermezzo [Instrumental]
  9. Fall of the House of Usher: Pavane [Instrumental]
  10. Fall of the House of Usher: Fall [Instrumental]
  11. To One in Paradise

Music reviews of Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Music Review: Literary and Musical License
Rating: 5 Stars

The previous reviewer railed against the Alan Parsons Project for quoting from Claude Debussy without acknowledging the debt. For centuries, composers have been "borrowing" from each other to create new music. Igor Stravinsky was notable in acknowledging he did "steal" some music from other composers but the art was knowing from whom and when to do the theft.

Copyrighted music does require acknowledgement (and payment) to a composer whose music is incorporated into a new composition. (Remember all the hoopla with rap and hip-hop sampling music of others?) I do not know if Debussy's music is in the public domain or not. Perhaps the Alan Parsons Project should have made an nod to Debussy apparent in the credits, but should we fault the artist for using this music in a new fashion? I think not.

When Keith Emerson borrowed from Bartok, there was not one whit of a mention until reissues of the self-titled album. It was certainly acknowledged for years in trade publications and Keith never said he did not use Bartok. Does it make the music worse? Do you find it disturbing that a musician may not be completely original in the composition, yet is original in the use of the themes from another composer? Do you think it was an intentional rip off?

I think that you enjoyed the album, anyway, is a testament to Alan Parsons ability to produce pleasing and, yes, original music.
Perhaps it was an oversight. But, in no instance should it detract from a great release as this.

Description of Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Japanese only 2 x SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) paper sleeve pressing. Two CD Deluxe Edition of the debut album from the Alan Parsons Project. featuring the original 1976 mix of the album, the 1987 remix and eight previously unreleased bonus tracks! Recorded at Abbey Road in 1975 and released in 1976, the idea for the Project came from manager and writer Eric Woolfson, who saw his role as an auteur, bringing together some of the greatest talents in music to bring to life Poe's sinister, gothic tales. Enlisting the white-hot production whiz-kid Alan Parsons, fresh from his work with Wings and Pink Floyd, the duo set about making dreams reality. The album remains a singular, compelling work and can be seen as a bridge between Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon and Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds. Universal. 2008.
As unlikely as the idea seems today to use the suspense-filled stories of Edgar Allan Poe as the basis for an album of rock tunes, listeners in the 1970s--who were barraged with such high-flown concepts during the heyday of prog-rock--turned the record into a major hit. The Project actually scored a Top 40 hit with "(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather." Thanks to FM radio overplay, however, "The Raven" is probably the album's best-known track today. The 1987 CD version of "ToMaI" differs somewhat from the original vinyl. Parsons dropped in synthesizer parts to modernize the album, and added an opening recitation by Orson Welles. But the integrity of the original is maintained well enough, and the album remains a classic excuse to dim the lights, pour a glass of sherry (amontillado, natch), and break out the headphones. --Daniel Durchholz

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