DU Album of the Day: The Alan Parsons Project - "Tales of Mystery and Imagination"
Definately an original album from The Alan Parsons Project, it was one of the first prog rock albums I ever listened too and the debut album of the Alan Parsons Project (or APP). In a nutshell, the works of Edgar Allen Poe were put to music including "The Raven", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Cask of Amontillado" and one of my favorites "
The System Of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether". What's neat is the 1987 release of the album "A Dream with a Dream" has the narration done by Orson Welles.
I would have to say that this album was one of the reasons I really was turned on to Prog Rock, mainly because it showed me that music could be rocking and yet unconventional. Plus I was always a big Edgar Allen Poe fan. I remember reading "The Cask of Amontillado" in middle school and loved how that fool was tricked into his death. I thought the song did the story a good justice!
And if you really want to rock out:
I loved this story too because truly sometimes the inmates are really running the asylum!
Enjoy!
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I almost never listen to rock. I listen mostly to jazz and classical music. I was, frankly, amazed when a friend lent me the TOMAI album and I found a rock group aiming for such high literary merit, and mixing in elements of classical music wherever such served to make the work stronger. The most notable aspect of the whole work was its ambitiously large-scale construction and range of orchestral voicings -- many orders of magnitude beyond the typical "three screaming guys with loud guitars playing 2:30 tracks" which makes most rock utterly unappealing to me. I was nothing less than shocked -- and utterly disappointed -- by the remix. The new guitar solos were outright vandalism -- as out of place as a bulb horn in a Beethoven concerto -- and the liner notes (in Parson's own words) made me wonder if he actually knew anything about music at all. Certainly, he showed no sign that he understood how good the original album actually was, much less why. Andrew Powell's non-participation in the reissue was obvious and lamentable. They needed someone with training in actual art music to point out that they were making all the wrong changes for the wrong reasons. The original managed to ascend to the status of a work of art; the remix abandoned much of the artistic strengths of the original, despite the addition of Welles' narration, which would have fitted beautifully with the original concept.
"The Telltale Heart" suffered particularly horrendous disfigurement -- Powell's awesome curtain-of-sound choral effect (obviously inspired by the work of Ligetti, one of Powell's mentors -- listen to Lux Aeterna, or watch "2001" 
) was broken up by maudlin, weepy whines from synthesizer, saxophone, and just about everything but the kitchen sink, which completely derailed the building suspense.
Sometime after buying the CD (I wish now I had gotten a refund) I was able to buy an LP of the original version that was published in Portugal, transferred that to tape, and retired the CD. Glad to see the original was finally reissued on CD.
Do you suggest sauting it in garlic and butter or perhaps just roasting it with a selection of veggies? And do you have a recommended wine selection to pair with it?
Ok I'm bad!
Possibly influenced by the laser show the grad students put on at the observatory in college.
Love that album. 
Just throwing this out for consideration -- Maybe H&M could be renamed Tales of Mystery and Imagination. 
I vote "YES"!
