The Best of The Alan Parsons Project, Volume 2

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The Alan Parsons Project

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Since this CD is volume 2 of the Best of... compilations, the big guns ("Eye in the Sky," "Time," "Games People Play") were already used on the first volume. There are still some excellent tracks here and some of the best tracks off the earlier albums that volume 1 missed. Vulture Culture, Steretomy, and Gaudi are later albums represented on this volume. The singles off Ammonia Avenue are here ("Prime Time" and "Don't Answer Me"). Unfortunately, "Prime Time" is slashed from a 5-minute track to less than 4. It just fades out without the cool, guitar-driven ending. Fan favorite "Days Are Numbers" (by far the best off Vulture Culture) is here and three glaring omissions from the 1983 released volume 1 are included: the instrumental "I Robot," "What Goes Up..." and "The Turn of a Friendly Card (Part III)," the latter definitely in my top 10 APP.

It is hard for me to complain about the hefty representation of Ammonia Avenue on these two volumes (one on volume 1 and three tracks here) because it is my favorite APP album. Only one track off of the brilliant Gaudi (Eric Woolfson's last with the band not including Freudiana and what many fans consider the last great APP album), however, is puzzling. "Standing on Higher Ground" is actually one of the weaker tracks on the album, most of which are amazing. Time constraints may have been one of the reasons, as most of the songs on Gaudi are over 5 minutes, and the stellar tracks are between 6-8 minutes. The Eye in the Sky logo is included on the cover artwork but, curiously, it is not represented. Those new to APP will probably find volume 1 more attractive because it has the more recognizable hits, but volume 2 has plenty to offer too, so don't pass it up unless you want to just go out and buy all their studio albums (an even better choice!). This CD includes song lyrics and liner notes but no photos.