Alan Parsons Project - Freudiana

[echolynfan]

I'm a big Alan Parsons Project fan and have everything they've produced but I noticed that some people were unaware of this soundtrack that they did - the last collaboration with Eric Wolfsen and it's fantastic!

[SteveSly]

Here is a review I wrote a long time ago:

"Freudiana" is not an official Alan Parsons Project release, but for all practical purposes it is the last true Alan Parsons Project Album. All of Alan's usual collaborators appear on the album (Eric Wolfson, Laurie Cottle, Stuart Elliot, Ian Barinson, and Richard Cottle) along with many longtime APP vocalists. The big difference here is that almost all of the material was written by Eric Wolfson. For this reason the album was not released under the Alan Parsons Project moniker and thus many fans of the band don't even know about it. This is a pity because "Freaudiana" may be the best album that these guys ever came up with. The album is essentially the soundtrack to a stage play, thus a few broadway-ish style moments on the disc, but don't let that put you off as the material here is very strong indeed. This album also points out how important Wolfson was to the overall APP sound. The writing on this album is great, and after listening to this it is clear why the post "project" albums that Parsons has done, have not been nearly as good. The album tackles the subject of Sigmund Freud and his psychiatric theories and subjects. Several of the songs are sung from Freud's patient's point of view and some from a more general perspective. As usual there are several instrumentals here augmented by Andrew Powel's orchestrations, "The Nirvana Principle", "Beyond The Pleasure Principle", and the title track "Freudiana (part II)" are all very well done. There are also a host of great individual songs to be found. "Freudiana", "I Am A Mirror" sung surprisingly well by Leo Sayer, "Little Hans", "Dora", "You're On Your Own", with a strong vocal from Kiki Dee, "Let Yourself Go", "No One Can Love You Better Than Me", "Don't Let This Moment Pass", "Upper Me" and the finale "There But For The Grace Of God" are all outstanding tunes. As mentioned previously the album does have a dose of Broadway / Andrew Lloyd Webber moments here and there, and for some this really is a turn off, but it does not bother me that much. The bottom line is, if you are a fan of The Alan Parsons Project, but have never picked this one up, it is well worth seeking out."

[ca1ore]

I agree that this album is superb, though the reasons for it not being an APP release have never been clear to me - Wolfson wrote all, or the vast majority, of the music on all the APP albums too.

[Progtopia]

Time for a podcast plug from me again.

Last year I talked with Eric Woolfson's daughter Sally about his body of work and I brought up Freudiana as sort of his gateway into the world of writing musicals. I always liked the album a lot and would have loved to have seen it staged. Anyway, listen to the full interview here if you'd like.

[jeffworman]

I always liked this album but haven't listened to it in a long time. Maybe it's time to give it a spin - - - Jeff

[Proglodite]

One of my all-time favorite APP releases (in spirit if not in name).
There is supposedly a German version available as well, but I have never tracked down a copy.
Every time I hear Sects Therapy I envision Denholm Elliott in the part.

Peter

[Tangram]

Freudiana is an excellent album. Unfortunately it never got any press in the USA. I looked for years without success before I realized it wasn't originally released here. I found it in a record shop in New Zealand. Biggest cd find I ever had. Anyway, it's a interesting mix of Prog, Rock and Pop meets Broadway. It was intended to be the 11th APP album but Eric Woolfson had met with Brian Brolly who persuaded EW, to also turn it into a stage musical. Somewhere along the line Freudiana was changed from an APP album to one released under the name Freudiana. Without a marketable name it disappeared without much of a trace. A real shame as it would have been one of the strongest APP titles.

As far as most of the writing credits being Eric Woolfson's, it was just that he did write most all of the material before. The Woolfson/Parsons credit being an agreement. There is the Freudiana "white album" which is Alan Parsons, the regular APP players, orchestra, and a boatload of vocalists. The Freudiana "black album" which is a cast album. I've never heard the black album.

The end result is that Woolfson and Parsons never worked together again and Brolly and Woolfson went to court over Freudiana. EW continued working on stage albums and productions and AP went solo with many of the APP players minus Eric. I liked the work that they both did separately but I would have like to have seen more of the Alan Parsons Project.

[Digital_Man]

I'm a fan also but never heard this one. I believe it's out of print though.

[Dodie]

Luckily found a second-hand copy dirt cheap years ago. I enjoy some of it very much, but there are few turkeys (so much like most APP albums, imho). I don't hear too much Broadway, and the vast majority is really just like the Alan Parsons Project's 80s albums. In fact, some of it - like the title-track - is more to my liking that anything from 'Gaudi'.

I've always regarded Alan Parsons' next few albums as essentially "Alan Parsons Project" anyway, much like ABWH is really Yes ;-)

[borntotravel]

Yes, I have this one also. Not sure where I got it but I purchased it new years ago and my son, now 30, was turned on to it at a very young age.

[Bungalow Bill]

there are few turkeys (so much like most APP albums, imho).

This is why APP never really crossed into my "great" threshold. There are songs that are brilliant and the recording quality is obviously stellar. But I never felt that APP made a definitive, start-to-finish classic. I still enjoy the band, though, and always liked the use of multiple singers.

[spellbound]

I'm not unaware of the album, but I've never run across it for purchase, and have never heard it. Must be Parsons' most difficult to find album. It is likely I have all the others.

[ca1ore]

Yeah, I'd agree with that! Tales comes close for me though.

[rapidfirerob]

I just bought a ticket last night for the late show at Yoshi's Oakland for the Alan Parson's Project May 2, a small jazz club with pristine sound!!!!!!!!!!!

[Proglodite]

Here's a clip of the title track from the Vienna (German) cast recording. I don't mind the German, but the music itself lacks the punch of the original.

Peter

[Scott Bails]

I remember really having a hard time tracking this one down, and I completely forget where I finally found it. But I agree with most here that it's a great album. Haven't listened to it in a while, either. Might have to fix that tomorrow.

[Tangram]

I remember really having a hard time tracking this one down, and I completely forget where I finally found it. But I agree with most here that it's a great album. Haven't listened to it in a while, either. Might have to fix that tomorrow.

It took me 10 years to find it. It is a great album. One of the things that I really enjoy about PE is that an album that you haven't listened to in a long time is discussed, so you dig it out and get to hear it again from a different perspective. My taste in music has changed a bit over the years, and it's interesting to see if what I used to believe about an album still holds true. Sometimes you wonder why you were originally drawn to an album, other times it's as good or better than I remember, and others it's why did I bury such a great recording. Freudiana would be in the latter category.

[Scott Bails]

One of the things that I really enjoy about PE is that an album that you haven't listened to in a long time is discussed, so you dig it out and get to hear it again from a different perspective.

Exactly.

[2ndsout]

This is why APP never really crossed into my "great" threshold. There are songs that are brilliant and the recording quality is obviously stellar. But I never felt that APP made a definitive, start-to-finish classic. I still enjoy the band, though, and always liked the use of multiple singers.

You didn't like Tales; I, Robot; or Turn of a Friendly Card?

All three were great concept studio albums- Tales was cool and good for it's basis on Edgar Allen Poe's body of work; while Robot dealt with technology and Friendly Card was about a man who gambled all of his money away...

[Kim Olesen]

Here's a clip of the title track from the Vienna (German) cast recording. I don't mind the German, but the music itself lacks the punch of the original.

Peter

I saw that in Vienna. The musical that is. I also have the album (not the german but the "app" album). Some good stuff on there.

[Reach]

I like the idea of this album at least. But the music/production is too late-'80's in style for me.

[Kim Olesen]

Funny thing. The Freudiana titletrack reminds me of the Calling All Stations album.

[Squids]

I haven't heard this one until now. This would have made a great APP album! What a shame about their split and it's sad that he's gone now. Within a year of his death I was in talks with him about an unusual unexpected sort of "reunion" of sorts. It was through the Alan Parsons Sample Project that I'm co-producing with Alan and my soundware company Sonic Reality (sample libraries and plug-ins for musicians to use on their computers). I was doing a session with Lenny Zakatek who was one of the original singers who sang hits with APP like "Wouldn't Want To Be Like You" (which we recorded a new version of that may eventually get released) and "Games People Play". Then through Lenny I got in touch with Eric and we talked about the possibility of him participating in the project which he was interested in and Alan was open to it as well. Now, granted, that was more about sampling vocals as instruments and sounds but there was a music aspect to it (I have a prog project called Sonic Elements that mixes matches up different unlikely guest musicians with songs and samples). For example, Alan and I recorded Nick Mason recreating the vintage drum kit sound of Dark Side of the Moon and even though that's a sample library of drum sounds for musicians to use, as a fun extension of it I am producing an album celebrating Pink Floyd of that time period with all sorts of guests and the reason I mentioned it is that at one point I was talking to Eric about singing on it. Alan did some of the engineering on the album (we recorded "Money" with current APLP singer/guitarist Alastair Greene) and Mason's drum tracks. Would have been cool to do that and maybe some new "creative cover" of a classic APP song perhaps. It might have been a bit of a novelty and might not have lead to anything else but still would have been cool. I wish we could have done that. I always liked the multi-singer thing in APP too and yet ironically his voice was one of the best. Very "Brian Wilson/David Gilmour"-esque.

Here's a clip of an interview I did (recently posted) with Alan Parsons and Keyboard magazine. There's a longer version of the interview that Keyboard is releasing at some point where Alan goes into some interesting detail about his history including how Pilot morphed into APP and all sorts of stuff if you're interested. There's also interviews with Alan and Nick during those Nick Mason Drums sessions as well on the SR Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/sonicreality and also some fly on the wall video clips of the sessions I mentioned.

[jim1961]

I like the idea of this album at least. But the music/production is too late-'80's in style for me.

Agreed. Not in the same league as Tales/I-Robot. Has retro moments that are nice. But overall, nothing special.

[3LockBox]

That opening intrumental (The Nirvana Principle) sounds very similar to other APP instrumentals, like Lucipher and Hyper-Gamma-Spaces.

Everything post-Ammonia Ave has a sameness to it and Freudiana is no exception. And that Andrew Lloyd Webber vibe started right around Eye In The Sky actually, to my ears anyway - its was less evident on Ammonia Ave but kicked in again on Vulture Culture along with that signature bouncing electronic backbeat.

This is why APP never really crossed into my "great" threshold. There are songs that are brilliant and the recording quality is obviously stellar. But I never felt that APP made a definitive, start-to-finish classic. I still enjoy the band, though, and always liked the use of multiple singers.

I'd say I,Robot and Ammonia Ave are my two faves and would consider them great from start to finish, (w/ Turn of a Friendly Card close behind) but yeah, some of APP albums have some songs that are either too "showy" or just plain silly, like Pyramania or Funny You Should Say That.