Customer Reviews

Freudiana (1989 Studio Cast)

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

1990's "Freudiana" was the last album that singer/composer Eric Woolfson collaborated on with Alan Parsons, his former partner in the Alan Parsons Project. Quite simply, "Freudiana," a concept album about the life & works of Sigmund Freud, is an Alan Parsons Project album in all but name. It features virtually the exact same revolving door of musicians & singers that have featured on previous Project albums, such as co-leaders Parsons & Woolfson, guitarist Ian Bairnson, drummer Stuart Elliot, and "Gaudi" bassist Laurie Cottle, as well as singers Graham Dye, Chris Rainbow, John Miles & Eric Woolfson himself, along with "newcomers" Leo Sayer, Kiki Dee, and 10cc's Eric Stewart. "Freudiana" is structured like a Project album, and it's incredible music & production SOUNDS like a Project album. So why is no credit given to the group? Simple---past Project albums were always co-written by Parsons & Woolfson, but on "Freudiana," Woolfson is the sole composer (apart from the instrumental, "Beyond The Pleasure Principle," which Parsons contributed). So, on the songwriting curve alone, it was decided that "Freudiana" would NOT be credited to the Alan Parsons Project on the sleeve, and that it simply be released under it's own title. But it certainly goes without saying that if you are, indeed, a huge Project fan, then "Freudiana" is an absolute must-have. On previous Project albums, Parsons & Woolfson and their "cast of thousands" have always delivered nothing less than first-rate singing, songwriting, playing, and production (and Project albums are *perfect* records to test-drive your new stereo equipment with). "Freudiana" is no exception. Just one listen to superb songs like the title track, Dora, Let Yourself Go, The Ring, Upper Me, and the album-closer There But For The Grace Of God, to name but a few, and you're in total Project heaven! I'm totally amazed that "Freudiana" has never been given a proper North American release, as there are many diehard Project fans over here that don't even know that this album even exists. Ah, they don't know what they're missing....but thank goodness for online shopping, eh? After "Freudiana," Woolfson parted ways with Alan Parsons to concentrate on musical theater (and "Freudiana," in fact, WAS later staged as a musical in Vienna in December of 1990). While Parsons continues to make top-notch albums under his own name (minus the "Project" moniker), it can't be denied that Woolfson's unique singing & songwriting contributions are missed. But he couldn't have chosen a better album to exit with---many AP Project fans actually name "Freudiana" as their favorite "Project" album, and why not? It's a brilliant work, and one that definitely deserves a place among your other Project CD's. Just make sure you file "Freudiana" in the appropriate place, between "Gaudi" & "Try Anything Once." :-)

As a fan of "The Alan Parsons Project" since my primary school days; it had been a very great honour and enthusiasm for me to meet them, 2 years ago, when they came for a concert to Istanbul... When I meat Alan, Ian, Stuart and others, at their hotel, one day after their wonderful concert, I asked all them where was Eric... After "Gaudi" it was a big silence until "Try Anything Once" and then came "On Air"... As a faithful listener of Alan, I had liked these albums too; but there was something missing... After listening to Freudiana, I have found what or who was missing: just Eric Woolfson... Freudiana is a superb album... Especially, hearing the voice of Eric in most of the songs like "Freudiana", "Let Yourself Go", "No One Can Love You Better Than Me", "Dora" remains as if you were listening to "Time", "Eye In The Sky", "Ammonia Avenue", "Prime Time" "La Sagrada Familia" or "Silence and I"... And even for 53 seconds, an old friend's, Chris Rainbow's voice let you fly at "Destiny"... All Project fans must absolutely get this album... And a few words to Eric Woolfson: Come back... We missed you...

For me, finding Freudiana was like discovering sex for the first time. Hmm. I wonder what Sigmund would say about that one?

For those who enjoyed the defunct Alan Parsons Project or the Alan Parsons Band, you might consider Freudiana the final curtain for the Project. I personally considered Eric Woolfson to have been the heart and soul behind the Project. With his Gaudi work, Eric turned toward a manic creative drive to research something or someone that he found fascinating and then produce a musical about what was discovered. Actually, the Project was born with this approach toward Edgar Allan Poe, and the Project dies unnamed with a Freud project.

Freudiana represents the final effort between Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson...and what a super effort it is! The wide range of musical styles Freudiana embraces is one of its strong points. Music combines with humor, drama, emotion, and some oft-times not so subtle sarcasm.

With its opening instrumental, The Nirvana Principle, a listener is drawn into a musical maelstrom that is very much like the sound equivalent of a Picasso painting. An attitude exists that pretty much anything goes, and there definitely is talent and panache necessary to perpetrate audacity personified.

Perhaps the most riveting performance belongs to Kiki Dee with You're On Your Own. Nowhere to be found is the woman who performed Don't Go Breaking My Heart with Elton John. Instead, she reveals that sultry angst necessary to embrace the Freudian concept behind the mother and son relationship. Ian Bairnson's guitar work punctuates what is one of the CD's strongest songs.

There are a few forays into dark humor, especially with Sects Therapy, which is listed as "a health warning on some possible pitfalls of psychology." Sung from a first person point of view, Sects Therapy tells about one person's encounters with psychology. "And I told her over tea of my worries and my woes, and a morbid fear of eating beans in tightly fitting clothes."

Overall, Freudiana reminds me of a Stephen King short story called "It Grows On You." My first reaction to it was "Say what?" And, then, well...the CD buried itself in my psyche...developed...evolved...and became an object of obsession. Perhaps I should call Dr. Ruth...

Freudiana is the brain child of songwriter and musician Eric Woolfson who hit upon the idea of researching the life and works of Sigmund Freud with a view to their musical potential. Fully aware that doing justice to the genius of such magnitude would involve the highest degree of commitment and application, Woolfson set out to retrace Freud's footsteps and explore his realms in what turned out to be also a voyage of self-discovery. What resulted was not only the story of Freud and his work but perhaps more an image of the composer seen through a Freudian mirror.
Literary sources included Freud's classic cases whose real identities he concealed by using names such as Dora and Little Hans (songs on the album). In addition, Freud's writings on his discovery of the 'unconscious', his well known theories and his masterpiece, 'The Interpretation of Dreams', all served as springboard for musical ideas. Eric Woolfson has worked, together with his 'project' partner Alan parsons and conductor Andrew Powell, for three years on recording Freudiana. Eric Woolfson has written 17 songs and Alan Parsons the instrumental 'Beyond The Pleasure Principle'. (Note: nowadays Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson follow separate ways).
Lead vocalists on the album are: Eric Woolfson (on the fantastic title song Freudiana, Dora and Let Yourself Go), Leo Sayer, Graham Dye, The Flying Pickets (on 'Far Away From Home': amazing), Marti Webb (on the beautiful 'Don't Let The Moment Pass'), Eric Stewart (on 'Upper Me'), John Miles (on 'There But For The Grace Of God'), the golden voice of Chris Rainbow (on the mini song 'Destiny') and several others.
If you listen to Freudiana, you understand that this album is about psychoanalysis. Consequently not all songs are easy accessible. But that is what makes Freudiana brilliant. Woolfson has developed the concept of Freudiana further into a musical (in the German language), that was staged in the early 1990's in Vienna ('Theater an der Wien'). There was also an album and cd of this musical cast recording (by EMI), but this is unfortunately not available anymore. Hopefully the Vienna Musical Cast Recording (deutsche Originalaufnahme) of Freudiana will be reissued on cd again!
In short, Freudiana is a beautiful and interesting masterpiece of in particular Eric Woolfson. Listen and be amazed!

Well, since I've known of this album, I've always wondered why it was never released as an APP disc.

I finally got it for Christmas. Question answered.

Like so many others who've voiced opinions here, I have missed Eric Woolfson. He was, clearly, the melody man behind APP's songs--esp. when considered in light of Mr. Parson's post-Project output (much of which is fine, just lacking the hooks Eric provided).

However, after listening to Freudiana, I've gotta say that if this is what Eric can do on his own, I miss Mr. Parson's direction. (Yes, Alan produced Freudiania, but remember: it is NOT a Project album. There's a reason for that.)

Somewhere along the line, this collection stopped being a concept album and started becoming a musical: Gilbert, Sullivan, Woolfson & Weber. Not to attack the production or the songwriting; it's just obviously not where Alan wanted to take (or had previously taken) the Project. The work on Freudiana is a tad cutesy--not all of it, but enough of it. If you want progressive pop/rock in the vein of Ammonia Avenue, you WILL find it here--but only in about 3 tracks. Gaudi-era work makes an appearance in maybe two tracks. Everything else sounds like Eric's take on CATS, bouncy rhythms and stage vocals and dialogue-style lyrics.

The overall effect is not bad. After all, Woolfson wrote the lion's share of APP songs. But to compare this work to the Project's best is ... well, I suspect it's just an overreaction to the somewhat disappointing work on Alan's latest "solo" releases. It's good to hear Eric and Chris Rainbow and John Miles and Graham Dye sing again ... one just wishes for less South Pacific and more rock leanings.

For what it's worth, I'd leave you with this thought: If you have all the Project's work, this album is worth the price. But expect some disappointments.

If you're a casual fan, don't bother until you've bought all the other titles.

If you've only heard the Project's singles and are looking for something to start your collection ... this ain't it.

And if you know Alan or Eric personally ... please thank them for all of their efforts apart. And convince them to get back together.

With the recent passing of songwriter Eric Woolfson, I feel obliged to finally share my thoughts on this brilliant concept album. After several years of honing these songs in pre-production, Woolfson, with the aid of Brian Brolly, brought Freudiana to the world as a successfully staged musical in Vienna. In hindsight, this was a much better concept album than musical as the book, or story, of this musical did lack cohesion as it shouldered the weight of almost too many Freudian philosophies. However, the musical that Woolfson's entire career had been leading up to will always be Poe: More Tales of Mystery & Imagination.

After hearing the stellar remastering of Gaudi, I cannot help but look forward to this masterpiece receiving a similar treatment. While I never had a single complaint about the sound quality of this disc, I now notice the transistor-like quality to the horns on this disc that, in comparison, sound truly life-like on the Gaudi remaster. Merely a small observation, it nonetheless does demonstrate room for improvement should remastering sessions ever get funded.

But more than anything else, Freudiana is a work of art unlike any other. While many of Freud's theories have fallen out of favor with modern psychology, Woolfson nonetheless examines Freud's ardent attempts to explain the family dynamics between parents and children, the inner world of dreams and the unconscious mind, and the psychoanalyst's five most famous case studies. There is good-natured fun poked at modern day Freudian psychologists in the humorous "Sects Therapy" which really comes to life thanks to the vocal performance of Frankie Howerd, but then there is also the tragic abuse of "Dora" who Freud had to explain away with the Electra Complex. And, ultimately, there is even the admission regarding both the patients that Freud was able to help as well as those he was not in the closing epic "There But For The Grace of God" sung by none other than soulful John Miles.

At this point, an understandable question may arise in the mind of someone in the audience: Why would Eric Woolfson be so fascinated with Freudian theory as to write song after song about it? Curiously enough, Sigmund Freud declared himself a mirror upon which his patients could see and, presumably, adjust themselves accordingly. Eric Woolfson saw his songwriting in a very similar. Whenever anyone asked him what this or that song was about, he was generally very reluctant to give a firm answer. He would often the conversation back onto the questioner, reflecting the focus away from himself. Woolfson seemed to feel that a song's longevity existed in direct proportion to the personal meaning that the listener, any listener, was able to draw forth from it. Couple that unique perspective that both Freud and Woolfson shared with the fact that his wife Hazel was a scholar of pychology and psychiatry, and it all begins to make a great of sense as to why Woolfson would relaunch his songwriting career through this particular historic figure. Thus, the song "I Am A Mirror" embodies this crossroad encounter that the songwriter had with the father of modern psychology.

So how well does Eric Woolfson translate Freudian theory into modern song? Well, let me put it this way. When I was taking an introductory course in psychology in autumn of 1992, I drove to Tustin, California to The Digital Ear and, much to my absolute surprise and delight, discovered this wonderful album. When I heard "No One Can Love You Better Than Me" I threw away every note I took in class and from my reading on The Oedipus Complex. The song so embodies the essence of that Freudian theory that the notes I took merely cluttered my understanding of it. Not every theory Freud came up with has stood the test of time, but he really was on to something with his observations of the family dynamic and the unconscious mind.

While Eric Woolfson is credited with writing all but one of the songs here, it would be criminally negligent to dismiss the role that Alan Parsons played in honing what were presumably diamonds in the rough. Parsons' prowess as a producer is more than abundantly evident throughout the entire album. For me, this masterpiece will always be the eleventh Alan Parsons Project and, although it took some time for a few of the songs to grow on me, this has become one of my favorite releases in the entire Project catalog. All I can say to the powers that be is, "let the remastering begin!"

Despite being a long-time fan of the Alan Parsons Project, I put off buying this album because of the cost, the difficulty in finding it, and the fact that I'm not a fan of Freud. I'm glad I finally broke down and ordered it, because this is a beautiful album, easily ranking among the best works produced by Alan Parsons, et al.

Yes, you can tell that this is an album connected with a stage musical, and, in particular, some of the songs remind me of songs in other musicals. (E.g., "Don't Let the Moment Pass" sounds a little like Les Miserables' "I Dreamed a Dream", and "No One Can Love You Better than Me" bears at least a structural similarity to Fiddler on the Roof's "Tradition".) I was prepared to dislike the strange "Funny You Should Say That" but I agree with the critic for AMG who said that it ends up being "incredibly powerful".

If you're an AP fan who is turned off by the idea of an album with showtunes, you should know that there's a lot of material here that sounds like classic APP. "Destiny", while way too short, has the same haunting quality as "Gemini" on Eye in the Sky. (Not coincidentally, Chris Rainbow does the vocal on both tunes.) "Dora" is another highlight.

As a long time AP Project fan, and someone who has been disappointed with AP's recent releases since his split with vocalist/song writer/conceptualist Eric Woolfson, I would add my voice to the other positive reviews posted here: Freudiana is simply classic APP, and easily one of my favorite APP releases. The theatricality of the album echos, in my mind, the earlier APP works, and only adds to the story telling. The music does not suffer from the few talky interludes, I assure you. What a joy to discover the missing APP album almost 10 years after its release, and to revisit the genius that Woolfson and Parsons imparted, together, to their music. Well worth the price to any serious APP fan, and far, far better than anything Parsons has done since.

Just wanted to share my comments about Freudiana, what a truly outstanding album. For starters thank's for the internet, without it I would have never know about this "Unkown Project". This CD should have been released here in the States, but what else is new, the only thing that get's release here is "POP" music. I don't ever listen to the radio because of the garbage that's being played! I believe Freudiana would have done well especially if people would have know who released this CD! Just my thoughts. Any ways my favorite track is "Upper Me" this is truly Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson at there finest, from the APP intro tidbits to Eric Stewarts vocals, this is truly a remarkable song. It should have been on there "Greatest Hit's Collections". Thanks again for a truly remarkable album. Highly recommended it to all who really appreciate music. Thank you

I've been looking for Freudiana CD for 10 years!! And here at last I've found it!. I got the cassette in 1991 and has ever since been searching for a CD.

I am a musician/composer. The Freudian album is a great music masterpiece, other than my personal APP favorite of "The Turn of a Friendly Card."

Hey, believe what a composer has to say about music.