Customer Reviews

Sings Alan Parsons Project That Never Was

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For my entire life I've listened to Alan Parsons as well as Eric Woolfson and enjoyed every ounce of music they've ever done and I am so very glad Eric Woolfson continues to bring it to the table after all of these years.

Woolfson Sings the Alan Parsons Project that Never Was is an absolute joy to listen to. The music is rich, complex and somewhat of a throwback to The APP days, yet still different enough that even people who don't like APP can enjoy it. The songs on this album are ones that never made the cut onto an APP album, but I think that's what makes them so uniquely different. They sound so familiar after listening to APP and Eric after all of these years, yet new and contrastive.

The lyrics in every song just flow with the complexities of the music. You can tell Eric Woolfson is a lyricists first and a musician second, but does both better then most can even do one or the other.

If you are a fan of Alan Parsons, or even if you aren't, there is something to enjoy on this album. The best way I can describe it is you know that feeling you get when you get something new and you just can't wait to play with it over and over, that's the feeling I get from listening to this album.

Eric Woolfson sings The Alan Parsons Project That Never Was is a wonderful album. It is so nice to listen to an album with not only songs written by Woolfson himself but also be able to listen to his voice. He does the lead vocals on the songs. Woolfson has completed some of the unfinished works and put those together with some songs of his musicals Gambler, Gaudi, Edgar Allan Poe and Dancing Shadows (only Freudiana is missing) on this album. I enjoy the combination of strong progressive art rock songs such as Golden Key and Immortal with more pop songs such as Nothing Can Change My Mind and I Can See Round Corners. All in all a wonderful album, that asks for more from the talented Eric Woolfson, the real creator of The Alan Parsons Project.

It's been too long since we've heard Eric's wonderful voice...and these songs are a beautiful collection of music that I'm sure Alan will be kicking himself over once he hears them again. Eric has mentioned Alan thought these songs "too commercial" yet it's all the APP hits that made him the bucks. My favorites are ALONG THE ROAD TOGETHER, SOMEWHERE IN THE AUDIENCE, and the closer IMMORTAL (from his POE CD where someone else sang it) The build up and finale of IMMORTAL moved me and gave me chills....I wish that ending guitar solo lasted much much longer!! If you love the APP albums do yourself a favor and get this one. It's a gem.

I keep wanting to like this new CD from one of the most important APP alumnus, but I can't. Despite a gift for lyrics and phrasing, there's something lacking in this CD from Eric Woolfson. While Woolfson was able to pull this off in Poe, that can't be said here.

In listening over the past few days, it's clear that the brilliant layering of the instruments from the APP is what's gone, whereas in the APP, the vocals were one of the instruments, leading to some amazing compositions over the years, in "Woolfson Sings the Alan Parsons Project That Never Was" that magic mix is missing.

I also would have enjoyed more extensive liner notes as to where these songs would have fallen in the bigger APP landscape, that would let me compare them more to their siblings that did make it onto the albums since so often an APP theme, both in concept and musical style was key to their success.

For the die-hard collector it's a must have, but to the average listener, it will always feel like something is missing in this album.

I was greatly saddened to hear today of the death of Eric Woolfson - a brilliant songwriter, singer and musician, who had continued to produce captivating and intuitive musical works across a range of genres.

This fine album is a singer/songwriter album with the artist himself performing, for the first time, all the lead vocals, as well as the core instrumentation. The songs are as nuanced, poignant and at times, gently humorous, as his fans might expect. Along with a few lost APP era treasures, Woolfson does versions of songs from a number of his musicals - "The Golden Key" makes a particularly welcome opener. The tracks are suitably produced with everything from orchestra to Ian Bairnson guesting on guitar on "Any Other Day" to a complete lost APP recording. I always hoped that Eric might one do an album covering his own APP material, but in many ways this was even more of a welcome surprise!

Taken on its own terms, this is real musical treasure and an essential document from someone who will remain one of greatest modern songwriters, and who is sorely missed.

Thankfully Eric Woolfson found some of these forgotten gems that didn't make it to earlier albums and has made this wonderful album. Many of these have similar styles of songs of which Woolfson had written and performed on many of the The Alan Parsons Project releases. They could easily fit onto past or future APP albums. Beautifully written songs, Woolfsons voice sounds as good as ever before. It's fun to imagine what they would have sounded like on an APP album as many might have been sung by other artists and with Alan Parsons lending his talents as a music mixer. None the less, this is a worthy album on it's own merits. Thank you again Mr. Woolfson, you have just made a loyal fan very happy indeed!
I urge others to give this album a listen and not be put off by a few negative reviews out there from others that think they are experts. We all know they are trying to write some clever criticism to puff themselves up, bringing down an album just to be mean, it's just so uncalled for.

What a pleasure it is to finally have a new (to me) collection of Eric Woolfson songs to listen to and marvel at. And what a treat for us all that he sings ALL the songs for a change , including those great stacked up backing vocal arrangements of his. Just SUPER! While perhaps his instrumental chops may not yield the completely polished result one might expect from a classic APP album with all the 'usual suspects' on their respective instruments, the songs themselves are every bit as wonderful as your classic Woolfson favorites from back in the day. And that familiar vocal sound is there is spades! Nobody sings Eric Woolfson songs quite as well as he does. (ok, Colin Blumstone , John Miles, Chris Rainbow and Gary Brooker all did great jobs but NOBODY sounds like Eric!)
This album is a real treat for fans of APP who have missed Eric Woolfson's songs and voice.
The song 'Immortal' is as good as any song he has ever written. They are ALL good and truly not a clinker in the bunch, THANKS SO MUCH for this record Mr. Woolfson. It's so great to hear from you again!

As a fan of The Alan Parsons Project (not Alan Parsons recordings) this CD was a great return to the roots as Eric Woolfson voice and compositions was an essential part of the project. If you enjoyed the Alan Parsons Project era give a try to this recording which will drive you back to those great days when APP music was all over around.

I have been a fan of APP since Tales came out over 30 years ago. TAPPTNW is so close to a very good album that I went ahead and gave it five stars, although it makes me wish it had been produced 20 years ago as a real APP album, with full instrumentals and, I am sad to say, Eric when he could still handle all the vocals. On many of the songs the vocals are very good, but on some the range and timbre are just not there.

Still, when TAPPTNW II comes out next year (Eric started recording it last week according to his Facebook page) I will gladly buy that too.

Although less known, Eric Woolfson is every bit the songwriter that contemporaries Peter Gabriel, Leonard Cohen, and Kate Bush are and continue to be. But for the music lover who appreciates songcraft and thoughtful lyrics, Woolfson should be a household name. This "solo" release compiles several new songs along with a number of studio-polished versions of songs previously heard from his German and English musicals as well as a couple of unheard and now completed songs from The Project era. From the soaring heroism of "The Golden Key" from his musical GAMBLER to the darkly ambient "I Can See Round Corners" to the lament of Edgar Allan Poe at the death of his young wife Virginia Clemm in "Somewhere In The Audience" to the triumphant anthem of "Immortal" where the ghost of Edgar Allen Poe reaches his audience from the hereafter, there is no shortage of stellar songwriting here. Songs like "Nothing Can Change My Mind" which will supplement his musical GAUDI and "Along The Road Together" which Woolfson wrote on behalf of a Paul Newman sponsored charitable organization in Germany giving terminally ill children a chance to go to camp are the sorts of songs you'd never hear on the radio but make the album-oriented experience complete with their mild-mannered subtlety and their intimate singer-listener sensibilities. The only song I found myself wavering on the fence about was "Train To Wuxi" which is an early version of "Train To Freedom" from the musical POE as it is somewhat uncharacteristic from the other songs here. And while Woolfson's songwriting is rock-solid, not every song is best suited to the gentleness of his voice. If you have never heard what was supposed to be the eleventh Project Freudiana (1989 Studio Cast) or Woolfson's finest musical Poe: More Tales of Mystery & Imagination, I would recommend listening to those first because of the variety of vocal arrangements to which many fans of The Project have likely become accustomed (not to mention the vast financial resources invested in comparison). That said, if you loved The Project for the care and thoughtfulness that went into each song, then this album is the perfect complement to all the other unearthed gems, i.e. bonus material, that have seen the light of day thanks to the SONY/BMG remasters of the classic Project catalog.