Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project tabs The Alan Parsons Project discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

The Alan Parsons Project guitar tabs

CD reviews

Ammonia Avenue

The Alan Parsons Project - Ammonia Avenue Audio CD

A fair review of the The Alan Parsons Project "Ammonia Avenue" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Alan Parsons Project reviews here, or go back to the The Alan Parsons Project tabs.

Band: The Alan Parsons Project
Title: Ammonia Avenue
Rating:

Release Date: 2009-01-27
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Prime Time 2: Let Me Go Home 3: One Good Reason 4: Since the Last Goodbye 5: Don't Answer Me 6: Dancing on a Highwire 7: You Don't Believe 8: Pipeline 9: Ammonia Avenue 10: Don't Answer Me [Early Rough Mix][*] 11: You Don't Believe [*][Demo Version] 12: Since the Last Goodbye [Chris Rainbow Vocal Overdubs] 13: Since the Last Goodbye [Eric Guide Vocal-Rough Mix] 14: You Don't Believe [Instrumental Tribute to the Shadows] 15: Dancing on a Highwire/Spotlight [Work in Progress][*] 16: Ammonia Avenue Part [Eric Demo Vocal-Rough Mix] 17: Ammonia Avenue [Orchestral Overdub]

WOW!!!!!!!

When I played this new remaster by Parsons himself - I was immediatly blown away. I always felt the original Arista CD was poorly mastered for this album.
The sound quality and fidelity far surpasses any re-mastered album I have ever heard on CD to this point.
Love all the extra bonus rare tracks - 8 in all which is an extra treat.
Please if your into real high fidelity sound get the CD not the MP3's theres a Big difference no matter how you average it out in quality - 1,440 kilobyes per second on CD comared to the Best MP3 which tops at 320kbs.
The packageing on the cd and the new linear notes: Who played what on each song - and additional graphics, photo's make getting this modestly priced CD so worth the while getting over Downloading the MP3's. For thoes with mp3 players, many mp3 players such as Ipod will play . wav files, or you can convert the songs from the CD to your ipod, thus keeping a high quality master CD for future use if technology changes etc. . . A++++++ Great Job Alan P.

Among the best sounding remasters by The Alan Parsons Project!
In hindsight, I wonder if it might have been more prudent to master compilations of hits with music downloaders in mind while mastering the complete concept albums of The Alan Parsons Project with the wider dynamic range that most audiophiles demand. Along with Gaudi and Eve, Ammonia Avenue benefits from a dynamic range that caters more to the audiophile than the casual listener content with the mp3 quality from an iPod. Afterall, if ever there was an artist to whom audiophiles were drawn, it would be The Alan Parsons Project.

Ammonia Avenue is probably the single most difficult "Project" for me to review. On the one hand, there is no shortage of truly good music in the forms of Prime Time, Don't Answer Me, and Ammonia Avenue. But on the other, the album as a whole is the single least cohesive "Project" that Eric Woolfson and Alan Parsons ever produced. (Even Alan Parsons, himself, called it "just a collection of songs. ") Pipeline is a fantastic instrumental, but, sadly, it is the only instrumental and doesn't exactly blend all that seamlessly into its surroundings the way so many other Parsonic instrumentals managed to do. Eric Woolfson's gentle voice has such a unique timbre that makes it almost irresistable, but he sings most of the vocals himself leaving Project standards Lenny Zakatek, Chris Rainbow, and Colin Blunstone only a single lead vocal each.

It is at this point that I have to wonder if I'm just knit-picking. Would I ever apply this same standard to ANY other recording act? The obvious answer is "No, I would not," but it just goes to show how high Woolfson, Parsons, and company set the bar for themselves by the release of this seventh Project. Rating Ammonia Avenue, the remaster, with five stars comes down to two criteria: The stellar sound quality and the fact that five, four, three, two, and one stars directly corresponds to the letter grades of A, B, C, D, or F. Was Ammonia Avenue my favorite Project? Not by a long shot! But there are some undeniable strengths throughout, so I can thoroughly understand why someone else might hold it in very high esteem. I just tend to favor innovation even if it fails as opposed to convention that consistently succeeds.

All that said, I almost cannot heap enough praise on the epic closing track itself. From the core of the song to its charged bridge to the lush orchestrations of Andrew Powell, there was still plenty of innovation amidst the convention to make this album more than a little memorable. The song itself seems to address the struggle to reconcile the aspirations of faith with the confines of understanding. A truly great song musically, but also a truly elusive song in strictly lyrical terms.

The bonus material didn't seem nearly as strong as that from Eye in the Sky or Vulture Culture, but will still certainly intrigue the ardent fan who wishes to glimpse behind the curtain to see into the creative process. My personal favorites were the humorous You Don't Believe (Instrumental Tribute To The Shadows) for its spaghetti western feel and Ammonia Ave (Orchestral Overdub). Although the latter is far too short, it was nice to hear a small homage to Andrew Powell's unique contributions to the finished products know as The Alan Parsons Project.

The Last Great Offering From Progressive Pop APP
This has 3 hits in Prime Time, Don't Answer Me and You Don't Believe. This was the last truly great offering from The Alan Parson's Project. The album is a little bit mellower than their previous efforts, but it's still one of their best. To me it sounds like Eye In The Sky Part II. That album is even better than this one though. The production is identical and Prime Time sounds an awful lot like the hit Eye In The Sky.

Besides the hits, the album tracks are just as good and in some cases better. The only song that I don't especially like is Give Me One Good Reason which features an attempt at 80s electronica that doesn't quite work. Other than that, this is a great piece of art rock. Highlights include:

Prime Time
Don't Answer Me
Dancing On A Highwire
You Don't Believe
Pipeline
Ammonia Avenue

That's almost the entire album. Let Me Go Home is just not unique enough to be a highlight but is still a good rocker and Since The Last Goodbye is overshadowed by Don't Answer me as the love song entry into this album but is still worth a listen.

Alan Parson's albums in order of preference

Eye In The Sky
The Turn Of A Friendly Card
Ammonia Avenue
Eve
I Robot
On Air
Time Machine
Pyramid

Any of these are sure to please fans of art-rock. Alan Parsons made other albums that are surely loved by other fans, but these are the ones that I really enjoy and would recommend.

If you plan on buying this, make sure you get the definitive Alan Parson's remasters which are some of the best ever produced in terms of sound quality. .

Great Album!!!!!!!
I have been slowly replacing all of my tapes with CD's, and only recently got to the Alan Parsons Project. I originally got this album on cassette tape back in the 80's.

This is truly a great album, with great songs from The Project. Favorite of mine is Pipeline. A great driving song!

A welcomed addition to the CD Library!!!!.

Great Album About Communication Breakdown
It's a theme with which I'm quite familiar myself, as I've been hindered by lack of communication among staff, as well as between staff and those served, at various agencies I've been with. AMMONIA AVENUE, the last Top 20 album by the Alan Parsons Project, is an album about the breakdown of communication between people. At times, this state of affairs has kept things that would help me look good for young women I had crushes on from coming together. This CD could also be seen as a protest against such things as pseudo-scientific research claiming that long-term relationships with people on the autism spectrum can cause symptoms both physical and mental, ranging from simple adult-onset acne to suicidal depression. It could also be seen as an indictment of how people see name-calling as fun and games, and how people with high-functioning autism and people who are very smart are often misunderstood and not respected. If you've ever been through any of these things, this is a CD you must own, especially with its warm, thick remastering.

You can see a complete list of all The Alan Parsons Project discography, or go back to the The Alan Parsons Project tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.