2. The Alan Parsons Project | Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976)



The Alan Parsons Project were a British progressive rock band, active between 1975 and 1990,consisting of Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson surrounded by a varying number of session musicians and some relatively consistent band members such as guitarist Ian Bairnson, bassist and vocalist David Paton, drummer Stuart Elliott, and vocalist Lenny Zakatek.

Behind the revolving line-up and the regular sidemen, the true core of the Project was the duo of Parsons and Woolfson.Parsons was an audio engineer by profession, but also a musician and a composer.Woolfson was a songwriter by profession, but also a composer a pianist and a singer. Almost all songs on the band's albums are credited to "Parsons/Woolfson".

Tales of Mystery and Imagination is the debut studio album by the British progressive rock band The Alan Parsons Project, released on 1 May 1976 by 20th Century Fox Records in the United States and on 1 June 1976 by Charisma Records internationally. The lyrical and musical themes of the album, which are retellings of horror stories and poetry by Edgar Allan Poe, attracted a cult audience. The title of the album is taken from the title of a collection of Poe's macabre stories of the same name, Tales of Mystery & Imagination, first published in 1908 and reprinted many times since.

Musicians featured on the album include vocalists Arthur Brown of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown on "The Tell Tale Heart", John Miles on "The Cask of Amontillado" and "(The System of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether", and Terry Sylvester of The Hollies on "To One In Paradise". The complete line-up of bands Ambrosia and Pilot play on the record, along with keyboardist Francis Monkman of Curved Air and Sky. Tales of Mystery and Imagination peaked at #38 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart, and the song"(The System Of) Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether" peaked at No. 37 on the Pop Singles chart.



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