Alan Parsons Project – Vulture Culture

This is not my favorite of the Project’s albums. At this point, the sound of the group succumbed to the then-current rush of sequencers, synths and drum machines, giving the music an artificial and electronic feel overall – a big letdown for an act that had made a name for itself with sweeping, grandiose orchestral components in their music. That complaint aside, the more-pop-than-rock-opera material is not bad; “Separate Lives” and “Sooner Or Later” are solid Eric Woolfson numbers, and the album culminates in one of the most effective Parsons Heartbreakers in the band’s history, “The Same Old Sun”, a wrenchingly lonely Woolfson ballad that’ll have you reaching for a razor blade or two by the time the CD player jumps back to track one.

1. Let’s Talk About Me (4:22)
2. Separate Lives (6:42)
3. The Traveler (Days Are Numbers) (4:02)
4. Sooner Or Later (4:26)
5. Vulture Culture (5:21)
6. Hawkeye (3:48)
7. Somebody Out There (4:56)
8. The Same Old Sun (5:24)

Released by: Arista
Release date: 1984
Total running time: 39:01