Alan Parsons – Try Anything Once

A dandy bit of conceptual rock opera from the same people who brought you the Alan Parsons Project, sans Eric Woolfson who departed after a divergence of music careers following the Freudiana album. As with the Project, Parsons only produces though the music seems to be attributed to him. This is an uneven collection, though it does kick off with the darkly humorous “The Three of Me”, an ode to schizophrenia with a speaker-blowing orchestral intro reminiscent of the Project’s best 1970s work. The sole single from this album, rock anthem “Turn It Up”, as well as the superior “Back Against the Wall”, feature lead vocals from Manfred Mann’s Chris Thompson. Three other songs deserve special notice – “Siren Song”, “Wine From the Water” (whose keyboards sound like they’ve time-warped into the song straight from the mid 70s), and “I’m Talking To You”, another heraldic rocker written by longtime Project guitarist Ian Bairnson. It’s a good album that thankfully doesn’t try to make any concessions to modernizing its style to keep up with the times – and that alone is a good reason to celebrate Alan Parsons’ return.

1. The Three of Me (5:32)
2. Turn It Up (6:13)
3. Wine from the Water (5:43)
4. Breakaway (4:07)
5. Mr Time (8:17)
6. Jigue (3:24)
7. I’m Talkin’ To You (4:38)
8. Siren Song (5:01)
9. Dreamscape (3:01)
10. Back Against the Wall (4:38)
11. Re-Jigue (2:28)
12. Oh Life…(There Must Be More) (6:34)

Released by: Arista
Release date: 1993
Total running time: 59:36