The Alan Parsons Project- The Turn Of A Friendly Card (part 1)

[tamerlan1967]

Alan Parsons always made the right choice, in this case The Gambler of Dostoievsky were the theme for the music, excellent!

[richardjwaters]

This is not just about Gambling, its about the struggle against/with life; Gambling as a metaphor for living life, taking chances, wishing and hoping for the next "friendly card" to turn the came around, the promise of snake eyes rolling in something you have no control over...

[moonrider67]

In my Opinion, the best Album of Alan Parsons Project

[nomiclas]

@moonrider67 so many are so good how do you choose?my fav is maybe is I Robot but i'm really partial to the first LP.expounding on POE.

[moonrider67]

@nomiclas i don;t mean that the other Albums are bad... just that i like this a little bit more.. but the Song i like the most is "The Raven"

[nomiclas]

@moonrider67 i haven't heard a bad one yet and i found some of the new stuff on U tube.i own most of the old stuff on vinyl.when i get going on the album list i usually play all i have.i refer to it as a "Alan Parson Concert".

[ashley4181]

Música de toda la vida..Me fascina!!!!



[kimmetje1976]

Music with a message

[floortje06]

My parents listen to this so often.. and mostly i don't like that music but this song has such a great hook.. I love it!

[professorfirestick]

My word, this takes me back to 1980 when the "Friendly card" album was the soundtrack to my writing job applications leading to a 31 year career in Cytogenetics . Sometimes, one forgets about some incredibly good music, and this is a fine example. I still have all of the APP albums on vinyl, and must re-visit them! Greetings to all who appreciate fine music regardless of genre and time , and bolleaux to an awful lot of the anti-musical pap which so often masquerades as quality these days .

[paulamcallister]

This song can be taken as a song about gambling but life is a gamble and the lyrics can also be taken as a metaphore for all life's circumstances - as a turn of a friendly card can alter your life in any circumstance - we all need a friendly card at some time in our lives may it be health, love, work or just as the song would suggest gambling

[tymothymichel1]

I think it's about politics....think about it.

[Maravalmusic]

This is a beautiful and meaningful music.

Casino's gambling has only a winner: the Casino itself... Even lotery games are arguable, like the Euromillions: why so much money to a single person like a jackpot of more than one hundred million Euros???

[LadyHaldir1]

A thing is a thing and it is so good or so bad like the people are using the thing. Sometimes, when people are winnig, they can't stop the game and here begins the bad. If someone can stop in the right moment, he has luck and a nice surprice :-)

In the years of the 80's i had this Record. I like it ^^

[mcmorrison]

Album title cut from a great concept album/cd: trust me

[Blinkybills]

I wish people wouldn't sware. Cool song - I like it..

[Masowai]

@Blinkybills I, myself, hate when people sware. However, it is even more offensive when they swear.

XD

[cb800808]

@Masowai

LOL

nice that :D

but you seem to be in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent

one might mistake the 2 combatants for a battle of twits

life is rich isn't it

we don't have to pay a thing for their entertaining us

:P

[EvaPanag100]

FUCKING COOL !!!!!!

[hotelalandalusjerez]

Un gran tema si señor!

[lifereguard]

No goverment wishes to ban gambling, the revenues are too enormous. They simply make the right noises too keep the tut tutters on board. In the Uk we had an asshole called John Prescott, a nightclub door bouncer who somehow became deputy prime minister. He wanted to open the biggest casino in Europe right in one of the poorest areas of Manchester. Degenerates like that take the food out of the mouths of hungry children.

[txemata1]

@lifereguard Totally of course.I like your comment.

[rainmaneverson]

@monsterbonnen ==> I'm sure you're cut on these lyrics is spot-on.

... I relate snippets of songs, places, smells to my own life's experience. This song is no exception over all these years, but I guess I never put the whole album in it's own perspective... thanks!

[rainmaneverson]

... but the game never ends when you're whole world depends on the turn of a friendly card....

... maybe I think too hard, but I found that line telling, perhaps about my own life... chance favors the prepared mind and all that ;-)

[Vulkus]

It matters little to me what this song is about, the music and singing is superb. I could listen to this for hours at a time, and have in the past.

[masquenada8]

love it.

[JackyJack0]

Une chanson, une mélodie qui me bouleverse profondément ... Et pourtant, je connais depuis des années, et elle a toujours le même effet sur moi ...

[JackyJack0]

Une chanson, une mélodie qui me bouleverse profondément ... Et pourtant, je connais depuis des années, et elle a toujours le même effet sur moi ...

[019fv]

This song makes me cryng ..

[jarijn60]

This song is perfect for promoting bridge over the world.

Jack

[oink1969]

I have just listened to the whole album from cd, this is such good music -awesome stuff

[wahnano]

English Music from back in the days when I use to be naif but I discovered after more than 40 years that is all evil shaytanic lucifarian.

May the almighty protect us from the Lucifarians.

[adishimonalon]

the artists have always the last word,'the last friendly card,some of them like

john lennon knew and write about it, it is because the pen is mightir then the sword

adi shimon alon- israel

[adishimonalon]

the artists have always the last word,'the last friendly card,some of them like

john lennon knew and write about it, it is because the pen is mightir then the sword

[marcoc826]

Great choice, Aqualung1989 ;

Alan Parson is a Master of all time , and Mike Oldfield is his brother.

However my favorite song is "Pipeline".

Thanks for sharing.

[myrina49280]

superbe!

[am2boni]

A classic song! I remember jaming to this back in the early 80's on LP! God Bless Alan Parson Project! Thanks for sharing!  Carry On!!!

[majsol1]

@am2boni det kan ikke siges bedre hjertens god musik

[Jeeforceful]

this is a song to listen to when you finally have one good day after a disastrous month

[theslowpilot]

If they arent still goin they should have an alan parsons experience

[jimraw1]

@theslowpilot Alan Parsons Project sadly broke up in 1990. The group really was only Parsons and Eric Woolfson (with a ton of guest musicians). Woolfson decided he wanted to take his big concepts and create musicals for the stage. Except for one performance Alan Parsons never performed their music live (for the same reasons the Beatles didnt perform their later albums live). Time to time Alan Parsons performs with other musicians (Alan Parsons live project), but he is mainly an engineer.

[Baritone45]

@jimraw1 You could stand a correction or two. Chiefly that Alan Parsons toured and recording as himself (AP, not APP) for apparently about 10 years from the posts I've seen on here. Just look around at the newer (stuff).

[Alvir0]

MASTERPIECE FOR EVER.

When im down, i listen this song, because its remember me my childhood...

Thanks father for show me The Alan Parsons Proyect!!

[monsterbonnen]

is it a song about fortuna

[GodOfQwerty]

@monsterbonnen It's about the disastrous effects of gambling. In order of mention;unsmiling faces are gamblers, bright plastic chains are poker chips, wheel in perp. motion is a roulette table, follow the races and play out the games are gabling on races and games, the sign in the desert; think L.A. Kings horses and kings men represents how no government has been able to successfully stop gambling, and the pilgrim represents the devotion a gabler has, and how far he will go to continue gabling.

[GrandviewJunction]

"Sign in the desert that lies in the west" is a reference to Las Vegas, a 24-hour gaming strip "where you can't tell the night from the daylight" because of the neon sign.

Next song: Snake Eyes

[GodOfQwerty]

@GrandviewJunction Oh yes, how stupid of me. I always get Las Angeles and Las Vegas confused. Thank you for spotting that error.

[Doommaster1994]

@GodOfQwerty Thanks so much for telling us that. I never knew what the song was about but I knew it was about gambling somehow. Though they say 'Pay out the gains' not 'Pay out the games'. I think the part where they say 'Where you can't tell the night from the sunrise' is about the 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' sign's lights. Just my guess though.

[GodOfQwerty]

@Doommaster1994 Ya, I get las Angeles and Las Vegas confused occasionally. Rather silly, especially as I am a California native.

Also, you're probably right about "pay out the gains," because I've never won any sort of gambling thing. In fact, every time I visit England I like to go to the horse races. On the rare occasions that I choose to gable, I seem to have the unique talent of choosing the horse that lands in last place. =s

[Doommaster1994]

@GodOfQwerty Oh OK. My mom's version of the book has the lyrics and it says 'Gains'. But thanks to you, this song makes sense to me. Then May Be A Price To Pay (My second favorite album) I think it about servants playing around in the house when the Master isn't there and he doesn't want them to so they're 'taking their chances' getting caught by the master. That's just my guess though, you may know better.

[GodOfQwerty]

@Doommaster1994 I've never heard the song, but I'll look it up.

Also, It's not so hard to translate a song. You just have to remember that most rock and roll songs use figurativeness. Normally, there are a couple of phrases in a song that will give it away. But some are easier than others. For instance, "Bad to the Bone" is very obviously about an attractive, "Bad Boy" type, young man, whereas songs like this leave subtle hints that must be pieced together.

[Doommaster1994]

@GodOfQwerty Oh, it's the first song in this album and my 2nd favorite.

[Laurencesmusic]

@GodOfQwerty

Good analysis! Though I would have said the sign in the desert was definitely Las Vegas. :)

[GodOfQwerty]

@Laurencesmusic I know, I know! I get the two places mixed up sometimes. I don't know why, though.

[ahitler1000]

@GodOfQwerty look how the "american " government finds a loophole in the law by building all thier casinos on Indian reservations , I hate gambling and the fact the indians once again being used by white eyes , yes , Im a halfbreed , following my indian side , gambling should be illegal, its immoral, and does hurt many , nobody wins unless they want you to , its entertainment , . . . and it sucks

[GodOfQwerty]

@ahitler1000 Hey, I'm part Native American too! But I think "Halfbreed" is a bit demeaning; I think it's better to call it "mixed ethnicity".

Now keep in mind that gambling in and of itself is not wrong; rather, the addiction to gambling is what you should avoid. If people cannot control the urge to gamble, then yes, they should lose the privilege. But if the gambler chooses to be responsible, then they should be allowed to.

[ahitler1000]

@GodOfQwerty sorry,

[stuufe]

@GodOfQwerty Gabler Gabling? :D

[GodOfQwerty]

@stuufe sorry, I had a stuffy nose.

[pa20002000]

@GodOfQwerty "the sign in the desert' - surely Las Vegas NOT LA?

'

[GodOfQwerty]

@pa20002000 Yes, that was my mistake. I used to get the two confused, but I've been corrected so many times, I doubt I could ever forget again.

[pa20002000]

@GodOfQwerty Apologies - did not mean to rub it in ;)

[Del350K4]

Are they still going?

[dorimosus]

Truly a masterpiece.

I'm a dedicated fan of the Alan Parsons Project.

This is one of the best for sure.

[RioPugliese]

What a fantastic song...!

[paaskeharen77]

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