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Stereotomy

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This article is about a musical album. For the descriptive geometry term, see Stereotomy (Descriptive Geometry).

Stereotomy
Studio album by
The Alan Parsons Project
ReleasedNovember 1985
RecordedOctober 1984 – August 1985
StudioMayfair Studios
Genre
Length41:58
LabelArista
ProducerAlan Parsons and Eric Woolfson
The Alan Parsons Project chronology
Vulture Culture
(1985) 		Stereotomy
(1985) 		Gaudi
(1987)
Alternate cover
Re-release cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Rolling Stone[2]

Stereotomy is the ninth studio album by the Alan Parsons Project, released in 1985.

Not as commercially successful as its predecessor Vulture Culture, the album is structured differently from earlier Project albums: containing three lengthy tracks ("Stereotomy" at over seven minutes, "Light of the World" at over six minutes, and the instrumental "Where's the Walrus?" running over seven and a half minutes) and two minute-long songs at the end. It is a full digital production and both the LP and CD releases were encoded using the two-channel Ambisonic UHJ format. Stereotomy earned a Grammy nomination in 1987 – for Best Rock Instrumental Performance: Orchestra, Group, or Soloist – for the track "Where's the Walrus?"[3]

Stereotomy marks the final appearance of David Paton on bass – he went on to join Elton John's touring band – and is the first Project release since Tales of Mystery and Imagination not to feature Lenny Zakatek.

Background

[edit]

The word "stereotomy" is taken from "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe.[4] It refers to the cutting of solid shapes into different forms, and is used as a metaphor for the way that famous people (singers, actors, etc.) are 'shaped' by the demands of fame. The short track "Chinese Whispers" also references "Rue Morgue" in that although an instrumental, it features Eric Woolfson’s daughters Sally and Lorna reciting a sequence of words from the story.

Richard Cottle, who first worked with the Alan Parsons project on Vulture Culture, reprised his role as the band's dedicated session synthesiser player. His keyboard rig consisted of a PPG Wave 2.3, Emulator II, Fairlight CMI, Yamaha DX7, and two Sequential Prophet 5 synthesisers that were retrofitted with MIDI capabilities. Cottle primarily used the PPG Wave as his master keyboard and used the Prophet and DX7 for chordal pads. Parsons's TX Rack, which was positioned in the control room, also connected to some of Cottles instruments, included the DX7. The Friend Chip SRC synchronizer was relied on to overcome the latency associated with MIDI by delaying the feed to various instruments. Cottles keyboards mixes were sent directly to the recording console with various audio effects baked in, such as reverb.[5]

At the time of release, Parsons said, "Stereotomy is really our best album in years." However, he and Woolfson noted that the record suffered a lack of record label support.[6]

Artwork

[edit]

The original vinyl packaging was different from all the reissues: it featured more elaborate artwork of the paper sleeve supplied with a special color-filter oversleeve. When inserted, the over-sleeve filtered some of the colors of the artwork, allowing four different variations (two per side). In the reissues, only one variant remained. The artwork was nominated for Best Album Package at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards.

Critical reception

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Stereotomy generally received negative reviews from music critics. AllMusic felt that the album "came up short" and was only partially salvaged by some of the instrumental compositions, which created "some musical buoyancy among the blandness of the other tracks."[1] In his review of the album, J. D. Considine of Musician wrote simply: "Unnecessary surgery."[7]

Track listing

[edit]

All songs written and composed by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson.

Side one
No.TitleLead VocalsLength
1."Stereotomy"John Miles up to 5:11, Eric Woolfson 5:11 to 5:507:18
2."Beaujolais"Chris Rainbow4:27
3."Urbania"(Instrumental)4:59
4."Limelight"Gary Brooker4:39
Side two
No.TitleLead VocalsLength
1."In the Real World"Miles4:20
2."Where's the Walrus?"(Instrumental)7:31
3."Light of the World"Graham Dye, backing vocal Steven Dye6:19
4."Chinese Whispers"(Instrumental, spoken word by Sally and Lorna Woolfson)1:01
5."Stereotomy Two"Miles1:21

Stereotomy was remastered and reissued in 2008 with the following bonus tracks:

  1. "Light of the World" (backing track) – 6:14
  2. "Rumour Goin' Round" (demo) – 5:01
  3. "Stereotomy" (Eric Woolfson guide vocal) – 6:37
  4. "Stereotomy Two" (backing rough mix) – 1:23

Inspirations

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The track "Chinese Whispers" is based on the game of Chinese whispers. It has some snippets of dialogue heavily overlaid on top of each other. The words are taken from Edgar Allan Poe's work Murders in the Rue Morgue:

"...The larger links of the chain run thus – Chantilly, Orion, Dr. Nichol, Epicurus, Stereotomy, the street stones, the fruiterer."

The titles of "Urbania" and "Where's the Walrus?" can be attributed to Lee Abrams, a (then) radio programmer for WLUP Radio (Chicago, IL) and friend of Parsons and Woolfson. Eric Woolfson remembers:

"He was really quite inspirational in this album [Stereotomy] in telling us what we'd been doing wrong, in his view, on the previous albums... 'Urbania' was one of the words he came out with during the course of a long conversation. Another title he's responsible for... is 'Where's the Walrus,' the other instrumental, 'cause he was really giving us a hard time, I must tell you: 'Your guitar sounds are too soft, and your whole approach is, you know, slack, and your lyrics—there’s no great lyrics anymore! I mean, where's the walrus? I don't hear the walrus!' Referring, of course, to John Lennon's `I am the Walrus’..."

[8][better source needed]

Abrams is frequently credited on Project recordings as "Mr. Laser Beam" ("laser beam" being an anagram of Lee Abrams).

Personnel

[edit]

Charts

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Chart (1985–1986) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[9] 50
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[10] 15
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[11] 32
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[12] 13
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[13] 16
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[14] 15
Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)[15] 17
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[16] 49
Spanish Albums (AFE)[17] 2
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[18] 21
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 13
US Billboard 200[20] 43
[edit]

A copy of Stereotomy can (very) briefly be seen in The Big Lebowski when Maude tells The Dude to look through her LPs.

"Limelight" was used by NBC Sports for a music video of the 1986 New York Mets during the postgame show of the 1986 World Series after the Mets defeated the Boston Red Sox in Game 7 to win the World Championship.

in 1989 "Stereotomy", "Where's the Walrus?", and "Chinese Whispers" were used as background music in Cuando Llega El Amor starring Lucero, and Omar Fierro.

"Limelight" was used CBC Sports for the closing montage of the 1992 Grey Cup where the Calgary Stampeders defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 24-10. Doug Flutie led Calgary to their first Grey Cup title in 21 years.

References

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  1. ^ a b DeGagne, Mike. "Stereotomy - Alan Parsons Project". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  2. ^ "Album Reviews". Rolling Stone.
  3. ^ "History of The Alan Parsons Project". The-alan-parsons-project.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  4. ^ Bill Henderson (16 February 1986). "Review: The Alan Parsons Project, Stereotomy". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  5. ^ Elen, Richard (May 1986). "The Alan Parsons Project". Sound on Sound. Vol. 1, no. 7. pp. 36–39. Retrieved 21 December 2024 – via Muzines.
  6. ^ Aikin, Jim; Doerschuk, Bob (August 1986). "The Essence of Studio Rock". Keyboard Magazine.
  7. ^ Considine, J.D. (April 1986). "Stereotomy". Musician.
  8. ^ "Alan Parsons Project List FAQ - Version 1.0". www.pattifiasco.com. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  9. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 229. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  10. ^ "Austriancharts.at – The Alan Parsons Project – Stereotomy" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  11. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0642". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  12. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – The Alan Parsons Project – Stereotomy" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  13. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  14. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – The Alan Parsons Project – Stereotomy" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  15. ^ "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 30 July 2024. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Alan Parsons Project".
  16. ^ "Charts.nz – The Alan Parsons Project – Stereotomy". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  17. ^ Salaverri, Fernando (2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  18. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – The Alan Parsons Project – Stereotomy". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  19. ^ "Swisscharts.com – The Alan Parsons Project – Stereotomy". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  20. ^ "The Alan Parsons Project Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
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