Loading AI tools
1985 studio album by The Alan Parsons Project From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stereotomy is the ninth studio album by the Alan Parsons Project, released in 1985.
Stereotomy | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 19 December 1985 | |||
Recorded | October 1984 – August 1985 | |||
Studio | Mayfair Studios | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 41:58 | |||
Label | Arista | |||
Producer | Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson | |||
The Alan Parsons Project chronology | ||||
| ||||
Alternate cover | ||||
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Rolling Stone | [2] |
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.
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.
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.[5]
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.
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."[6]
All songs written and composed by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson.
No. | Title | Lead Vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Stereotomy" | John Miles up to 5:11, Eric Woolfson 5:11 to 5:50 | 7:18 |
2. | "Beaujolais" | Chris Rainbow | 4:27 |
3. | "Urbania" | (Instrumental) | 4:59 |
4. | "Limelight" | Gary Brooker | 4:39 |
No. | Title | Lead Vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "In the Real World" | Miles | 4:20 |
2. | "Where's the Walrus?" | (Instrumental) | 7:31 |
3. | "Light of the World" | Graham Dye, backing vocal Steven Dye | 6:19 |
4. | "Chinese Whispers" | (Instrumental, spoken word by Sally and Lorna Woolfson) | 1:01 |
5. | "Stereotomy Two" | Miles | 1:21 |
Stereotomy was remastered and reissued in 2008 with the following bonus tracks:
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’..."
Abrams is frequently credited on Project recordings as "Mr. Laser Beam" ("laser beam" being an anagram of Lee Abrams).
Chart (1985-1986) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[8] | 50 |
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[9] | 15 |
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[10] | 32 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[11] | 13 |
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[12] | 16 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] | 15 |
Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)[14] | 17 |
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[15] | 49 |
Spanish Albums (AFE)[16] | 2 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[17] | 21 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[18] | 13 |
US Billboard 200[19] | 43 |
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.
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.