The Turn of a Friendly Card is the fifth studio album by the British progressive rock band the Alan Parsons Project, released in 1980 by Arista Records. The title piece, which appears on side 2 of the LP, is a 16-minute suite broken up into five tracks. The Turn of a Friendly Card spawned the hits "Games People Play" and "Time", the latter of which was Eric Woolfson's first lead vocal appearance. An edited version of the title piece combining the opening and ending parts of the suite was also released as a single along with an official video.
| The Turn of a Friendly Card | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 7 November 1980[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1979–1980 | |||
| Studio | Acousti Studio, Paris, France | |||
| Genre | Art rock, progressive rock | |||
| Length | 40:25 | |||
| Label | Arista | |||
| Producer | Alan Parsons | |||
| The Alan Parsons Project chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from The Turn of a Friendly Card | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| Rolling Stone |  [4] |
As with the band's previous albums, The Turn of a Friendly Card is a concept album with its theme focused on the gambling industry and the fate of gamblers, with more than one reference to Las Vegas (e.g. "there's a sign in the desert that lies to west" from the title piece). Musically, the album is more melodic and accessible than the band's previous work.
Up to this album, all Alan Parsons Project albums had been packaged in gatefold sleeves. Increasing budgetary constraints of record companies made The Turn of a Friendly Card the beginning of all subsequently released Alan Parsons Project albums to be single-sleeve packaged.[5]
The album was recorded in a record short time of two weeks in Paris. Usually the Alan Parsons Project would take many months to record an album.[6]
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson.
| No. | Title | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "May Be a Price to Pay" | Elmer Gantry | 4:58 |
| 2. | "Games People Play" | Lenny Zakatek | 4:22 |
| 3. | "Time" | Eric Woolfson | 5:04 |
| 4. | "I Don't Wanna Go Home" | Zakatek | 5:03 |
| No. | Title | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Gold Bug" | Instrumental | 4:34 |
| 2. | "The Turn of a Friendly Card
| Chris Rainbow (i, ii, v), Eric Woolfson (iv), none (iii) | 16:24 |
Though numbered as a single work, "The Turn of a Friendly Card" is split into five tracks on most compact disc and all digital and streaming releases.
Bonus tracks (2008 remaster)
The Turn of a Friendly Card was remastered and reissued in 2008 with the following bonus tracks:
Weekly charts
| Chart (1980–1981) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia Albums (Kent Music Report)[14] | 24 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[15] | 2 |
| Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[16] | 16 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17] | 17 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[18] | 2 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[19] | 18 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[20] | 11 |
| Spanish Albums (AFE)[21] | 15 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[22] | 22 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[23] | 38 |
| US Billboard 200[24] | 13 |
| Chart (2023) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Independent Albums (OCC)[25] | 20 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[26] | 15 |
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