Stereotomy

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

Stereotomy
Stereotomyversion0.jpg
Studio album by
The Alan Parsons Project
ReleasedNovember 1985
RecordedOctober 1984 – August 1985
Mayfair Studios
Genre
Length41:58
LabelArista
ProducerAlan Parsons and Eric Woolfson
The Alan Parsons Project chronology
Vulture Culture
(1984) 		Stereotomy
(1985) 		Gaudi
(1987)
Alternate cover
Re-release cover
Re-release cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic2/5 stars[1]
Rolling Stone1/5 stars[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.

The original vinyl packaging of the album was different from all the reissues: it featured somewhat more elaborate artwork of the paper sleeve supplied with a special color-filter oversleeve. When inserted, the oversleeve filtered some of the colors of the sleeve artwork, allowing four different variations (2 per side) of it. That was supposed to symbolize visual stereotomy. In the reissues, only one variant remained. The artwork was nominated for Best Album Package at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards.

The word "stereotomy" is taken from "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe. It refers to the cutting of existing solid shapes into different forms; it is used as a metaphor for the way that famous people (singers, actors. etc.) are often 'shaped' by the demands of fame.[3]

Stereotomy earned a Grammy nomination in 1987 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance – Orchestra, Group, or Soloist for the track "Where's the Walrus?"[4][5]

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

Track listing[]

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

Side 1[]

  1. "Stereotomy" (lead vocal John Miles, backing vocal Eric Woolfson) – 7:18
  2. "Beaujolais" (lead vocal Chris Rainbow) – 4:27
  3. "Urbania" (instrumental) – 4:59
  4. "Limelight" (lead vocal Gary Brooker) – 4:39

Side 2[]

  1. "In the Real World" (lead vocal John Miles) – 4:20
  2. "Where's the Walrus?" (instrumental) – 7:31
  3. "Light of the World" (lead vocal Graham Dye, backing vocal Steven Dye) – 6:19
  4. "Chinese Whispers" (instrumental) – 1:01
  5. "Stereotomy Two" (lead vocal John Miles) – 1:21

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

  1. "Light of the World" (backing track)
  2. "Rumour Goin' Round" (demo)
  3. "Stereotomy" (Eric Woolfson guide vocal)
  4. "Stereotomy" (backing rough mix)

Personnel[]

Charts[]

Chart (1985/86) Peak
Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[6] 50
Canada RPM[7] 32
Spanish Albums Chart 5
USA (Billboard 200) 43

Inspirations[]

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).

In popular culture[]

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.

References[]

  1. ^ 2/5 stars Stereotomy at AllMusic
  2. ^ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews
  3. ^ Bill Henderson (16 February 1986). "Review: The Alan Parsons Project, Stereotomy". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  4. ^ "History of The Alan Parsons Project". The-alan-parsons-project.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  5. ^ "1987 Grammy Awards". MetroLyrics. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ "RPM Top 100 Albums - March 8, 1986" (PDF).
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