Games People Play Turn Of A Friendly Card The Alan Parsons Project

Album: The Turn Of A Friendly Card (1980)
Games People Play
The Turn of a Friendly Card Pt I & IIShow more

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.

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.

The Cover contains a stained glass window with the King of Diamonds as the centerpiece. Julius Caesar, Man with the Axe, One-Eyed King (K♦). Just FYI. The queen of this suit represents Rachel, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel.

The Paris Pattern incorporates the 52-card deck seen at modern-day poker tables, with the familiar four suits, face cards (kings, queens, and jacks), and the ace counting as both the highest and lowest card.

The term “Suicide King” refers to the king of hearts (K♥) in a standard 52-card deck of playing cards. The Suicide King gets its name from the appearance that the king displayed on the card is stabbing himself in the head with his own dagger.

What does the Tin Man seek in the Wizard of Oz which seems to be obtained from a Green Wizard in the Emerald City? Tin (Tinia/Tina) The highest god in the Etruscan pantheon. Like his Greek/Roman equivalent Zeus/Jupiter, he carries a thunderbolt. His consort was Uni. Ergo... Tin = Jupiter and Jupiter has no heart.

If I were a card, perhaps The Jack of Hearts (J♥) as "La Hire" I would be. The nickname of "La Hire" originates from Étienne de Vignolles, Sieur de Montmorillon, Chatelain de Longueville. The English had nicknamed him "the Hire-God" (Ira Dei: the wrath of God). In French tradition, "La Hire" is used as a nickname for the knave of hearts. His name remains a byword for a choleric disposition.

He was a close comrade of Joan of Arc. He was one of the few military leaders who believed in her and the inspiration she brought, and he fought alongside her at Orleans (where my family lived for several years post WWII courtesy of the US Military). At the Battle of Patay, La Hire commanded the vanguard and won a great victory for France. La Hire was also known for praying before going into battle, something that could be attributed to Joan's influence. In 1430, La Hire captured the English held fortification of Château Gaillard. He was imprisoned in Dourdan in the spring of 1431. He won the Battle of Gerberoy in 1435 and was made Captain General of Normandy in 1438. His last two major military engagements occurred in 1440 at Pontoise where he assisted Dunois to capture it from the English; and in 1442 he assisted Charles of Orleans in capturing La Réole. He died at Montauban on 11 January 1443, of an unknown illness.

The album's title track was covered by German funeral doom metal band Ahab for their album The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" in 2015.

Games People Play is one of the most high tempo, rock-style songs that this "progressive" group recorded. It's also unusual in that it was fronted by Lenny Zakatek - most of their songs featured Eric Woolfson as lead singer.

The song examines the strategies people use to get what they want from others, while also contemplating the fact that they're not getting any younger. Interestingly, there is a book on the former theme by psychiatrist Eric Berne, also called Games People Play.

In a 2019 interview with Alan Parsons, he said: "I think it would be fair to say that that was inspired by the fact that we were living in Monte Carlo. It's very linked to the content of the album, The Turn Of A Friendly Card, which was all about gambling, gamblers, the problems of gamblers, and games people play. It's just a gambling theme. We literally lived 10 paces from the Monte Carlo Casino - we were right there."

Parsons used an instrument he invented called a Projectron on this track. Similar to a mellotron, it used tape loops to play back samples. A studio boffin with high technical acuity, Parsons cut his teeth doing engineer work at Abbey Road Studios, where he worked with The Beatles and Pink Floyd.

Other personnel on Games People Play are:

Vocals: Lenny Zakatek
Backing Vocals: Chris Rainbow
Bass: David Paton
Drums: Stuart Elliott
Keyboards: Eric Woolfson
Guitar: Ian Bairnson