Advantages: nice collection of songs
Disadvantages: important tracks are missing

...The first "Best" of Alan Parsons came out at the right time: the group had recorded enough good material on their 6 CD’s, and due to the latest two albums which had been a big commercial success it had become well-known to the audience by chart hits, radio appearances and the upcoming music video. So there was a high number of potential buyers ready to take a closer look at the band. It was evident to provide them with a hit collection. Looking back, it was a perfect moment for this compilation as all the great works of the Project had already been issued – the 4 albums following until they split in 1987 supplied only a few good songs. So this Best-Of had the chance to become and to remain the ultimate Parsons collection. THE MUSIC OF THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT... Read review

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Advantages: A varied and well-produced concept album.
Disadvantages: Fails to capture the spirit of Poe's works.

..."Since the comprehension of sweet sound is our most indefinite conception, music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, is poetry. Music without the idea is simply music. Without music or an intriguing idea, colour becomes pallor, man becomes carcass, home becomes catacomb, and the dead are but for a moment motionless." Thus quoth Edgar Allen Poe in a passage narrated from beyond the grave by the late Orson Welles for the CD remaster of the Alan Parsons Project's first ambitious concept album, a progressive rock rendition of Poe's writings. The Project was a joint operation between acclaimed music producer Alan Parsons (responsible in no small part for the success of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon,' one of the greatest albums ever recorded) and musician Eric Woolfson, drafting in a variety of singers and musicians to produce... Read review

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Advantages: Beginning and ending
Disadvantages: Everything else

...After 3 very average CD’s „Gaudi“ was the last album of the Alan Parsons Project. When this release in 1987 again could not convince critics and fans, the Project finally broke up. In fact, that step was overdue as the fading creativity had paralysed the band for 5 years and caused disappointment among the fans with every new album. HALF-HEARTED RETURN TO THE CONCEPT ALBUM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Concept albums had proved to be the biggest successes of the Project. In the 80s Parsons went in another direction and aimed for commercial chart hits – successful in the beginning, but afterwards it more or less went wrong. „Gaudi“ returns to a kind of concept, it is basically dedicated to that great architect who had built the monumental cathedral Sagrada Famila in Barcelona... Read review

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Advantages: Perfect arrangement, accurate composition
Disadvantages: -

...Four years after the legendary debut „Tales Of Mystery And Imagination“ and following some considerable albums, the two heads of the Project, Alan Parsons und Eric Woolfson, managed to release another masterpiece. Among all of their studio albums which had been released by 1980, the „Tales“ and „Turn Of A Friendly Card“ are the most comparable ones. Parallels to the great debut --------------------------------------------- First of all, Parsons turned back to guitar and classic keyboard rather than letting the influence of synthesizers and computers grow further. Of course he uses them, but they are less dominant than on the former albums, which creates a more solid down-to-earth atmosphere. Yet the work is never simple as compositions are consistently on a high and sophisticated level... Read review

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Advantages: A masterpiece!
Disadvantages: i don't know!

...In 1975 former Pink Floyd sound engineer Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson gave birth to a sup