The songs at least have the virtue of brevity, but the flatulent "tone poem" that has been constructed around the title of "The Fall of the House of Usher" flows on and on like a river of treacle. The three have collaborated here on an album in which the engineering is trickily superb, but the pretension is so think and the execution of the original idea of adapting some of Poe's most famous chestnuts is so sloppy and pointless that one might as well be listening to the Very Uncollected Thoughts of Sara Teasdale on the day she discovered speed. The Alan Parsons Project consists of Parsons, who began as an assistant engineer on the Beatles Abbey Road album and has since gone on to become a producer Eric Woolfson, whose unfortunate idea it was to drub poor old Edgar Allan Poe's works into a rock fantasy and arranger-conductor Andrew Powell. There are, however, some very beautiful selections, particularly "The Cask of Amontillado" and the fascinating "The Raven." But devotees of Gothic literature will have to wait for someone with more of the macabre in their blood for a truer musical reading of Poe's often terrifying works. But the atonal, chaotic "fall" seems more an intrusion on the rest of the opus than the holocaustal finale it should have been. The most ambitious track, "The Fall of the House of Usher," rises majestically with a Fantasia-like opening and a spectacular thunderstorm, then shifts into intermezzo and pavane passages that are quite moving. Arthur Brown's unique vocal ravings on "The Tell-Tale Heart" come closest because they supply the necessary dose of hysteria. Unfortunately, the tension and sense of impending, surreal terror that underscore most of Poe's work simply didn't get transferred into the musical interpretations. Andrew Powell arranged and conducted the orchestra and choir that dominate the album and there are vocal appearances by John Miles, the Hollies' Terry Sylvester and Arthur Brown, among others. Alan Parsons, best known for engineering Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, conceptualized the project with Poe "appreciator" Eric Woolfson. Tales of Mystery and Imagination undertakes the difficult task of transforming some of Edgar Allan Poe's writings into music. The Alan Parsons Project - Tales Of Mystery And Imagination
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