Album Review

Stereotomy is the ninth studio album by The Alan Parsons Project, released in 1985.

Although sometimes considered better musically than its predecessor, Vulture Culture, it was not as successful commercially, perhaps due to many fewer vocals from Eric Woolfson (he only appears on a small section of the title track). The album is structured differently from earlier Project albums, containing three lengthy tracks (one the longest instrumental the Project ever made) and two-minute-long songs at the end. It is a full digital production and both the LP and CD releases was encoded using the two-channel Ambisonic UHJ format.

The cover artwork features an image of the demon ''rainman''. 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 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.

Despite its commercial underachievement, Stereotomy earned a grammy nomination in 1987 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance - Orchestra, Group, or Soloist for the track ''Where's the Walrus?'' [wikipedia.org]