Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Tales of Mystery and Imagination is a progressive rock album by The Alan Parsons Project, released in 1976 (see 1976 in music). The album's avant-garde soundscapes kept it from being a blockbuster, but the interesting lyrical and musical themes — retellings of horror stories by Edgar Allan Poe — attracted a small audience. Critical reaction was often mixed, such as Rolling Stone magazine, whose Billy Altman concluded that the album mostly failed at reproducing Poe's tension and macabre fear, ending by claiming that "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".

Related Topics:
Progressive rock - The Alan Parsons Project - 1976 - 1976 in music - Horror - Edgar Allan Poe - Rolling Stone magazine

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Tales of Mystery and Imagination peaked at #38 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. "(The System Of) Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether" peaked at #37 on the Pop Singles chart.

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In 1987 Parsons completely remixed the album for CD with some new instrumentation, and added narration by Orson Welles who recorded his speeches on DAT shortly before his death. The original 1976 mix has only been released in 1976, and on an MFSL gold CD.

Related Topics:
1987 - Orson Welles - MFSL

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