Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Written by Rolf

When I was a wee little lad, my friend (also a wee little lad) introduced me to this particular album, Tales of Mystery and Imagination by the Alan Parsons Project. He later lost his mind and his brain got occupied by a virtual entity called god, but I must admit he had some good taste in music. He was also responsible for my love for Pink Floyd.

Most people have probably heard of the Alan Parsons Project, a 'progressive rock' band from the United Kingdom, active from 1975 to 1990. Most people will also have heard of the poet and short-story writer Edgar Alan Poe (1809-1849). But my guess is that few people have heard of the combination of these two.

In 1976 The Project launched their debut album, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, with songs based on several short stories by Edgar Alan Poe. One could call them musical retellings, interpretations of what the written word could be in music. The 1987 remix of the album additionally featured narration by Orson Welles. Anyhow, being a fan of the genre (both musical and prose) I was impressed by the album. I hadn't heard it in ages until yesterday something somehow reminded me of it and I went hunting for the songs on YouTube.

So here they are, in this particular order:

1. "A Dream Within A Dream" [instrumental] – 4:14


2. "The Raven" – 3:57 (ft. Leonard Whiting on lead vocals, Alan Parsons lead vocal through an EMI vocoder)


3. "The Tell-Tale Heart" – 4:38 (ft. Arthur Brown)


4. "The Cask of Amontillado" – 4:33 (ft. John Miles)


5. "(The System Of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether" – 4:20 (ft. John Miles and Jack Harris)


6. "The Fall of the House of Usher" [instrumental] - 16:10
   
   • "Prelude" – 7:02
   
   
   • "Arrival" – 2:39
   
   
   • "Intermezzo" – 1:00
   
   
   • "Pavane" – 4:36
   
   
   • "Fall" – 0:51
7. "To One in Paradise" – 4:46 (ft. Terry Sylvester on lead vocals, backing vocals by Eric Woolfson)

Since, as far as I know, there were never any official videos made to support the music, I'm linking user-made YouTube videos. Which is interesting, because these are video impressions of musical impressions of written stories. The first 5 songs are quite accessible as far as 1970s progressive rock music can be accessible. The Fall of the House of Usher is somewhat more for the hardcore fans (not me). Enjoy the music and stories.

1. A Dream Within a Dream

For my own part, I have never had a thought which I could not set down in words, with even more distinctness than that which I conceived it. There is however a class of fancies, of exquisite delicacy, which are not thoughts, and to which as yet I have found it impossible to adapt to language. These fancies arise in the soul, alas how rarely, only in epochs of intense tranquility, when the bodily and mental health are in perfection, and at those mere points of time, when the confines of the waking world blend with the world of dreams. And so I captured this fancy, where all that we see or seem, is but a dream, within a dream.

2. The Raven

3. The Tell-Tale Heart

4. The Cask of Amontillado

5. (The System of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether

6. The Fall of the House of Usher

Shadows of shadows passing. It is now 1831, and as always, I am absorbed with a delicate thought. It is how poetry has indefinite sensations, to which end music is an essential. 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.

7. To One in Paradise