Vulture Culture

Infobox Album |
Name = Vulture Culture
Type = Album
Artist = The Alan Parsons Project


Released = March 1985
Recorded = May 1984 - July 1984
Abbey Road Studios
Genre = Progressive rock, Pop rock
Length = 37:59
Label = Arista Records
Producer = Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|2|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:o3n20rnac489 link]
Last album = "Ammonia Avenue"
(1984)
This album = "Vulture Culture"
(1985)
Next album = "Stereotomy"
(1985)

"Vulture Culture" is an album by The Alan Parsons Project. The first side of the LP (CD tracks 1-4) consists entirely of four-minute pop songs, and the second side varies widely, from the subdued funk of the title track to the bouncing, desert-like "Hawkeye". "Days Are Numbers (The Traveller)" is held to be one of the Project's best songs. At the beginning of 1985, the single "Let's Talk About Me" reached the Top 40 in Germany (where the album was #1) and in the Netherlands. The song features voice-over commentary from Lee Abrams, credited on the album as "Mr. Laser Beam" (an anagram of his name).

Originally, the album was intended to be the second LP of a double album, with "Ammonia Avenue" being the first. "Sooner or Later" was recently described by Parsons himself as, "the third attempt to try and get another hit with the "Eye in the Sky"-esque chugging guitar line - "Prime Time" from "Ammonia Avenue" was the second, which I thought was a little more successful in that respect."

The song "Hawkeye" is mostly an instrumental but contains a line from Monica, a woman working at the canteen in Abbey Road Studios. The line she says is: "Only what's on the menu".

This is the only Project album that does not feature the orchestration of Andrew Powell.

Track listing

All songs written by Eric Woolfson, Alan Parsons, expect where noted.
#"Let's Talk About Me" (lead vocal David Paton) – 4:29
#"Separate Lives" (lead vocal Eric Woolfson) – 4:59
#"Days Are Numbers (The Traveller)" (lead vocal Chris Rainbow) – 4:31
#"Sooner Or Later" (lead vocal Eric Woolfson) – 4:25
#"Vulture Culture" (lead vocal Lenny Zakatek) – 5:22
#"Hawkeye" (instrumental) – 3:49
#"Somebody Out There" (lead vocal Colin Blunstone) – 4:55
#"The Same Old Sun" (lead vocal Eric Woolfson) – 5:25

"Vulture Culture" was remastered and reissued in 2007 with the following bonus tracks:

9. "No Answers Only Questions (final version)" (Woolfson) – 2:12
10. "Separate Lives (alternative mix)" – 4:18
11. "Hawkeye (demo)" – 3:18
12. "The Naked Vulture" – 10:43
13. "No Answers Only Questions (the first attempt)" (Woolfson) – 2:56

Trivia

*The album name was referenced in "Donkey Kong Country" as the first level in Vine Valley, the 3rd world in the game.

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