Never meet your heroes, so the saying goes. But The Pineapple Thief’s Bruce Soord has never been one to stick to the rules, so when Prog asked if he’d like to interview Alan Parsons about the new Alan Parsons Project box set for The Turn Of A Friendly Card, he leapt at the chance. Here’s what happened when Bruce met Alan.

Words: Bruce ‘Ace Of’ Soords/Jo Kendall

“If you’re too much of a dictator in the studio you make yourself unpopular. You have to encourage everybody to pitch ideas, and you filter them to keep the good ones.”

Eric Woolfson, Alan Parsons and the equipment of yesteryear.

PRESS/TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD/ALAN PARSONS PROJECT/CHERRY RED

It’s a Thursday night in February and a slightly nervous Bruce Soord is about to chat to one of his musical heroes, Alan Parsons, over Zoom. Prog sits in to chaperone The Pineapple Thief producerfrontman and The Beatles/Floyd producerperformer legend in case either one faints, but once conversation has commenced – focusing on the 1980 Alan Parsons Project album, The Turn Of A Friendly Card, just released as a deluxe three-CD and one Blu-ray box set with book and poster – the pair are swapping trade secrets and away. As Alan holds up the latest issue of Tape Op mag to debate musical terms with Soord, and Soord admits, “As a 14-year-old boy, the Alan Parsons Project was my little secret, which made me a bit of a weirdo at school,” (thankfully, Alan laughs), it appears today’s interview is a gamble that’s paid off…

Bruce Soord: In 1979, when The Turn Of A Friendly Card was recorded, studios were a very different place. For a start, you had to use tape! Is there anything about that time that you miss?