Not as commercially successful as its predecessor Vulture Culture, the album is structured differently from earlier Project albums: containing three lengthy tracks ("Stereotomy" at over seven minutes, "Light of the World" at over six minutes, and the instrumental "Where's the Walrus?" running over seven and a half minutes) and two minute-long songs at the end. It is a full digital production and both the LP and CD releases were encoded using the two-channel Ambisonic UHJ format. Stereotomy earned a Grammy nomination in 1987 – for Best Rock Instrumental Performance: Orchestra, Group, or Soloist – for the track "Where's the Walrus?"[3]
The word "stereotomy" is taken from "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe.[4] It refers to the cutting of solid shapes into different forms, and is used as a metaphor for the way that famous people (singers, actors, etc.) are 'shaped' by the demands of fame. The short track "Chinese Whispers" also references "Rue Morgue" in that although an instrumental, it features Eric Woolfson’s daughters Sally and Lorna reciting a sequence of words from the story.
Richard Cottle, who first worked with the Alan Parsons project on Vulture Culture, reprised his role as the band's dedicated session synthesiser player. His keyboard rig consisted of a PPG Wave 2.3, Emulator II, Fairlight CMI, Yamaha DX7, and two SequentialProphet 5 synthesisers that were retrofitted with MIDI capabilities. Cottle primarily used the PPG Wave as his master keyboard and used the Prophet and DX7 for chordal pads. Parsons's TX Rack, which was positioned in the control room, also connected to some of Cottles instruments, included the DX7. The Friend Chip SRC synchronizer was relied on to overcome the latency associated with MIDI by delaying the feed to various instruments. Cottles keyboards mixes were sent directly to the recording console with various audio effects baked in, such as reverb.[5]
At the time of release, Parsons said, "Stereotomy is really our best album in years." However, he and Woolfson noted that the record suffered a lack of record label support.[6]
Artwork
The original vinyl packaging was different from all the reissues: it featured more elaborate artwork of the paper sleeve supplied with a special color-filter oversleeve. When inserted, the over-sleeve filtered some of the colors of the artwork, allowing four different variations (two per side). In the reissues, only one variant remained. The artwork was nominated for Best Album Package at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards.
Critical reception
Stereotomy generally received negative reviews from music critics. AllMusic felt that the album "came up short" and was only partially salvaged by some of the instrumental compositions, which created "some musical buoyancy among the blandness of the other tracks."[1] In his review of the album, J. D. Considine of Musician wrote simply: "Unnecessary surgery."[7]
"...The larger links of the chain run thus – Chantilly, Orion, Dr. Nichol, Epicurus, Stereotomy, the street stones, the fruiterer."
The titles of "Urbania" and "Where's the Walrus?" can be attributed to Lee Abrams, a (then) radio programmer for WLUP Radio (Chicago, IL) and friend of Parsons and Woolfson. Eric Woolfson remembers:
"He was really quite inspirational in this album [Stereotomy] in telling us what we'd been doing wrong, in his view, on the previous albums... 'Urbania' was one of the words he came out with during the course of a long conversation. Another title he's responsible for... is 'Where's the Walrus,' the other instrumental, 'cause he was really giving us a hard time, I must tell you: 'Your guitar sounds are too soft, and your whole approach is, you know, slack, and your lyrics—there’s no great lyrics anymore! I mean, where's the walrus? I don't hear the walrus!' Referring, of course, to John Lennon's `I am the Walrus’..."
in 1989 "Stereotomy", "Where's the Walrus?", and "Chinese Whispers" were used as background music in Cuando Llega El Amor starring Lucero, and Omar Fierro.
^Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN978-951-1-21053-5.
^"Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 30 July 2024. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Alan Parsons Project".
