"Let's Talk About Me" by Alan Parsons Project

Song#:  2219
Date:  02/16/1985
Debut:  84
Peak:  56
Weeks:  10
Genre:  Pop, Rock



Pop Bits:  The Project's Ammonia Avenue became their sixth studio LP in a row to reach at least gold-level sales. That was thanks in part to the #15 Pop hit "Don't Answer Me." Less than a year after that album's release, the Project issued their follow-up, Vulture Culture. This song was the lead-off single and it did well at Rock radio reaching #10 on that chart. At Pop it didn't quite catch on and the single missed getting into the top half of the chart. With the song failing to grab a wider audience, the album struggled and ended up peaking at #46. It was their lowest charting studio LP to-date and it failed to go gold, which broke their long-standing streak of certified sellers.

ReduxReview:  I remember back when this song came out folks were saying that it sounded like a Supertramp song. I can certainly hear that, especially on the initial verse. The keyboards and punctuated band sounds did seem like something out of the Supertramp playbook, and I could hear Roger Hodgeson's voice sounding quite at home on this track. The comparison never bothered me. I've always liked the song. I just don't think it was the best choice for a single. Their track record of charting singles heavily leaned towards ones sung by Eric Woolfson, so why they didn't go with the "Eye in the Sky"-esqe "Sooner or Later" is beyond me. It seemed to me like the most obvious choice. I can only assume they were trying to break out of that mold, but it didn't quite work out. This is a good song, but perhaps not the most Pop friendly single candidate.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  Triple Shot!  1) Originally, Ammonia Avenue was slated to be a double-album. Instead, the project was broken into two individual albums and the secondary tracks that became Vulture Culture were spruced up for released as a stand-alone LP.  2) This song contains voice-over sections that were provided by DJ and media executive Lee Abrams. Abrams has been credited with creating the AOR format (album-oriented rock) in the 70s. Later on, he was one of the co-founders of XM Satellite Radio, which later merged with Sirius.  3) The vocal on this track was provided by bassist David Paton. Paton had performed bass and sang background and lead vocals on other Project albums, but this was his first APP lead vocal song that became a single. Paton first encountered Alan Parsons back in the early 70s when Parsons produced the debut LP from the Scottish band Pilot, which Paton had co-founded. Paton co-wrote and sang the band's most well-known hit, 1974's "Magic," which reached #5 on the Pop chart.

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