Vulture Culture

Untitled

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".

At the beginning of 1985, the lead single "Let's Talk About Me" reached the Top 40 in Germany (where the album was #1), in Switzerland (where Vulture Culture was #2) 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 an instrumental but does contain 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, except where noted.

1. "Let's Talk About Me" (lead vocal David Paton) – 4:29
2. "Separate Lives" (lead vocal Eric Woolfson) – 4:59
3. "Days Are Numbers (The Traveller)" (lead vocal Chris Rainbow) – 4:31
4. "Sooner Or Later" (lead vocal Eric Woolfson) – 4:25
5. "Vulture Culture" (lead vocal Lenny Zakatek) – 5:22
6. "Hawkeye" (instrumental) – 3:49
7. "Somebody Out There" (lead vocal Colin Blunstone) – 4:55
8. "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

Personnel

• Ian Bairnson – guitar
• Colin Blunstone – vocals
• Richard Cottle – synthesizer, keyboards, saxophone
• Stuart Elliott – percussion, drums
• Mr. Laser Beam – vocals, speech/speaker/speaking part
• Alan Parsons – keyboards, programming, vocals
• David Paton – bass, guitar, vocals
• Chris Rainbow – vocals
• Eric Woolfson – piano, keyboards, vocals
• Lenny Zakatek – vocals

Cultural references

• The album name was referenced in Donkey Kong Country as the first level in Vine Valley, the 3rd area in the game.
• The cover of the album pictures an Ouroboros, with a vulture's head instead of a serpent, which was made to symbolize greed.

Charts

Year	Chart	Position
1985	The Billboard 200	46
1985	UK Albums Chart	40
1985	Canada	25