Alan Parsons Project - Turn of a Friendly Card (1980, 2004)
Classic Records HDAD-2006, DVD-Audio 24/192, DVD-Video 24/96

Tracks:
1. May Be A Price To Pay
2. Games People Play
3. Time
4. I Don't Wanna Go Home
5. Gold Bug, The
6. Turn Of A Friendly Card, The (Part One) (I)
7. Snake Eyes (II)
8. Ace Of Swords, The (III)
9. Nothing Left To Lose (IV)
10. Turn Of A Friendly Card, The (Part 2) (V)

Description:
With two of the Alan Parsons Project's best songs, the lovely ballad "Time" and the wavy-sounding "Games People Play," The Turn of a Friendly Card remains one of this group's most enjoyable albums. Parsons' idea, the subject of the album's six tracks, centers around the age-old temptation of gambling and its stranglehold on the human psyche. On "Games People Play," vocalist Lenny Zakatek sounds compelling and focused, giving the song a seriousness that aids in realization of the album's concept. With "Time," it is Eric Woolfson who carries this luxurious-sounding ode to life's passing to a place above and beyond any of this band's other slower material. The breakdown of human willpower and our greedy tendencies are highlighted in the last track, entitled "The Turn of a Friendly Card," which is broken into five separate parts. "Snake Eyes," sung by Chris Rainbow, is the most compelling of the five pieces, and ties together the whole of the recording As in every Parsons album, an instrumental is included, in this case an interesting number aptly titled "The Gold Bug." Like most of the band's instrumentals, its flow and rhythm simulate the overall tempo and concept of the album, acting as a welcome interlude. Although short, The Turn of a Friendly Card is to the point and doesn't let down when it comes to carrying out its idea.  Mike DeGagne. This 24/194 HDAD was made from a transfer of the original flat analog master tape obtained directly from Alan Parsons and offers a level of detail and clarity never before heard from the great recording and musical composition. Not to be missed!

Technology:
The Classic Hybrid DVD Audio Disc (HDAD) is a two-sided DVD disc with 24/192 PCM data playable on DVD Audio players on one side, and 24/96 PCM data playable on DVD Video players on the other side. The Classic HDAD is a truly universal DVD disc playable on all DVD players. So if you have a DVD video player, you can play the DVD Video side of the HDAD-insert the disc with the Blue center ring facing up and enjoy 24/96 playback resolution. On a DVD Audio player, simply flip the disc over with the Red ring facing up and enjoy 24/192 playback resolution.

The process starts with the encoding of an analog signal from a live microphone feed or more commonly from an analog master tape. A highly sophisticated Analog to Digital converter (A to D) samples the analog signal 192,000 times per second (192 kHz) and assigns a numerical value to each sample point. The 192 KHz sampling rate is more than four times the 44,100 (44.1 kHz) sampling rate used on standard CDs. Through a process called downsampling, the 192 KHz data is used to derive a 96 KHz data set that is used on the DVD video player side of the HDAD. The numerical value assigned to each sample point at 192 kHz-about every 5.2 microseconds-is stored as a 24-bit digital word. The significance of a 24-bit digital word is that there are 16.8 million different potential values for each 24-bit word! By contrast, there are only 65,536 different potential values for a 16-bit digital word on a normal CD. The additional 8 bits on an HDAD allow for over 16 million additional voltage values to represent the original analog signal. Further, 24-bit resolution offers 144dB of dynamic range from the softest to the loudest musical note. At 144dB of dynamic range, we greatly exceed the dynamic range available on the world’s finest analog tape machines. For the first time in the history of digital audio, we can provide Master Tape Sound (MTS)TM. We hope that you will appreciate the effort that goes into making this remarkable HDAD when you listen to what this technological wonder has to offer.