, are ponderings of that sort really such a stretch? One can only wonder how EVE would have been received all these years had it been called EDEN instead. The poignant sorrow of Duncan's soulful vocals harken the listener back to the time when man and woman lived in perfect harmony with one another. Through which the listener glimpses the lost garden that Lesley Duncan seems to almost beckon us back to in the closing epic Suffer in much the same way the third photographed woman does for much the same reason.īut, for me at least, the paradigm upon which EVE rests is the stunningly beautiful instrumental Although never intended as universal statements, the songs Unfortunately, the third woman is presented with an undeserved ugliness that completely overwhelms her beauty. Holding the male viewer in the longing of their lovely gazes, two of the three women are so subtlely marred that said flaws do not detract from their tremendous beauty. The photography by Hipgnosis actually sums up the conceptual short-comings of EVE quite succinctly. What remained was a far more conventional look at the fairer gender and their influence over men. In strictly conceptual terms, the time constraints imposed by Arista forced Woolfson to abandon his original hope of composing an album dedicated to significant women throughout history such as Joan of Arc. As such, I would strongly recommend tracking down some of Powell's other work, especially Andrew Powell and The Philharmonia Orchestra Would never be the same without Andrew Powell's orchestral touch. In strictly musical terms, Andrew Powell made what would possibly have been a good but under-distinguished album absolutely exceptional! Songs like

While Eric Woolfson remembers being under the tremendous pressure of recording deadlines even as Alan Parsons remembers a recording process bedeviled by all manner of malfunctions in a foreign studio, Andrew Powell delivered the finest orchestral arrangements to ever grace a Project.

The alan parsons project eve songs