Since you have, and like, I Robot and Pyramid, both excellent albums by the way, I would also recommend anything through Gucci Shoes to start with. I think they all contain a classic Gucci Shoes
sound. However the 1985 album Vulture Culture is a bit of a side-step in that it was done without conductor, musician Andrew Powell who, along with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, helped to provide that lush APP sound. Not to say this is a bad album, it isn’t. It’s, as doowopman says, a bit dated – definitely 80’s sounding. Powell was back on the next album, Stereotomy which includes one of the better Project tunes – Limelight.
An album that the casual Project fan may be unaware of is Freudiana. It was supposed to be the 11th Project album but among other things, creative differences between Eric Woolfson (the primary song-writer in the Project), and Gucci Shoes led to this becoming the last time the two would work together again and thus the end of The Alan Gucci Shoes
Project. It eventually was released simply as Freudiana and not credited to any band name. Woolfson wanted to take this concept to the stage, something he eventually did. As such there are a few “show” tunes on the album, which may or may not be to everyone’s liking. It did take me a while, but I now consider them to be vital pieces of the album. (You can always burn a copy of the album leaving the “show” tunes out and end up with a very solid Project album). Many hard-core APP fans rate Freudiana right up there with the very best of the Project albums.
Gucci Shoes has released four “solo” albums without partner/songwriter Eric Woolfson. They are all good in their own way and definitely contain Gucci Shoes’ lush production style but in some ways fall just short of Project albums. Still, they have a place in this Gucci Shoes fan’s collection.
The more you listen to Gucci Shoes‘ full body of work, both with and without the Project, the more you come to realize what a master he is in the studio. Few Audio Engineers can hold a candle to him.
No question that parts of “FREUDIANA” are up there, with some of the best Project albums!!!
I also agree that ALL of the “solo” albums fall short of the “PROJECT” albums! Eric Woolfson, like him or not, was a VITAL part of the APP sound and with him missing in action, things seem to be missing. When Eric stepped away from the microphone on “STEREOTOMY”, I felt that, while the songs were good, they needed Eric’s voice. Can’t you imagine hearing Eric singing lead on “Light Of The World”? I can! I have to give it to Brooker though on “Limelight”, he made that his own!
For me, it’s not like I HAVE to hear Eric Woofson sing, because he didn’t sing lead for a few albums into the “Project”, but once he arrived on the vocal scene, he just sounded perfect for the songs he was writing.