1980 Concept album by Alan Parsons Project, essentially about gambling.

Track list and commentary

    Side 1:
  1. May Be A Price To Pay -- The setup
  2. Games People Play -- this song diverges from the concept a little bit. "Games people play, in the middle of the night"
  3. Time -- soft, sweeping
  4. I Don't Wanna Go Home -- this song returns to the story being told.
    Side 2:
  5. The Gold Bug -- Instrumental. A possible play on the title of an EAP story. This song gives the flavor and feel of an Old West casino. You can just see Clint Eastwood sitting in it, kicking gold dust through the floorboards to Lee Marvin waiting below...
  6. The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Part 1) -- "There's a place in the desert/that lies to the west/ where you can't tell the night from the sunrise"
  7. Snake Eyes -- The desparation of the compulsive gambler (what Mario Puzo termed the degenerate gambler in Fools Die)
  8. The Ace Of Swords -- instrumental. You can feel your luck turning bad. Swords, of course, are the tarot suit that turned into spades.
  9. Nothing Left To Lose -- It's all gone. Gone gone gone. Whoohoo seeya bye bye. Years of Academy Training wasted...
  10. The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Part 2) -- short, simple, hypnotic. Strongest song on the album.
This album, as a whole, is on a par with I, Robot. The concept stumbles on the first side, but recovers well.

"And the game never ends
When your whole world depends
On the turn
Of a friendly
Card."

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