In the late seventies and well into the eighties, The Alan Parsons Project made something of a career out of crafting a series of immaculately produced concept albums that basically dressed up neatly packaged pop songs with a progressive rock veneer. The records themselves we're basically a dream come true for audiophile types, and I'm quite sure were the standard for testing out new equipment at more than a few high end stereo stores at the time.
Sony/BMG Legacy has just begun to reissue these releases in new digitally remastered editions, complete with bonus tracks and notes from the artists themselves on the recordings. The first of these arrive this week in the form of two of the more successful albums from the Parsons catalog, I Robot and Eye In The Sky.
Alan Parsons of course is the production wizard behind such masterpieces as The Beatles Abbey Road and Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, and is the man doing the bulk of the knob twisting on these albums as well. His partner in crime is songwriter and sometime vocalist Eric Woolfson. There was even thought at one point of calling the group the Parsons-Woolfson Project. But when the group was recording it's first album for 20th Century Records, the surprise hit Tales Of Mystery And Imagination based on Edgar Allen Poe's writings, the label of "Alan Parsons Project" was what read on the masters, and the name stuck.
By the time the Alan Parsons Project signed on with Arista Records for their second album I Robot, they would begin a decade long run of hit singles and platinum albums. The remastering job done on I Robot is absolutely flawless and should go a long way toward reigniting a new generation of audiophiles with the dazzling sort of ear candy contained within. The sounds heard on this re-release literally leap out of the speakers at you. The synthesizers and strings swirl about your head every bit as much as you remember on the original vinyl LP, but with the added bonus of crystal clean digital technology. Speaking of clean, the drums here are so crisp they almost crackle.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
you know, i read a ton about these records...and i even remember being attracted to the cool cover art of Pyramid. but i could never warm to the music.
there was just something about those fey vocals that made me want to cringe.
2 - Glen Boyd
Mark,
I could definitely see where some might find APP a bit too glossy, particularly around the time of Eye In The Sky. But the earlier stuff holds up pretty well for me, and the sound on I Robot is pretty damn amazing. Thanx for the comment.
-Glen
3 - Mark Saleski
glen, i wasn't trying to fling a wet towel on your enthusiasm. it's just that this is one of those artists that i've never 'gotten'. in fact, every few years or so i give Pyramid a try. the music is definitely cool, but dang...those vocals make my blood run cold.
(and i won't get into the audiophile argument except to say that i really doubt that the remaster sounds better than clean vinyl)