May 29, 2019 – The Alan Parsons Project were famous for their concept albums. Their first from 1976, ‘Tales of Mystery and Imagination’ was based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. ‘Pyramid’ which was about centered on the pyramids of Giza. ‘Eve’ from 1979 was about women, the year after a concept of gambling with ‘The Turn of a Friendly Card’ there’s debate on their biggest album ‘Eye in the Sky’ some say it’s Orwellian while others say that Parsons’ partner Eric Woolfson (who died in 2009) was intrigued by all the cameras in casino’s and how every move was caught on cameras. One of his most famous albums was ‘I Robot,’ from 1977 which was inspired by Isaac Asimov’s science fiction Robot trilogy. I asked him about that iconic opening title track. (Clip 20)
CHECK OUT THE VIDEO FOR THIS STORY HERE https://youtu.be/_A1n98JIp1A
Parsons is famous for strong instrumental opening tracks He’s had a few songs used as anthems or soundtracks for events. A great example of that is the opening instrumental to the “Eye in the Sky” album from 1982. The tune “Sirius” was used in lots of sports broadcasts. The first song on the new album “The Secret” is a famous song from Disney’s Fantasia. (Clip 001)
We will have more from our chat on Alan Parsons next week. Check out our sister YouTube Channel “Rock History Book” for our exclusive interview with Alan as he takes us through every song on the album. There will be links to the video in the description of this video. – by John Beaudin