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The Alan Parsons Project

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock duo, formed in London in 1975, consisting of the producer and sound engineer Alan Parsons and the singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. Parsons had worked as an assistant on The Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be and had recorded Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. He met Woolfson in the canteen of Abbey Road Studios in 1974. Woolfson wanted to manage Parsons, and came up with the idea that the music industry, like the film industry, could become a medium of the producer.

Music and breakthrough

The first album, Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976), was based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe and reached the American Top 40. According to the sleeve notes, the song The Raven was the first rock track to use a vocoder. At Arista came I Robot (1977), The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980) and Eye in the Sky (1982), eleven studio albums in all in fifteen years. Many of the albums were concept albums about science fiction, the supernatural and literary or social themes. Well-known songs include I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You, Games People Play, Time, Sirius, Eye in the Sky and Don't Answer Me. The group was more popular in North America and continental Europe than in the United Kingdom, where it never had a Top 40 single.

Influence

The sound is layered and smooth, with orchestral arrangements, synthesizers and changing singers. Thanks to Parsons's experience as an engineer, the quality of the recording comes first. The duo shows how the producer became an artist in the 1970s.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Sirius and notice the menacing build-up of guitar and synthesizers, growing ever faster, before the drums come in.

Discography

Studio albums

See also

Categories: Artists