alan parsons project: c/d? s/d?

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i just listened to the 2-disc "definitive collection" and it just about took the top of my head off. it's like eno, bowie or roxy music with all of the twee european crap removed! ;-)

anyway i can't believe i haven't heard more about this around ILX, with all of the recent and not-so-recent interest in stuff like lindstrom and dj harvey and "10000 hz legend" and so on.

tell me which albums i should get, or maybe my expectations are absurdly inflated by listening to a best-of and that there's lots of weak filler tracks on albums (seems like i should get "i, robot" at least for "nucleus", which isn't on any of the best-ofs), or maybe you disagree and think that APP is the radiohead of the 1970s.

― moonship journey to baja, Monday, 19 March 2007 04:48 (eighteen years ago)

classic. search it all. entire discography on vinyl should set you back about 20 bucks.

― scott seward, Monday, 19 March 2007 05:00 (eighteen years ago)

and i'm serious too. every album has stuff worth hearing.

― scott seward, Monday, 19 March 2007 05:01 (eighteen years ago)

ok but i need a manageable goal to start with ... maybe "tales of imagination" / "i robot" / "pyramid" / "eye in the sky"?

am i shortchanging myself by skipping "eve" and "turn of a friendly card"? what about "ammonia avenue"? isn't the party over by that point?

― moonship journey to baja, Monday, 19 March 2007 05:05 (eighteen years ago)

also how did i grow up hearing endless back-to-back floyd + frampton + rush + BOC on the radio and never this?

― moonship journey to baja, Monday, 19 March 2007 05:06 (eighteen years ago)

i robot is great

― dmr, Monday, 19 March 2007 05:15 (eighteen years ago)

"maybe "tales of imagination" / "i robot" / "pyramid" / "eye in the sky"?"

yeah, that's a good start. although you definitely need turn of a friendly card for "time". the most awesome most depressing stoner slow jam on earth. Air wish they had a song like "Time"!

although if you have a comp, you probably already have it.

― scott seward, Monday, 19 March 2007 05:16 (eighteen years ago)

i know i've talked about my app love on ilm. there must be threads.

― scott seward, Monday, 19 March 2007 05:17 (eighteen years ago)

i'll look through my records later, but i think what scott's saying is true. my friend's were all stoked by hearing the Chicago Bulls entrance music on one of the songs (intro to Eye In The Sky i think?)

― jaxon, Monday, 19 March 2007 05:18 (eighteen years ago)

my dad gave me a stack of old 7"s and 'time'/'games people play' and 'eye in the sky/gemini' were both in there. score!

― 6335, Monday, 19 March 2007 05:31 (eighteen years ago)

Like dmr said, "I Robot" is great. I also feel like "Eye In The Sky" works better than most other AoA albums do. And "Turn Of a Friendly Card" is possibly his best album, with the title suite being his best ever work under his own name.

The new 30th anniversary remaster edition of "I Robot" sounds fantastic. Hopefully they'll also do a 25th anniversary edition of "Eye In The Sky" this year.

Not that any of these are nowhere near the greatness of the Beatles, Pink Floyd and even Steve Harley albums he worked on, but they are still worth paying attention to.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 19 March 2007 10:47 (eighteen years ago)

I picked up I, Robot a couple of months ago (and it's a lovely package, cool gatefold sleeve, SUPER-heavy vinyl), but apart from the title track it left me a little cold. Fantastically recorded, produced, and arranged ... meh. Perhaps I need to listen again.

― Jamie T Smith, Monday, 19 March 2007 10:57 (eighteen years ago)

psychic power in effect:

the day after i started this thread, sony legacy released the first of two volumes of a 10-cd parsons reissue / remaster project

― moonship journey to baja, Monday, 26 March 2007 04:14 (eighteen years ago)

lordy. who buys these things?

― artdamages, Monday, 26 March 2007 04:57 (eighteen years ago)

me!

― moonship journey to baja, Monday, 26 March 2007 06:40 (eighteen years ago)

actually big parsons fans = audiophiles.

whenever i am looking at audiophile websites they are reviewing classical music, really tepid new live jazz releases (acoustic starbucksy stuff with good "room tone") and ELO / floyd / moody blues / etc

― moonship journey to baja, Monday, 26 March 2007 06:41 (eighteen years ago)

oh, i see geir already posted about the reissues.

yeah, "eye in the sky" and "i robot" came out simultaneously. the bonus tracks are kind of rad, but kind of not essential. they are rough edits (some done w/ drum machine which makes them sound even more like disco tracks) and some medleys ... the "i, robot" medly is particularly great.

and stephen thomas erlewine has already reviewed them for billboard ... quick, read those deliriously illiterate mike degagne reviews on allmusic.com before STE replaces them with his own reviews ...

i bought a reissue of "tales of mystery + imagination" from the mid 90s, it sounds totally pristine and i can't imagine what the reissue could bring other than bonus tracks.

― moonship journey to baja, Monday, 26 March 2007 06:50 (eighteen years ago)

would you put that i robot medley up over on the noise board?

― artdamages, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:58 (eighteen years ago)

All of the songs being listed are unbelievably classic, but nothing compares to "Wouldn't Want to Be Like You".

― Pleasant Plains, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:25 (eighteen years ago)

nine years pass...

went hunting around for some news, some reason (besides "hey everyone APP is really good) to revive this thread, only to discover that Chris Rainbow passed away in February 2015! had no idea. so sad. he sang lead on some of the best stuff they put out (Gemini! Winding me Up! The Traveler!) and sang backup vocals on nearly every record; Parsons and Woolfson referred to him as the "One Man Beach Boys" and it's very easy to hear why, especially on some of the reissue outtakes that feature his BG vocals. dude had a crazy talent for vocal arrangements. i haven't even mentioned his solo stuff yet! or his production work!

i might be the biggest Alan Parsons Project fan on ILX, but I'm certainly the biggest Chris Rainbow fan so pardon me while I eulogize him thru youtube right quick. please have a listen if you like APP, or the Beach Boys or...power pop? or dense layered vocals, or vocal harmony, or music. or rainbows.

this first one is probably his best work, very sparse drums/bass/keys/guitar backing track, the meat of the thing is just his voice, and it is phenomenal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2RYbL2BYrM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnsAU0-81qE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EHI8thVwMI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Def-YAwfLcI

― erudite beach boys fan (sheesh), Saturday, 3 September 2016 08:48 (nine years ago)

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