Can't believe that it's been an entire decade since this Happy Birthday post to Alan Parsons which I am re-posting sans glitchy things that appeared when the site was transferred to the new platform. He has since received the OBE and released two 'solo' albums, neither of which have anything close to the appeal of his earlier stuff, IMHO.
"Happy Birthday to
Alan Parsons who was born on this day in 1948, in London, England; musician, composer, producer and engineer extraordinaire.
He started out as an assistant engineer at Abbey Road - his first album credit is on
Abbey Road, an auspicious start to a stellar career! He has the gift of being able to envision and then execute exceptional quality work. To name a sample list of credits, he was responsible for engineering and producing Al Stewart's
Year of the Cat, he engineered Floyd's
Dark Side of the Moon (as well as working on one or two others, but he ultimately chose to focus on his own Alan Parsons Project instead of continuing with them), worked on Roy Harper's brilliant
Stormcock, John Miles's
Rebel and
Stranger in the City, with Pilot, some Paul McCartney/Wings albums, a couple of releases for Steve Harley, The Hollies, etc., etc. He has also, together with Julian Colbeck, made an instructional video series about recording titled
The Art & Science of Sound Recording (ASSR). I'm sure it's worth delving into, if that's what you do, however, I am not qualified to comment since I know precisely zero about the process!
Nobody's perfect and he's had his fair share of mediocre offerings along the way, but on the whole, I remain a committed fan - his music is exactly my thing and long may his creativity continue.
The Alan Parsons Project was basically a studio project created by AP and Eric Woolfson which used a rotating cast of musicians and singers - some more regular than others, Ian Bairnson (update: now sadly departed, R.I.P.), for example. Some favs - by no means comprehensive, or exclusive ...
From APP's most excellent debut album,
Tales of Mystery and Imagination: Edgar Alan Poe - this track chosen for two reasons: AP's voice on EMI's then new vocoder (Leonard Whiting is the singer), one of the first rock albums to feature the use of the device, and the fact that his voice is heard at all, a rare occurrence on any of his albums ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVLUeXkzUjM
From
I Robot - "Some Other Time" ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8TAn-zUQk0
From
Pyramid - "In the Lap of the Gods" - (instrumental) ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUZ3tijNe3A
From
Eye in the Sky - "Silence and I" ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76n_uE_W31A
From
Ammonia Avenue - "Dancing on a Highwire" ....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZwsr2iUgCg
From
A Valid Path - "Return to Tunguska" ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlOwosCbW6Y
... and from
Turn of a Friendly Card, something none of us has enough of "Time"!"
... in 2025 adding in another of my favourites - this one from
Pyramid ... Colin Blunstone - marvelous voice ...
