Alan Parsons Project - Eye in the Sky

Wonderful music

Alan Parsons has been a favorite of mine since I first heard him 15 or more years ago. I'm not the age who buys much music anymore but when my daughter sent me a video with "Sirius" as background I had to have it. I ordered it from Amazon, it came when promised and I've put it on my computer so I can listen to it as I work. Wonderful music. IM June 29, 2008

Better than ever

I'm a long-standing admirer of the Alan Parsons Project and bought all of the original albums on vinyl in the early 1980s, only to purchase (and enjoy) them all over again in their first transition to CD about ten years later. Now we're into remastered and extended-play territory for these albums - but are the new versions worth buying?

'Emphatically yes', certainly where 'Eye in the Sky' is concerned. Though the original albums were famed for their technical prowess as well as their musical quality and originality, the remastering really works here, giving a new brightness to the music without detracting from the quality and feel of the original.

If this was just a remaster without additions, then, it would be worth buying, but it gains very considerably from the bonus tracks (which incidentally add 34 minutes to the play length). The pick of these, for me, is 'The Naked Eye'. As with the other APP remasters, the bonus tracks give a good insight into the original production process and show quite how meticulously the original album was refined and perfected.

Worth replacing your original-issue CD version? Definitely! May 2, 2008

The best Alan Parsons album of the 1980s gets a long overdue makeover for its 25th birthday

The Alan Parsons Project released its sixth album in as many years entitled Eye in the Sky in June of 1982.
The album was the first new album since late 1980's Turn of a Friendly Card. Whilst that album had its moments (Games People Play and Time) and was a Platinum seller, people wondered if the band was just going to be known for I Robot. In 1981, Alan Parsons (well known engineer and producer who had worked with The Beatles as a tape operator and engineered Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother and classic Dark Side of the Moon and produced albums for Pilot, The Hollies and Al Stewart) and collaborator Eric Woolfson began work on Eye in the Sky with mainstay Alan Parsons Project musicians that were bass player David Paton and guitarist Ian Bainson (formerly of the band Pilot known for its 1975 hit "Magic") and drummer Stuart Elliott (famed for his work on Al Stewart's Year of the Cat and Time Passages albums and on Paul McCartney's 1984 hit "No More Lonely Nights"). When the album was released, it was right in the middle of New Wave and schlock pop ala Air Supply time. Would this album be a classic or seen as a relic of the past, read on and find out as I did recently.
We open the album with the instrumental "Sirius". What a great opener. I first heard this piece when former WWE (was WWF) wrestler Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat used this music as his entrance theme during his 1986/1987 tenure with WWE (formerly World Wrestling Federation). Since then, "Sirius" has been used by sports teams such as The Chicago Bulls for its entrance music and sampled by Diddy (a/k/a Puff Daddy a/k/a P Diddy a/ka Sean Combs) on his The Saga Continues album. We then segue into the album's title cut and the Project's biggest hit. The track, sung by Eric Woolfson, got its name from Woolfson hearing that phrase whilst in the US to describe air traffic, surveilance cameras and every other device. Next is "Children of the Moon" which is sung by ex-Pilot frontman and APP bass player David Paton and it's a great song about the death of culture (which still holds up today). We segue into the short but sweet "Gemini" sung by Chris Rainbow. The first half closes with the epic "Silence and I", which was sung by Woolfson. The piece harkens back to some of the classic prog sounds of I Robot. What a great piece.
Next is the rocker "You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned" which was sung by Lenny Zatatek (whose voice was dominant on songs like "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" and "Games People Play"). What a great rocker. Next is the album's other sing "Psychobabble" sung by Elmer Gentry. This piece is another winner. Next is the album's second and last intrumental called "Mammagamma". Whilst it sounds like something that could have been used on the soundtrack to Scarface, the piece had more b*lls and passion than anything that Giorgio moroder could have come up with. Next is another Zatatek sung piece called "Step by Step" whcih is another great piece. We close the album with possibly my favorite APP track ever, the ballad "Old and Wise". The track's orchestrations is so powerful that it can actually bring tears to your eyes hearing it. The track is sung by former Zombies frontman Colin Blunstone and this is his best lead vocal EVER done (surpassing anything he recorded pre-1982). The track ends with the most powerful alto saxophone solo ever recorded by famed saxophonist Mel Collins (who has worked with people from King Crimson to Eric Clapton to Roger Waters to Bad Company and The Rolling Stones) and his ending solo playing with the orchestra and band even had brought tears to my eyes as it is the most moving piece I had ever heard (and I hardly ever cry but something about this makes me shed tears of joy).
The album became the APP's biggest selling album here in the US and reached the US Top 10.
The album was re-released last year and was superbly remastered by Parsons himself with Dave Collins and features SIX bonus tracks including demos for "Sirius" and "Any Other Day". Plus the Eric Woolfson guide vocals for "Old and Wise" and "Silence and I". Then the rough mix medleys dubbed "Naked Eye" and "Classical Eye". These tracks are excellent different looks of each of the album's tracks.
Recommended! April 13, 2008

Classic progressive rock

I have this album on vinyl. The chance to hear the remastered songs in digital format was great. This isn't their strongest album, but it does have a consistent theme. Both instrumental songs, "Sirius" and "Mammagamma" have been lifted by the corporate advertising over the years -- a testament to the listen-ability of the music. The big hit was Eye in the Sky, the title track. I was disappointed to find that the first page of the new liner notes was repeated on the other remastered albums, but the other pages were unique to this remastered version.
The Egyptian motif that was so strong on the album Pyramid was revived with "Eye in the Sky." Sirius, the dog-star in the night sky, was variously associated with Hathor, Sophet, and Isis. The Eye of Horus was so well known, that portions of it would be used on heiroglyphs to represent fractions of whole numbers (so those of you who thought the Roman number system was tough, imagine math with heiroglyphs!); and the Eye was also considered a powerful protection symbol. Images of computers and satellites also appear on the cover. So the lyrics to "Eye in the Sky" can be seen as a relationship betrayed, with permutations of being one's behavior being closely watched by Big Brother, and/or by the gods themselves.
The new "naked" themes (this album's song was "The Naked Eye") -- running all the themes from the album together at the end is a nice addtion; the earlier draft versions are interesting, but only for the devoted.
I'm happy I added this album to my collection. April 3, 2008

Perhaps the best known APP disc...plus EXTRAS!!!

"Eye in the Sky", originally released in 1982, is The Alan Parsons Project's (APP) 6th album, and is perhaps their best known and their most highly acclaimed work.

The original release had 10 tracks that reflect (at least to me) the traditional APP mix of instrumental and progressive rock music, with a dash of pop thrown in.

As for the original tracks:

If you like APP instrumentals, this disc will please you with "Sirius" and "Mammagmma." They are both absolutely outstanding!

If progressive rosk is what brings you to APP, then you'll like "Eye in the Sky", "Children of the Moon", and "You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned."

If you like APP's mellow music, then you'll probably like "Silence and I" and "Old and Wise."

For APP pop, check out "Step by Step" and, to some extent, "Gemini."

Lastly, "Psychobabble" is a piece of techno-rock, similar in feel and tone to "Hyper-gamma-spaces" from the APP album "Pyramid".

OK, that's an overview of the original tracks...

Other reviewers have ably commented one the additional tracks that come with the current release - studio tracks, etc. While one reviewer lamented the fact that the sound wasn't really that much (if at all) better, they, and I agree that the additional tracks are a real bonus. The extra 6 tracks provide over 30 additional mimutes of music.

While the extra "Old and Wise" and "Silence and I" lead tracks featuring Eric Woolfson, piano, and percussion are nice, they are not indispensible. I enjoyed "Any Other Day" which has a nice sound. The two real bonuses, though, are "Naked Eye" and "Eye Pieces." The former includes a medley of APP cuts from the track, while the latter is a mixture of choir vocals and symphonic music - a real treat!

The extras make this offering enticing to established APP fans, and the original tracks will be enjoyed by those who are discovering APP for the first time - so everybody wins!!!

Based primarily on the original release, I give this album 5 stars. It is to some people what APP is, and what it is all about.

February 13, 2008

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