Alan Parsons made his initial mark in the music world by engineering or producing successful late 1960s and ‘70s releases by The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney & Wings, Al Stewart, Ambrosia and others.
After forming The Alan Parsons Project with Eric Woolfson
and a run of bestselling albums, they emerged with the mesmerizing Eye in the Sky. It became the studio
group’s highest charting work, while the lush title track reached #3 on the
Billboard Hot 100.
Last December, a lavish four-disc box set marked the 35th
Anniversary of Eye in the Sky. The
exceptional collection includes bonus tracks, songwriting demos from Woolfson
(who passed away in 2009), unreleased material, the 2007 original CD remaster,
double gatefold LP half-speed mastered at 45 rpm, 5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo
HD Eye mixes on Blu-ray, promo
flexi-disc replica, poster, postcard and a 60-page hardback book with essays,
rare photos, new musician interviews, credits and other interesting ephemera.
All told, it’s a must-buy for diehard fans.
“Sirius,” the instrumental opening track on Eye, has soundtracked the Chicago Bulls’
opening lineup introduction since the ‘90s and heard in conjunction with
countless sporting events and programs. Other examples of The Alan Parsons
Project’s enduring influence can be felt via sampling by Daft Punk, Jay-Z,
Kendrick Lamar and P. Diddy. APP was mentioned in “Austin Powers: The Spy Who
Shagged Me” and a cartoon version of Parsons will appear in an episode of
“Family Guy” in 2019.
Now, a standalone Blu-ray audio version of Eye in the Sky is available from Real
Gone Music. Parsons is currently working on his first new studio album in more
than a decade - tentatively titled The
Secret - slated for release next spring on Frontiers Records.
I caught up with the Grammy nominated Englishman for a quick chat from his organic avocado ranch home in Goleta, Calif. (near Santa Barbara), which contains the just-opened ParSonics Studio and a Neve Shelford 5088 analog console.
I caught up with the Grammy nominated Englishman for a quick chat from his organic avocado ranch home in Goleta, Calif. (near Santa Barbara), which contains the just-opened ParSonics Studio and a Neve Shelford 5088 analog console.
Alan Parsons: I
certainly had in mind for it to be a separate release. It did take a few
conversations with the label to convince them that it was a good idea because
there are a lot of surround sound enthusiasts out there that didn’t want to buy
the full-blown box set. If they were adamant that they had to have it [right
away], then they had to buy the box set. I think some people had a bit of
patience and either borrowed a friend’s [copy] or waited until this Blu-ray
release.
Q: What
kind of feedback have you received about the box set?
A: I’ve heard some very good reviews and some very bad reviews.
Q: Bad
ones? Really? I’m shocked.
A:
Well, I am too. I think it was from people who didn’t know how to set up their
stereo systems and stuff. I almost wish that I’d done a test section on the
disc so that people could make sure that their speakers are in the right place.
DTS, the company behind one of the surround sound encoding systems - they used
to put a little test on the front of all their stuff. In hindsight, I wish I’d
done the same.
Q: What
were some of the main challenges in creating the 5.1 surround sound mix
Was it
locating all the original multi-track masters?
A:
That was a challenge in itself. But we managed to lay our hands on everything
that was necessary to perform the surround mix. The only one that I had a bit
of trouble with was “You’re Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned.” I had to compromise
slightly on that because one of the tapes was missing. We managed to make a
good job of it. Nobody noticed that it was compromised in any way.
Q: For the
average music listener who’s not an audiophile, would you describe the difference
between stereo to 5.1 as a dramatic sonic leap?
A: I’ve
always maintained that it’s same dramatic leap that mono to stereo is. It’s
really tough. If you’ve spent a day mixing in 5.1 and you have to go back to
stereo, it’s quite an anti-climax. I’ve supported 5.1 surround for a number of
years. I just wish it would take off in earnest. It just seems to generally be
considered – wrongly in my opinion – a home theater format. Not enough people
have accepted it as a music one.
Q: Do you
think people are too content listening to compressed downloads and inferior
streaming on their devices instead of getting a full immersive musical
experience?
A:
Sadly, the average quality that the average consumer is hearing now is appalling.
It really is. The nice thing about doing a surround mix is it means that you
must have a proper home setup of some sort, presumably with speakers. There are
headphone systems – even with a sheepish Costco system, it’s still a good experience.
Of course, I didn’t conceive either ‘Tales of Mystery and Imagination’ or ‘Eye
in the Sky’ as being surround sound releases at the time. So, it was a
challenge to find new placements between the five speakers for content on the
24 track.
Q: One
element of the Blu-ray that I found impressive was the visuals. There are
archival photos of you and Eric and changing graphics as each track progresses.
They’re simple, but effective.
A:
Yeah, I think the authors did a very nice job on that. I didn’t want it just to
be a static image with no graphics at all.
Q: Turning
to the box set, it really gives fans the full picture of how Eye in the Sky came to fruition. When did
the whole process of gathering everything start?
A: You
got me there. Probably at least six months before. [Eric’s daughter] Sally
Woolfson did all the work on unearthing those demos. I didn’t really have much
to do with that because she had all the tapes at her place. She’s the one who
went through them all and logged everything. Then had them transferred to hard
discs so they could be compiled for the album.
Q: Did you
and Sally have all the old album review clips, record company memoranda and
photos that are included in the box stored somewhere?
A: We
both had stuff and there’s a collector in Atlanta, Kirk Keister. He’s been a memorabilia
collector right from the beginning. He had a load of stuff.
Q: In the
process of gathering all the audio and visual material, were you surprised about
anything you found?
A: Of
course, the bonus tracks, rough mixes and so on were sort of long forgotten
because they weren’t on the original release. Yeah, it was quite an ear-opener
hearing those again.
Q: While
making the original Eye in the Sky
album, you utilized a couple of instruments which were either new or relatively
new at the time: the LinnDrum machine and the Fairlight CMI digital
synthesizer, sampler and audio workstation. Were you the type of producer and
musician who always wanted to use the latest technology?
A: I
tried to. There’s an incredible amount of technology released every minute
these days. We have plug-ins…if you’re a studio engineer, it’s kind of your job
to keep up with new developments. There’s so much stuff out there now. It’s
really hard to stay abreast of it all. I’m not really a computer guy. I’m an
old school analog mixing kind of guy. I have an excellent [house] engineer,
Noah Bruskin. He’s quite a guru on ProTools. He’s been a big asset to the new studio
operation.
Q: Listening
to Eye in the Sky now, it doesn’t
sound dated compared to other albums that came out at the same time in 1982.
A: I’m
glad to hear you say that. P.J. Olsson, who is also the singer in my live band,
was the computer engineer on both ‘Tales’ and ‘Eye in the Sky’ [reissues].
Q: At the
time of Eye in the Sky’s original release,
The Alan Parsons Project had been on a hot streak after The Turn of a Friendly Card went top 10 in eight countries. Do you
think it resonated so strongly because of that previous success?
A: It
certainly helped. We had two hits on ‘Turn’ – “Time” and “Games People Play.” I
think ‘Eye in the Sky’ was much anticipated and of course the title track was a
pretty big hit.
Q: If you
were forced to choose your favorite Alan Parsons Project albums, would Eye in the Sky be among them?
A: Yes,
for sure. But only when played with “Sirius” as its intro.
Q: Are you
amazed by how many licensing and sample inquiries you’ve had for that track?
A:
It’s almost unbelievable. Literally one every couple of weeks comes in.
 |
| The author with Parsons at NAMM 2011 in Anaheim, CA |
A:
1994. That coincided with my first album without the word “project” in it – [1993’s]
‘Try Anything Once.’
Q: After
you’d finally played a series of shows, did you think, ‘I should’ve done this
years ago?’
A: I did,
actually. Eric Woolfson never really showed much interest in doing live shows.
We did form the live band essentially to promote ‘Try Anything Once.’ The vast
majority of material that we played then, and we continue to play to this day,
is Alan Parsons Project material.
Q: Last
year, you performed the entire I Robot
album in concert overseas.
A: That’s
right. It’s been going great. The 40th anniversary was a good
excuse, I thought.
Q: Any
plans to do any of those full album shows here in the U.S.?
A: ‘I
Robot’ is still very much on the cards for our future shows this year. Probably
by the time we get to next year, we’ll be replacing a lot of the stuff with
material from the new album.
Q: Is it
true you have some top name guests on it?
A: If
I told you who they were, it wouldn’t be a surprise.
Q: Looking
back on your early days as an asst. engineer at Abbey Road Studios in London
while working on the final Beatles albums, did you learn anything from George
Martin that you later applied to your own producing methods?
A: Just
his mild manner and his ability to talk the same language as any musician, from
classical to hard rock. He had this respect that people really enjoyed. I tried
to be a similar character. To be someone who was always ready to listen to an
idea and somebody who could equally inject ideas. He was always a team player
and that’s how I felt I was as well. Or continue to be to this day.
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