by Jason Ankeny
As indicated by its name, the Alan Parsons Project was not a band so much as a concept overseen by the titular Parsons, a successful producer and engineer. Born in Britain on December 20, 1949, he began his musical career as a staff engineer at EMI Studios, and first garnered significant industry exposure via his work on the Beatles 1969 masterpiece, Abbey Road. Parsons subsequently worked with Paul McCartney on several of Wings earliest albums; he also oversaw recordings from Al Stewart, Cockney Rebel, and Pilot, but solidified his reputation by working on Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon.
Influenced by his work on Stewarts concept album Time Passages, Parsons decided to begin creating his own thematic records; along with songwriter Eric Woolfson, he soon founded the Alan Parsons Project. Although Parsons played keyboards and infrequently sang on his records, the Project was designed primarily as a forum for a revolving collection of vocalists and session players — among them Arthur Brown, ex-Zombie Colin Blunstone, Cockney Rebels Steve Harley, the Hollies Allan Clarke, and guitarist Ian Bairnson — to interpret and perform Parsons and Woolfsons conceptually linked, lushly synthesized music.
The Project debuted in 1975 with Tales of Mystery and Imagination, a collection inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe; similarly, the science fiction of Isaac Asimov served as the raw material for 1977s follow-up, I Robot. With 1980s The Turn of a Friendly Card, a meditation on gambling, the Alan Parsons Project scored a Top 20 hit, Games People Play; 1982s Eye in the Sky was the Projects most successful effort, and notched a Top Three hit with its title track. While 1984s Ammonia Avenue went gold, the Projects subsequent LPs earned little notice, although records like 1985s Vulture Culture, 1987s Gaudi, and 1996s On Air found favor with longtime fans. Time Machine followed in 1999. After taking a five-year hiatus, Parsons returned in 2004 with A Valid Path.