The Alan Parsons Project – Eye In The Sky

Eye in the Sky is the sixth studio album by The Alan Parsons Project and arguably the prog rock band's most commercially successful. The opening instrumental Sirius is among the most famous in sports - the fanfare is inextricably linked to the announcement of Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls in competition. The title track, which follows seamlessly, became a chart success and can still be heard on all radio stations today.

With its superb depth, concert hall-level separation and realistic presentation, Eye in the Sky is an excellent illustration of how important perfectionism is to the work of sound and recording engineers. In the case of The Alan Parsons Project, this perfection is unsurprising, as Parsons himself sat behind the controls for Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and the Beatles' Abbey Road.

The Alan Parsons Project has shown how one can rise to stardom away from the usual cult of personality, even without elaborate light shows, sales-promoting rock stars in the musician team and self-written songs.

Parsons, who had first completed an apprenticeship as a sound engineer at EMI and later supervised several Paul Mc Cartney productions and the creation of Pink Floyd's album "Dark Side Of The Moon" at the legendary Abbey Road Studios, used the home advantage for his solo career. While his co-producer Eric Woolfson worked as a songwriter, Parsons brewed juicy mixtures of synthetic and natural sound ingredients with his phenomenal feeling for sounds.

Like all albums of the early years, "Eye In The Sky" serves important zeitgeist themes. Owing to the no-future lifestyle of the '80s, the songs exude slightly depressive notes, which are used as a contrasting medium to steely rock rhythms, free of electronic gimmicks. In addition, there are harmony-addicted vocal polyphony ("Gemini"), orchestral brass blaring in Spanish rhythm ("Silence And I") and velvety string clouds ("Old And Wise"). A strong performance from the British sound aesthete at the control desk.

Recording: 1981 at Abbey Road Studios, London, by Alan ParsonsProduction

Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson

Reviews

T. Frantzen in Stereo 5/07: "Acoustically superior, furthermore with an improved haptics: There is nothing to criticize about this now again There is nothing to criticize."