The Sex Pistols – “Anarchy In The UK”, “God Save The Queen”, “Pretty Vacant” And “Holidays In The Sun”

The late Seventies were the years of punk rock, and although not the first punk rock band, The Sex Pistols were the epitome of the movement, with songs like “Anarchy In The UK”, “God Save The Queen”, “Pretty Vacant” and “Holidays In The Sun”. I didn’t actually get a (taped) copy of their only album, […]

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Ringo Starr – “Photograph”, “You’re Sixteen” And “Six O’Clock”

In 1974 while visiting my older brother in Invercargill at the very bottom of New Zealand’s South Island, I bought the Ringo Starr album “Ringo”, featuring the single “Photograph”, which went to No. 1 in America. Another song from the album, also a Number 1 hit in the USA, was “You’re Sixteen”. I also rather […]

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Klaatu – “Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft”, “Sub Rosa Subway”, “Doctor Marvello”, “California Jam” and “True Life Hero”

I think it must have been about 1976 or 1977 when I bought an album by a Canadian band called Klaatu with, among others, the track “Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft” (which was covered by The Carpenters soon after it came out). It was rumoured that this was actually the Beatles in disguise, so to […]

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The Alan Parsons Project – “The Raven”, “(The System Of) Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether”, “I Robot”, “Breakdown”, “I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You”, “Some Other Time”, “Don’t Let It Show”, “Time”, “Eye In The Sky”

When I heard the name Alan Parsons mentioned today, in my mind I was in a student flat in about 1977 in Waldegrave Street, Palmerston North, New Zealand, listening to “The Raven” from the album “Tales Of Mystery And Imagination”, the first from The Alan Parsons Project.

The Alan Parsons Project was founded by its namesake Alan Parsons, a young engineer at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London, and Eric Woolfson, who wrote most of the songs and sang on many of them. Woolfson died at the beginning of December last year (2009).

Alan Parsons first came to prominence engineering the Beatles album “Abbey Road”, and was also particularly well known for his work on Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side Of The Moon”, as well as many works by The Hollies.

He also played a major role in influencing the sound of Al Stewart’s “The Year Of The Cat” and “Time Passages”, which he also produced.

The Alan Parsons Project was really a fluid group of different musicians around these two main protagonists, and produced studio music in the genre some call progressive rock.

“Tales Of Mystery And Imagination”, released in 1976, was a tribute to horror writer Edgar Allen Poe. Here are two tracks from it:

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