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”

by Paul

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:

“The Raven” (lead vocals by Leonard Whiting, Alan Parsons lead vocal through a “vocoder”):

“(The System Of) Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether” (vocals John Miles and Jack Harris):

The following year “I Robot” was released. There are a number of tunes from this record I still remember well.

Firstly, of course, the title track, “I Robot”:

“Breakdown” (vocals Allan Clarke):

“I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You” (vocals Lenny Zakatek):

“Some Other Time” (vocals Peter Straker and Jaki Whitren):

“Don’t Let It Show” (vocals Dave Townsend)

Although in the early years there was little live material, later you can find more, and especially recently, although The Alan Parsons Project itself ceased to exist back in 1987 already.

Here is a live version of “Don’t Let It Show”: