History Music / TheAlanParsonsProject

->''"[[Music/GrandFunkRailroad Grand Funk Railroad]] paved the way for [[Music/JeffersonAirplane Jefferson Airplane]], which cleared the way for [[Music/JeffersonStarship Jefferson Starship]]. The stage was now set for The Alan Parsons Project, which I believe was some sort of hovercraft."''

Despite their reluctance to perform live, the Project in its original incarnation performed at a Night On The Proms concert in 1990. Zakatek, Bairnson, Paton, Elliott, and the Cottle brothers performed as the Project while Parsons mixed the concert and Powell conducted the orchestra. You can find the concert [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q8OsDuNovo here]].

* ''Gaudi'' (1987) - Inspired by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, especially his [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia Sagrada Familia basilica]] in Barcelona. (Notable Songs: "La Sagrada Familia", "Standing on Higher Ground", "Inside Looking Out")

* ''Gaudi'' (1987) - Inspired by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, especially his [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia Sagrada Familia basilica]] in Barcelona. (Notable Songs: "La Sagrada Familia", "Standing on Higher Ground", "Inside Looking Out")

* FacelessEye: The cover of the album ''Eye in the Sky''. The title track, one of the Alan Parsons Project's best known songs, is a person telling their significant other (in a very creepy and vindictive fashion) that he/she knows the other has been cheating and is tired of pretending to be ignorant of it.

* {{Pastiche}}: According to WordOfGod, "Don't Answer Me" was an attempt to emulate Music/PhilSpector's Wall of Sound effect.

The Alan Parsons Project was a British ProgressiveRock band active between 1975 and 1990. The core group consisted of Alan Parsons (Producer/Engineer/Co-Writer/Occasional Instruments and backing vocals) and Eric Woolfson (Keyboards/Lyricist/Vocalist), with additional members recruited as required for each individual project. After the band's dissolution, Woolfson went on to work on musicals (including several which continued the themes of Project albums) before dying of kidney cancer in 2009, while Parsons created several solo albums and has toured extensively playing mostly Project songs, with his band taking the name of "The Alan Parsons Live Project". APP are known for a more accessible style of prog-rock than many of the other bands of the era. They rarely used strange time signatures, and for the most part stuck to 4-5 minute radio-length songs. They often used full orchestration in their songs, with some of the best examples being "The Cask of Amontillado" (from ''Tales Of Mystery and Imagination'') and "Silence and I" (from ''Eye In The Sky'').

While the remainder of the band's line-up changed constantly, some members became essentially permanent parts of the band. These include arranger Andrew Powell (who conducted and arranged all of the orchestral work), guitarist Ian Bairnson (who contributed all of the band's lead guitar work), bassist and backing vocalist David Paton (who played on every album except the last, played extra guitar parts and even sang lead vocals on a few songs), and drummer Stuart Elliott (who played on all albums except the first two). And although the project used a wide range of vocalists, Chris Rainbow and Lenny Zakatek appeared most often out of them all (asides from Woolfson and Paton). Over time, the band became more pop-influenced, and in the mid-1980s, synthesizers started to replace their orchestra, reaching their zenith on ''Stereotomy'', an album that is almost entirely synthpop. During the last four albums, saxophonist/keyboardist Richard Cottle was featured as the designated synthesist, and his brother Laurence was the bassist on the last album they did.

* ''Tales of Mystery and Imagination'' (1976) - inspired by the works of Creator/EdgarAllanPoe (Notable Songs: "The Raven", "The Cask Of Amontillado", "The Fall Of The House Of Usher" Suite)

* ''The Turn Of A Friendly Card'' (1980) - About gambling and midlife crisis. (Notable Songs: "Games People Play" and "The Turn Of A Friendly Card Suite".)

* ''Ammonia Avenue'' (1984) - Based on the tension between the scientific community and the public, as well as a general theme of failure to communicate. (Notable Songs: "Prime Time", "Since The Last Goodbye", "Don't Answer Me", "You Don't Believe")

* ''Stereotomy'' (1985) - About the pressures of modern life. (Notable Songs: "Stereotomy", "Limelight", "Where's The Walrus?")

!!"I am the trope in the sky, looking at you...":

*** The climax of "A Dream Within A Dream" and guitar riff in the bridge of "The Raven" is used twice in "(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether"

** KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The only way to hear the original version is to search online, find a copy of Mobile Fidelity's Original Master Recording version of the album, or the 2007 release with both mixes.

->'''Homer''': ''[[Music/GrandFunkRailroad Grand Funk Railroad]] paved the way for [[Music/JeffersonAirplane Jefferson Airplane]], which cleared the way for [[Music/JeffersonStarship Jefferson Starship]]. The stage was now set for The Alan Parsons Project, which I believe was some sort of hovercraft.''
-->--''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

* CallBack: "One More River"'s chorus is echoed in the bridge section of "Can't Take It with You."

Despite their reluctance to perform live, the Project in it's original incarnation performed at a Night On The Proms concert in 1990. Zakatek, Bairnson, Paton, Elliott, and the Cottle brothers performed as the Project while Parsons mixed the concert and Powell conducted the orchestra. You can find the concert [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q8OsDuNovo here]].

* Creator/OrsonWelles: Appears as Poe, narrating, on the 1987 remaster of "Tales of Mystery and Imagination.
** Parsons was reportedly excited at the thought of actually meeting Welles, but never did so because Welles simply taped his lines in Hollywood. The original Welles recording session, which includes a radio ad, is included on a special edition of the album.

->'''Homer''': ''[[Music/GrandFunkRailroad Grand Funk Railroad]] paved the way for [[Music/JeffersonAirplane Jefferson Airplane]], which cleared the way for [[Music/JeffersonStarship Jefferson Starship]]. The stage was now set for The Alan Parsons Project, which I believe was some sort of hovercraft.''\\
-->''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

->'''Homer''': ''[[Music/GrandFunkRailroad Grand Funk Railroad]] paved the way for [[JeffersonAirplane Jefferson Airplane]], which cleared the way for [[Music/JeffersonStarship Jefferson Starship]]. The stage was now set for The Alan Parsons Project, which I believe was some sort of hovercraft.''\\
-->--''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

'''Homer''': [[Music/GrandFunkRailroad Grand Funk Railroad]] paved the way for [[JeffersonAirplane Jefferson Airplane]], which cleared the way for [[Music/JeffersonStarship Jefferson Starship]]. The stage was now set for The Alan Parsons Project, which I believe was some sort of hovercraft.\\
--''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

* ''Gaudi'' (1987) - Inspired by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, especially his [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia Sagrada Familia basilica]] in Barcelona. (Notable Songs: "La Sagrada Familia", "Standing on Higher Ground", "Inside Looking Out")

* GrandFinale: ''The Turn Of A Friendly Card'' suite, "Old and Wise," and "To One in Paradise" all qualify, as do the endings to many of their other albums.

** KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The only way to hear the original version is to search online, or find a copy of Mobile Fidelity's Original Master Recording version of the album.

* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: The current version of ''Tales of Mystery and Imagination'' differs from the original vinyl release. The album was remixed in 1987, adding dialogue by [[Creator/OrsonWells Orson Wells]] and adding reverb. The remix resulted in the album gaining a transition between the two sides of the album.

* {{Pastiche}}: According to WordOfGod, "Don't Answer Me" was an attempt to emulate Creator/PhilSpector's Wall of Sound effect.

** A special award goes to Side 2 of *I Robot*: "The Voice" -> "Nucleus" -> "Day After Day" -> "Total Eclipse" -> "Genesis Ch.1 v.32"

** A special award goes to "The Voice" -> "Nucleus" -> "Day After Day" -> "Total Eclipse" -> "Genesis Ch.1 v.32"

** A special award goes to "[[EpicInstrumentalOpener Voyager]]" --> "[[StockPhrases What Goes Up...]]" --> "[[NotChristianRock The Eagle Will Rise Again]]"

* ''The Turn of a Friendly Card'' (1980) - About gambling and midlife crisis. (Notable Songs: "Games People Play" and "The Turn of A Friendly Card Suite".)

** Also "Children of the Moon" -> "Gemeni" from "Eye In The Sky".
* TheGamblingAddict: The "The Turn of a Friendly Card" suite. Also "I Don't Wanna Go Home" from the same album.
* GrandFinale: The ''Turn of a Friendly Card'' suite, "Old and Wise," and "To One in Paradise" all qualify, as do the endings to many of their other albums.

* SopranoAndGravel: Chris Rainbow ("The Turn of a Friendly Card") and Eric Woolfson ("Eye in the Sky"), as opposed to Lenny Zakatek ("I Wouldn't Wanna Be Like You") and David Paton ("What Goes Up...")

*** The guitar riff in the bridge of "The Raven" is used twice in "(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether"

* CallBack: "One More River"'s chorus is echoed in the bridge section of "Can't Take it With You."

* EpicInstrumentalOpener: Several albums open with an instrumental that segues into the first song. The most famous of these instrumentals is "Sirius", the lead-in to "Eye in the Sky" - due in no small part to it being used as the opening theme for the Chicago Bulls from their three-peat years to the present.

** Both appear prominently in "I Wouldn't Want to be like You", though Eric is cast as an android.

* MusicBoxIntervals: "Eye In The Sky", "Don't Answer Me", the main theme of "The Turn Of A Friendly Card" suite.

* SiameseTwinSongs: Although "Eye I The Sky" Can stand on its own, its instrumental lead-in "Sirius" just doesn't sound right when it just ends. Also "Nucleus" and "Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)"; those two were included in that fashion in the "Laseruim" show.