The Alan Parsons Project were a British rock band active between 1975 and 1990, whose core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They were accompanied by varying session musicians and some relatively consistent session players such as guitarist Ian Bairnson, arranger Andrew Powell, bassist and vocalist David Paton, drummer Stuart Elliott, and vocalists Lenny Zakatek and Chris Rainbow. Parsons and Woolfson shared writing credits on almost all of the Project's songs, with Parsons producing or co-producing all of the band's recordings.
Tales of Mystery and Imagination (Edgar Allan Poe) is the debut studio album by British rock band the Alan Parsons Project. It was released on 25 June 1976 in the United Kingdom by Charisma Records. The lyrical and musical themes of the album, which are retellings of horror stories and poetry by Edgar Allan Poe, attracted a cult audience. The title of the album is taken from the title of a collection of Poe's macabre stories of the same name.
Ammonia Avenue is the seventh studio album by the British progressive rock band The Alan Parsons Project, released in February 1984 by Arista Records. The Phil Spector-influenced "Don't Answer Me" was the album's lead single, and reached the Top 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts, as well as the fourth position on the Adult Contemporary chart. The single also reached the Top 20 in several countries and represents the last big hit for the Alan Parsons Project. "Prime Time" was a follow-up release that fared well in the Top 40, reaching No. 34. "You Don't Believe" was the first single in November 1983, reaching #54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Since the Last Goodbye" was a minor hit.
I Robot is the second studio album by British rock band the Alan Parsons Project, released on 8 July 1977 by Arista Records. The album draws conceptually on author Isaac Asimov's science fiction Robot stories, exploring philosophical themes regarding artificial intelligence. It was re-released on vinyl and cassette tape in 1984 and on CD in 2017.
Eye in the Sky is the sixth studio album by British rock band the Alan Parsons Project, released in May 1982 by Arista Records. At the 25th Annual Grammy Awards in 1983, Eye in the Sky was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album. In 2019, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
Pyramid is the third album by progressive rock band The Alan Parsons Project, released in May 1978. It is a concept album centred on the pyramids of Giza. At the time the album was conceived, interest in pyramid power and Tutankhamun was widespread in the US and the UK. Pyramid was nominated for the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
Eve is the fourth studio album by British rock band the Alan Parsons Project, released in September 1979 by Arista Records. The album's focus is on the strength and characteristics of women, and the problems they face in the world of men. It had originally been intended to focus on "great women in history", but evolved into a wider concept. The album name was the same as Eric Woolfson's mother-in-law.
The Turn of a Friendly Card is the fifth studio album by the British progressive rock band the Alan Parsons Project, released in 1980 by Arista Records. The title piece, which appears on side 2 of the LP, is a 16-minute suite broken up into five tracks. The Turn of a Friendly Card spawned the hits "Games People Play" and "Time", the latter of which was Eric Woolfson's first lead vocal appearance. An edited version of the title piece combining the opening and ending parts of the suite was also released as a single along with an official video.
Vulture Culture is the eighth studio album by the Alan Parsons Project, released in December 1984 via the Arista label.
"Eye of the Tiger" is a song by the American rock band Survivor. It was written as the theme song for the 1982 film Rocky III and released that year as a single from Survivor's third album, Eye of the Tiger.
"Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" is a song performed and co-written by American singer-songwriter Christopher Cross as the main theme for the 1981 film Arthur, starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli. It was recognized as the year's Best Original Song at both the 54th Academy Awards and 39th Golden Globe Awards.
DJ Miko was an Italian dance act fronted by keyboardist Monier Quartararo Gagliardo and British vocalist Louise Anne Gard from Tunbridge Wells. It mainly released dance cover versions of past pop and rock hits and is primarily known for its 1993 hit with a cover of 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up". During its active years, DJ Miko released one album and twelve singles.
"Why Can't We Be Friends?" is a song by American funk band War, from their 1975 studio album of the same name. It has a simple structure, with the phrase "Why can't we be friends?" being sung four times after each two-line verse amounting to forty-four times in under four minutes. The song reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1975, and uniquely features each band member singing their own verse. It was played in outer space when NASA beamed it to the linking of Soviet cosmonauts and U.S. astronauts for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project. Billboard ranked it as the No. 23 song of that year.
"Year of the Cat" is a song by Scottish singer-songwriter Al Stewart, released as a single in July 1976 in the UK. The song is the title track of his 1976 album Year of the Cat, and was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, in January 1976 by engineer Alan Parsons. The song peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the consecutive weeks of March 5 and 12, 1977. Although Stewart's highest placed single on that chart was 1978's "Time Passages", "Year of the Cat" has remained Stewart's signature recording, receiving regular airplay on both classic rock and folk rock stations.
"Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)" is a Grammy-nominated single from Donna Summer's self-titled 1982 studio album. The single was her 12th top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
"New Sensation" is a song by Australian rock group INXS. It was the third single released from their sixth studio album, Kick (1987). The music was composed by Andrew Farriss and the lyrics were written by Michael Hutchence. The song features a signature Kirk Pengilly sax solo and lyrics about a partying lifestyle.
The following is the complete discography of the Alan Parsons Project. Over the years they have released 12 studio albums, 14 compilation albums and 38 singles.
"Blue Eyes" is a song performed by English musician Elton John with music and lyrics written by John and Gary Osborne. It was released in 1982, as the UK lead single from John's 16th studio album, Jump Up! (1982). It was released as the album's second single in the US. It hit No. 8 in the UK; in the US, it spent three weeks at No. 10 on the Cash Box chart, went to No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard AC chart. John performed this song often in his concerts until 2012.
"I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" is a song by the British progressive rock band The Alan Parsons Project, featured on their 1977 album I Robot. Written by band leaders Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" was sung by pop singer Lenny Zakatek, who would go on to sing many of the band's songs. In the United States, the song was a moderate success and charted at #36 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Don't Answer Me" is a 1984 song by the Alan Parsons Project from the album Ammonia Avenue. It reached number 15 on the Billboard charts in the United States and was the final Billboard Top 20 hit for the group. It also reached number 58 in the United Kingdom, the group's highest chart placing in their native country. The music video was rendered in comic book style, with art and animation by Michael Kaluta.
