Eye In The Sky

Funny how you get into some bands. I bought an album in 1982 in my local record shop and on the counter was a pile of flexi discs for this album entitled 'An Eye Opener'. I must have played the wretched piece of floppy plastic over and over again as the quality of the music (Sirius/Eye in the sky/Psychobabble/Old and Wise) which was edited together in teasing segments was so good. Needless to say a full purchase of the album soon followed, as it did I suspect for many other music lovers lured in by this very effective marketing ploy. The remaining APP albums soon found their way into my collection too.Now, 27 years later the music needs no such ploys to music afficiandos. 'Eye in the Sky' along with its predecssor 'The Turn of a Friendly Card' are probably the creative peak of Alan Parsons and his equal partner, the late Eric Woolfson. The album scarely has a duff track on it with the possible exception of 'Step by Step' which Alan Parsons has been quoted as being not too keen on himself. The opening 'Sirius/Eye in the Sky' is as good a song of this genre that you're ever going to hear with its dramatic keyboard opening, Ian Bairnson's perfect guitar solo before merging into the wonderful title track sung so well by Eric Woolfson. The singles record buying public of the UK missed out on a treat with this song unlike in the US where in the summer of 1982 it peaked at number 3 behind two other songs that also missed out in the UK and followed another 'Eye' song up the charts! ('Eye of the Tiger' by Survivor). 'Children of the Moon' is a bit of an anticlimax after such a quality opening but it's a bouncy song ably sung by Pilot's David Paton before the soothing fade to 'Gemini' sung by Chris Rainbow who contributes a lot of the backing vocals throughout the album (checkout his 'looking at you' echoes on the title track). 'Silence and I' is a mega seven minute track full of great instrumentals, time changes and a wonderful orchestral score by Andrew Powell. Eric Woolfson once again sings lead vocals. Ian Bairson's guitar is much to the fore in the fade out. Lenny Zakatek features on virtually all APP albums and on this one he has two tracks. 'You're gonna get your fingers burned' is ideally suited to his rougher edge voice and it's the album's sole rocker. 'Psychobabble' is sung by Elmer Gantry and it's an oddball type song with an unusual intro featuring some wonderful bass lines from David Paton and the English Chorale feature in the middle section. A great live track this one. Each APP album features some sort of instrumental and the second one on here is a perfect piece of infectious synth pop called 'Mammagamma'. The aforementioned 'Step by Step' (the second Lenny Zakatek song)is the penultimate track and it's...well OK; not one I'd select to play on it's own. Last, but definitely not least is 'Old and Wise' and I don't mind saying (if you pardon the pun) that it's brilliantly sung by Colin Blunstone. A big hit in the UK this one (one week at number 74) the song features lush orchestration and a brilliant sax solo played by Mel Collins in the fade out.So what else can this reissue offer to enhance what is already a fantastic album? Some demo outtakes and snippets of the songs that either are buried in the original mix or recorded but not used. An Eric Woolfson song 'Any other Day' that didn't make the album in the end but was recorded some years later. It's great to also hear Eric singing 'Old and Wise' with a different backing track arrangement (minus the orchestra and sax). Not as good as Colin's rendition, but a great version nonetheless. The extensive sleeve notes provide insight and background to the album although this issue is minus the song lyrics included previously.In summary, a great album highly recommended.

great album

From start to finish, this impeccable album draws me in. The contribution of recently deceased guitarist, Ian Bairnson, cannot be praised highly enough. But as ever the diverse members of the project make up a satisfying whole. Faultless production, and marvellously ambitious in scope, I love it. And yes, the remastered track with bonus backing tracks, adds joy to the listening experience. That could just be down to my CD player being better than my turntable. But I enjoy both vinyl, and CD. In this case, with my hi-fi, the CD just sounds better .

I did not get into APP when they first came around, looked at the albums but somehow never got round to getting into them so I am quite late coming to appreciate them. I therefore write this review, not as an avid fan nor as a rabid hater but as a dispassionate observer. My apologies if I upset the former and do not openly side with the latter, but I will write it as I see it.This is the second album I have bought, "I Robot" being the first, and though it is very good, slick and accomplished, it is a little too safe for me, ideally I would have given it three and a half stars but have plumped for the optimistic four star rating.You know how some albums open up with a great first track and you think "this is going to be a cracking album" and it is (Speed king on Deep Purple In Rock for instance, or Words on Dove's Last Broadcast, Overkill on Motorhead's Overkill), well this album opens with a corker - Sirius, it is easy to see why American sports teams have adpoted it, it is brilliant, however the rest of the album then fluctuates between the mundane and the brilliant. Next up is the truly awful title track, no greater piece of pop-rock has there been, I hate it, followed by Children Of The Moon, which has the bass line from Saturday Night Fever. What would have been the end of side one Silence and I manages to pick things up and is a good track with beautiful lyrics.Now, what was side 2 is much better, Psychobabble and the excellent instrumantal Mammagamma really rock but the highlight has to be Old and Wise with Colin Bluntstone singing, a great song, a great singer highlighted even more by the demo version with Woolfson singing which reduces the song from brilliant to ok.As with the other APP reissues you get the "Naked" track, all the backing music put together to form a new instrumental piece, now I like the one on I Robot, but this one doesn't do it for me, it highlights more the disco feel to Children of The Moon, and there is an added orchestral version called Eye Pieces which is very good.It is difficult to know where to put APP in the pantheon of Prog where they sit mainly due to producing concept albums. A top producer and a top song writer are bound to come up with this kind of stuff, it is not the experimental prog of King Crimson or Van Der Graaf Generator, nor the story telling of Genesis, the classic pomp of ELP or Yes, the quirky Englishness of Caravan or the folk prog of Jethro Tull, I suppose if I were to draw any comparison it would be Camel, though I feel that is doing Camel a diservice.I would probable sum it up by the words of my partner when she heard it: "Isn't that a nice CD", that is both compliment and condemnation in equal measure.

Amazing album

I'm a long-standing admirer of the Alan Parsons Project and bought all of the original albums on vinyl in the early 1980s, only to purchase (and enjoy) them all over again in their first transition to CD about ten years later. Now we're into remastered and extended-play territory for these albums - but are the new versions worth buying?'Emphatically yes', certainly where 'Eye in the Sky' is concerned. Though the original albums were famed for their technical prowess as well as their musical quality and originality, the remastering really works here, giving a new brightness to the music without detracting from the quality and feel of the original.If this was just a remaster without additions, then, it would be worth buying, but it gains very considerably from the bonus tracks (which incidentally add 34 minutes to the play length). The pick of these, for me, is 'The Naked Eye'. As with the other APP remasters, the bonus tracks give a good insight into the original production process and show quite how meticulously the original album was refined and perfected.Worth replacing your original-issue CD version? Definitely!