If you have a Spotify or any other music streaming service that lets you listen to entire albums in one go, I've got some homework for you.
The iconic cover art of The Alan Parson Project's I Robot was designed by Storm Thorgerson, which is not the only link Alan Parsons has to Pink Floyd. As most hard core Floyd fans will tell you, Alan Parsons engineered Dark Side of the Moon. In fact, rumour has it that it was members of The Floyd who encouraged Alan Parsons to venture out with his own musical career instead of just being a sound engineer.
I Robot was the second album from the Project, inspired by the Asimov book of the same name. I must admit, Alan Parsons is not your typical progressive rock style.
The first time I heard this album, track one, the title track, really had me on the fence, with the choral voice opening. But by the two minute mark, when the beat sneaks in and that bass line starts, you realize that this isn't going to be too cerebral. There's some soul here. The chorus re-enters the scene and your brain struggles to make sense of what you're listening to. But it's good. You just have to throw away your perceptions of what rock is and isn't. It's a medley of sounds and instruments that have never existed in one place before, and that's Alan's specialty. Remember those clocks chiming in Pink Floyd's Time? Exactly.
By the end of the first track, if you're still on the fence, the next one makes sure your mind is made up. There's a James Bond quality to this opening. Close your eyes and you can easily imagine this being the opening salvo of the next Bond movie. Then it switches to a sumptuous shuffle beat and the amazing voice of Lenny Zakatek brings you along for the ride. This would go on to be a huge hit for the Project and it is certainly one of my favourites. That guitar solo!
The album switches gears with Some Other Time. It took a long time before I connected with this song. The previous track lulls you into thinking that this is going to be a rock/soul collection, but the album is laced with beautiful low-key ballads spiced up with just the right amount of rock seasoning. You might not get it on the first listen, but it grows on you.
Breakdown has a familiar vocalist. You know you've heard it before. That's because you have - it's Allan Clarke from The Hollies.
Don't Let it Show opens with a sweet organ line. Then singer Dave Townsend, who provides vocals on a number of albums along with Lenny, pleads with you not to give in. In case you think you may have heard this song somewhere else, Pat Benetar covered it on her album In the Heat of the Night.
The Voice is pure Alan Parsons. By that I mean he brings all of his creative tools to bear. A driving rhythm, stabbing synth line, vocoder, soaring strings, and a slow transition into a rollicking shuffle.
Nucleus is a lullaby of an instrumental and would feel out of place as part of the soundtrack of a space documentary.
Day After Day has a bit of a country twang to it. Not an exciting track, but the production value is there to be sure. You can tell the album is winding down.
Total Eclipse could have been yanked right out 2001: A Space Odyssey, during that scene when we travel through the wormhole. It's a bit hard to take on its own here. Unless you're high that is.
The album closes with Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32, which is a subtle joke considering that Genesis chapter one only had 31 verses.
All in all, if you're looking for a little escapism in the form of beautifully crafted progressive rock from one of the masters, give this a play from beginning to end.
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