Classic rock: Alan Parsons Project, the epigones

We could spend hours debating the real meaning of a term like “classic rock”. Traditionally, it is associated with those bands from the 1960s and 1970s that, thanks to their albums, have written the history of rock. Jimi Hendrix, Who, Cream, through the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin, just to mention some of the most obvious, or those that this summer appointment on Sunday that ends today has covered. “Classic rock” can however include many others who, in their own way, have expanded or embellished the above-mentioned history. The Alan Parsons Project, with their detailed musical vision, memorable artwork, inspired vocals, substantial arrangements and an ever-careful use of instruments, are among them.

The context in which the Project was able to assert itself was that of the historic Abbey Road Studios in London. There the fateful meeting took place that would push the two minds behind the project, Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, to collaborate closely. The latter was a pianist and composer on contract, already alongside the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber; the former was known for having followed the final recordings of the Beatles (he had also recorded the “final concert” on the Apple terrace) and, perhaps more importantly, had been the sound engineer on ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’, the most “classic rock” album ever. Their involvement had helped give the Pink Floyd milestone the sound solidity for which oceans of words continue to be spent – in a now superfluous way – (his, among other things, was the idea for the famous beginning of the clocks in the song “Time”). However, when Gilmour and the others also called him for the subsequent ‘Wish You Were Here’, Parsons declined because he was already busy giving meaning to his project with Woolfson. Sharing different roles (Parsons would take care of the production mostly, managing with his colleague the programming of the songs and mainly the use of keyboards and synthesizers), the sole aim of the two was to compose and record high quality music, being able to count on the services of a multitude of professional session musicians: among these the singers John Miles and Lenny Zakatek, the arranger Andrew Powell, but also the guitarist Ian Bairnson, later alongside Kate Bush together with the drummer Stuart Elliott and the bassist David Paton (also at the service of Parsons and Woolfson).

The musical direction of APP

Working exclusively as a studio band, APP were an entity dedicated to the production of concept albums, and in this alone one could detect a “classic” element in the context of the great history of rock. Parsons and Woolfson produced ten albums between 1976 and 1987, ending up selling over fifty-five million albums worldwide. Several lyrical scenarios expressed in their songs would have drawn inspiration from the figure of the master of thriller literature Edgar Allan Poe, especially the debut ‘Tales Of Mystery And Imagination’, released in 1976, exceptionally for the film company 20th Century Fox. The work, whose title was the same as a collection of Poe’s novels, presented itself as a work far too intricate and structured to be a debut. According to Parsons, the album did not receive the attention it deserved because it was overshadowed by the change of label (the Project found a safe haven in Arista Records) and by the release of the second album, ‘I Robot’ (1977), inspired by the work of the sci-fi novelist Isaac Asimov. With a concept that is also valid for today’s current events – the clash between human and artificial intelligence – ‘I Robot’ was and remains a masterpiece of melody and experimentation, and should not be missing from the vinyl collection of any self-respecting connoisseur. Parsons was surprised by the fact that the press at the time called it a “prog” album, since for him APP belonged more to a “pop” context. It is no coincidence that today if there is a term that best describes the music of the Project, it is “progressive pop”. The single “I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You” remains a concrete example of why APP can be included in the “classic rock” category. It’s a delightfully rhythmic track with Ian Bairnson’s guitar, who passed away in April 2023, drawing memorable phrases. But if the importance of ‘I Robot’ is undisputed, the elements that made that album fundamental were further strengthened on the occasion of the subsequent ‘Pyramid’, released a year later. ‘Pyramid’ revealed peaks of compositional enormity – just look at the wonder, for example, of “In The Lap Of The Gods”, an instrumental embellished by the use of the cymbalion – but it also highlighted a certain soft-rock heterogeneity to complete the work. ‘Pyramid’ looked to the mysticism of Egyptology and the pyramids and was a perfect shot also for its artwork, curated by Storm Thorgerson of the Hipgnosis studio, the same behind the refracting triangular prism of ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’. APP ended the Seventies in great form, precisely with ‘Eve’, an intriguing work, although less experimental than usual, whose focus was on the strength and characteristics of women (guests also included Clare Torry, creator of the improvised vocal on the Floydian “The Great Gig In The Sky” – just to stay on topic). In 1980, then, the duo focused on the problem of gambling and ludopathy. The result, ‘The Turn Of A Friendly Card’, was another coup scored thanks to a series of songs such as the funky “Games People Play”, the poignant “Time” or the suite of the same name as the album and divided into several parts.

The commercial peak of the Project

APP reached the peak of their fame with the release of ‘Eye In The Sky’, in 1982. Listening to it today (better if in remastered version, though) the impression is that it borders on the fullness of an ‘I Robot’ or a ‘Pyramid’. Remaining impassive in front of its contents would be an impracticable exercise, starting from the powerful introduction of “Sirius”, historically one of the most overused tracks in international sports and television contexts (an Italian Tg2 of the time, perhaps some readers will remember, used it as the theme song for the column Space Seven). Tracks like “Silence And I” or “Children Of The Moon” combine rich emotional textures, while “Psychobabble” and “You’re Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned” highlight the more canonical side of that certain FM rock typical of the Eighties.

The ability to convey a sense of balance in the writing of the material, always supported by a certain progressive propensity in the arrangements, had continued to bear fruit, in short, up until the ‘Eye In The Sky’ period. Nonetheless, too much inclination towards catchiness on the part of Parsons and Woolfson – although never so much, it must be said, as to be somehow cloying – ended up penalizing in some way the final part of their musical history. In 1984, the concern towards the themes of environmental exploitation was the linchpin of the story of ‘Ammonia Avenue’, a crafty work but lacking that mettle that had animated the Project in the past, and a “tear-jerking” single like “Don’t Answer Me” came to recall vintage sounds in the style of Phil Spector (the long title track, “Ammonia Avenue”, is in any case of a completely different quality). The three final works under the APP label, ‘Vulture Culture’, ‘Stereotomy’ (both 1985) and ‘Gaudi’ (1987) continued the tradition of the concept album. The first criticised the “vulture culture” of the modern age, the second called into question the “stereotomy” indicated by Poe in the famous story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, while the third paid homage to the great Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. To this day, these works are generally considered the least interesting of the duo’s discography, but a more careful examination will show how each of them contains something precious. And to truly understand the nature of the Project, it is necessary to pass through here too.

The Legacy of Parsons and Woolfson Today

The APP project officially ended in 1990, after a hypothetical eleventh album ended up turning into a solo work by Woolfson (the interesting ‘Freudiana’, a tribute to the figure of Sigmund Freud), who finally died in December 2009. Today the Project continues to make converts and to be loved even by those who spend a lot of time on social networks, where the pages related to APP are quite popular. Alan Parsons still speaks passionately, when interviewed about it, about his time with Woolfson. After all, their concept albums are like books that are read and reread willingly, years after their release. This is why, fundamentally, they continue to be periodically reprinted and re-edited in the most unthinkable formats (a new version of ‘Pyramid’ is among other things expected soon): to the delight of collectors and followers of “classic rock”, traditional or otherwise.