Alan Parsons
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- This article covers Alan Parsons, the individual. See the article The Alan Parsons Project for detailed history of the band.
Career in brief
Parsons first came to prominenence as a studio engineer for such albums as The Beatles' Abbey Road and Pink Floyd's iconic Dark Side of the Moon. He was known for going beyond what would normally be considered the scope of a recording engineer's duties. He considered himself to be a recording director, likening his contribution to recordings with what Stanley Kubrick did on film. This is obvious in his work with Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat", where Parsons added the saxophone part and transformed the original folk concept into the jazz influenced ballad that put Al Stewart onto the charts. It is also heard in Parsons' influence on the Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" and "The Air That I Breathe", sharp departures from their 60s pop "Stay", "Just One Look", "Stop, Stop, Stop" or "Bus Stop".Apparently inspired by his influential contribution to Stewart's work he founded The Alan Parsons Project with producer and songwriter, and occasional singer Eric Woolfson, in 1975. The Project dissolved after 1987, and Parsons continues to release work in his own name and in collaboration with other musicians.
Although an accomplished vocalist, keyboardist, and flutist, Parsons only sang infrequent and incidental parts on his albums. Whilst his keyboard playing was very prominent on Alan Parsons Project albums, recordings featuring his flute are virtually unknown.
Bairnson worked with Parsons the longest, through his "post"-Woolfson albums Try Anything Once, On Air, and The Time Machine.
Solo discography
- 1993 Try Anything Once,
- 1996 On Air - includes CD-ROM containing some history of aviation,
- 1999 The Time Machine,
- 2004 A Valid Path, with David Gilmour on "Return to Tunguska".
External links
- [An in-depth article about Alan Parsons and the history of The Alan Parsons Project]
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