EYE IN THE SKY

This Project was commercial from the start : it's just that the public started to notice it from Eve on. I may repeat myself , but stick to the first three albums . In here I am certainly not attacking the production or the sound of the record , but it is clear that a formula had been reached by the second album and every new album was based on it . So , in theory , this has as much value as Robot or Pyramid , but I got sick of APP after the third .

Radio friendly

"Eye in the sky" is one of the better albums by the prolific Alan Parsons Project, since it has a couple of truly memorable tracks.

While the album is generally fairly lightweight, with little which could fairly be described as prog, there is a consistent quality to the album which makes it worthwhile. The musicianship, production and orchestration are as you would expect from APP, the music having a very radio friendly melodic pop orientation.

After the brief instrumental opening of "Sirius", "Eye in the sky" takes us gently soaring skywards on a mid-paced song with a simple structure, and pleasant vocals.

"Silence and I" is the first of the albums stand out tracks. It is a slow ballad, beautifully sung and orchestrated with an underlying power, a quality which is all too often absent in much of APP's work.

"Old and wise" is the other key track. Colin Blunstone's vocal talents can make virtually any song sound good, but when he matches up with a fine song such as this, the results are truly impressive.

When Alan Parsons is in ballad mode, he is capable of coming up with some excellent stuff. When on the other hand he is producing mid-tempo pieces of melodic rock, such as most of the remaining tracks here, the results are generally predictable and lacking in identity.

A solid if unremarkable album, boosted by a handful of tracks which stand well above their peers.

This is one of the ALAN PARSONS's most pop, fresh and accessible album. Not very progressive. The songs have catchy and clean symphonic arrangements. This record has not extremely sophisticated composition; it's rather the production and the quality of the recording that are sophisticated. The voice is outstanding! The instrumental tracks are well made and it is always a pleasure to listen them. Actually, there are no bad songs on this record.

A wondrous wilting over Egyptology, astrology and psychology. With punk's fifteen seconds past, '80s audiences were actually returning to the calm sounds of APP, THE MOODY BLUES and STYX. "Eye in the Sky" is a remarkably soothing record, floating on a suffusion of warm currents like some intergalactic glider. As usual, THE PROJECT rouses itself from its own sleepiness for a few funkier tracks like "Psychobabble" and "Step By Step," but generally the album stays within the title track's field of vision. The first side of music surrounds the listener like a warm cocoon, directed by the airy vocals of ERIC WOOLFSON and CHRIS RAINBOW (only DAVID PATOn's twangy voice on "Children of the Moon" breaks ranks). The second side is funkier by design, featuring LENNY ZAKATEK and ELMER GANTRY. The opening "You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned" is pedestrian, but "Psychobabble" and "Step By Step" are brisk-paced and pleasant. COLIN BLUNSTONE closes the album out with the orchestrated "Old And Wise," returning the record to its gentle beginnings. Like THE MOODY BLUES (whose Long Distance Voyager was equally masterful), THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT were now writing spaced-out concept albums for people whose recreational drug of choice was a wine cooler. And like wine coolers, symphonic pop soon fell out of vogue.

"Eye in the Sky" was the band's last platinum record, and after Ammonia Avenue they wouldn't see precious metal again. Thus this is seen as something of a last hurrah, the final in a string of well conceived and well received records that served as a sort of decompression chamber connecting prog rock and pop music.

"Eye In The Sky" is many times criticized to be a commercial album. It's true that it has many commercial songs but that's not a reason to say that this is a mediocre album. It starts with one of Alan's best instrumental works followed perfectly well by the classic song "Eye In The Sky" ("I can read your mind.looking at you"). There's another interesting instrumental track called "Mammagamma". "Silence And I" and "Old And Wise" are my favorite songs. Both of them have good lyrics. The first one has a perfect orchestrated part in the middle and "Old And Wise" features a sentimental saxophone solo played by Mel Collins. That's an excellent way to end an album!

one of the best alan parsons project albums, although it seems a little commercial as songs are not that progressive in style, but songs like "silence and i" are just one of the best in the genre, i think this album is a must have for every prog rock fan. Other than many thought to be commercial albums, this one contains many good songs, "eye in the sky" and it's instrumental intro "sirius" are very good, the other instrumental piece "mamagamma" is a very good piece of work, anyone will find it very "ear friendly". Of course the classic "old and wise" is a track that needs no talking about.

This is where my interest in the ALAN PARSONS PROJECT ends. After that they started going more mainstream pop, and the progressive rock had pretty much vanished, and the instrumentals became less remarkable. "Eye in the Sky" was their first digital recording (the album says so), but to me, the music still sounds stuck in the '70s, and this was 1982. Doesn't sound much like the Yamaha DX-7 and drum-machine happy digital recordings that were common as dirt in the mid 1980s. The synthesizers perhaps played the least role on an APP album since Tales of Mystery and Imagination, although they got themselves a digital Fairlight (early digital sampler).

The album opens with "Sirius". If you watched your share of NBA basketball games, it's been used during those games (I think it was the Portland Trailblazers, but then I'm not a sports fan). The song then segues in the the well-known title track, being a big hit. It's a soft-rock ballad dominated by Eric Woolfson's vocals. Bascially a song if you never heard, then you probably weren't around in the 1980s, listen to the BACKSTREET BOYS, or never listened to the AM and FM dial. "Children of the Moon" is a wonderful cut. It's the ALAN PARSONS PROJECT sound at their best. Then you get the vocal experiment with "Gemini", nice and laid-back. Then you have the orchestrated "Silence and I" which might have been an attempt at progressive rock, but doesn't seem to quite work, in my book. "Psychobabble" is another attempt at progressive rock, and it works so much better (it was even a minor hit). I think it was Elmer Gantry handling the vocals here. I just love the middle part with the sirens and orchstration. Lenny Zakatek (who obviously didn't write the song) gives us "You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned" is definately the album's low- point. Zakatek had definately sung better songs. "Mammagamma" is another instrumental piece, pretty much sticks to the same thing throughout. It's not bad, but there are better instrumentals. "Step by Step" is the other vocal cut with Zakatek, at least works a bit better. Then you have "Old and Wise", vocals by ex-Zombies member Colin Bluntstone. This is another orchestrated ballad that seems appropriate for closing the album. Not a bad album, even if there are a couple songs I can do without.

My rating: 3 1/2 stars

Probably the best album since Pyramid and arguably his last excellent effort aside from a compilation or two. ' Sirius' the opener and the highly commercial' Eye in the sky' are very effective in getting the album off on a intriguing kilter.' Silence and I' and ' Mammagamma' the better of the other songs but overall a very strong album from 1982, not to be eclipsed again.

A few months before the end of 1981 APP released "Eye in the Sky", which in my humble opinion (and many others') is their last very good recording in their whole career. Almost instantly the opener 'Sirius' and the segued title track became APP classics: the former as incidental music for sports teams and TV programs, the latter as yet another winning single. Now, let's take into account that from their "Eve" album onwards their compositional ideas and arranging strategies had become somewhat unabashedly formulaic, and this very same thing happens in many parts of "Eye in the Sky": for instance, the intro to 'Children of the Moon' is virtually a twin brother of that of 'Snake Eyes'; the weird effects on 'Step by Step' seem to have been sampled from the 'Games People Play' interlude; and the acoustic ballad 'Gemini' is a bit reminiscent of 'The Eagle Will Fly Again'. Now, the scheme may have worn out quite a bit, but the fact is that Parsons and Woolfson are still capable of coming up with effective songs and arrange them with full grandeur and cleverness. The aforementioned 'Children of the Moon' is actually a good example of this: a mid-tempo rocker that is taken to a proggier dimension thanks to Andrew Powell's exquisite orchestral arrangements. It is a fact that the rock band's fine performance (featuring Bairnson's guitar precise riffs and exciting solos) is perfectly compatible with the academic pretensions of the orchestra - not unlike JT's partner David/Dee Palmer, Powell serves as the ultimate guardian of artistic richness for the APP material. Nowhere in this album does it become so obvious as in the ravishingly beautiful symphonic ballad 'Silence and I', a 7-minute epic well rooted in APP's vintage prog side, where Woolfson's chant for inner isolation and strict secrecy is fluidly complemented by a bombastic interlude and a climatic, dramatic final string-brass-woodwind section, whilst Bairnson's melodic solo sends shivers down the listener's spine. APP's old flame keeps on shining and burning brightly, at least for a bit longer. More conventional, but equally beautiful and moving, the grateful dying man's hymn 'Old & Wise' closes down the album in a magnificent outbreak of sheer emotion with a touch of crystalline class. Concerning the adult oriented rockers, I don't feel quite impressed by them (tracks 6 & 9), thought they might as well be enjoyed (with an ounce of guilt in the listener's heart) as mood lifters, or something to play during a friendly conversation with guests, or even having lunch with mum and dad. But, on the other hand, 'Psychobabble' goes to farther places: the sonic neurosis created by layers of sinister synths and added guitar effects works as the very nucleus of the song, making the sung parts and the guitar solo bridge revolve around it to fit into the overall structure - a fine example of APP's ability to enhance their good musical ideas via very good arrangements. 'Mammagamma' is another famous APP instrumental: the combination of Fairlight-driven Euro techno-pop and hard rock works very well, indeed. Overall balance: a good item in any good prog collection, not as brilliant as most of their previous releases, yet still comprising a lot of good stuff - my personal faves are tracks 3,4, 5 & 10.

Alan Parsons is a great writer of music, and this album shows it and shows it strong. The album starts off with Sirius a fantastic, although overplayed, song. Then it leads into the very good Title track. After Eye in the Sky, the album goes though its weakest points, Children of the moon and Gemini. After those two songs the album is gold. A fantastic awe- inspirering Silence and I comes next. A very good and progessive song. Then comes the very popish You're gonna get your fingers burned. Then comes the utterly great and "parsonish" psyhcobabble. A great track. Then the odd and mysterious Mammagamma, followed by the ordinary Step by step. The album ends with The elegant and beautiful Old and wise. The vocals on this track are supurb. All in all this is a solid album, worthy of any prog. collection, and one of TAPP best albums.

Well, in 1982 when "Eye In The Sky" was released the Halcyon days of prog were just part of the past. Nonetheless, this is an excellent pop album, well recorded and performed, where you can find some amazing commercial hits (for instance the title-track and "Mammagamma"). Of course, for me it's hard to find here the "prog vein". The best and slightly "proggy" tracks in my opinion are "Silence And I" and "Old And Wise" while the rest is just clever and well crafted pop. On the whole I think that this album is definitely a non-essential one in a progressive rock collection.

Genarally, I would say i'm not a fan of the 80s prog sound, but the more you hear this album, the more there is to love. Wonderful orchestral arrangements and a fine collections of musicians. There is not a weak song on the album and if fact are two or three exceptional songs which I would recommend as a must for any lover of orchestral rock. I can give this album 5 stars with confidence, purely on the strength of the final track "Old and Wise". Words could not come close to describing how achingly beautiful this song is. This is one of the all time greats, and alone makes this album worth getting immediately!

Till this far you might finally know that The Project music is a combination of thematic intentions and good music textures. Some people consider that the music of the band must be enjoyed in a whole with all components: the music, the concept, the approach as well as the lyrics which sometimes resemble a certain storyline at album level (refer to debut album "Tales Of Mystery and Imagination" and "The Turn of A Friendly Card"). Peaking at number three on Billboard's Top 40, this album is a good example of how nice melody combined with rock style using the exploration of guitars, keyboards and orchestration - including the use of brass section to accentuate the melody. Conceptually, the album talks about the future on how our lives will be constantly monitored and human rights for freedom and choice. The album tries very hard to satisfy the need of album theme as well as presenting good music for the listeners.

"Sirius" opens the album with cosmic, atmospheric textures using ups and downs which bring the album to the album's hit "Eye In The Sky" - a nice pop rock song. "Silence And I" is a well crafted composition with varied styles combining great orchestration and excellent pop rock song. Oh, this song has powerful and memorable melody and sung perfectly by its vocalist. "Psychobabble" is another good track with simple bass lines that lead the music into the vocal line. "Mammagamma" is an excellent track with Pink Floyd nuance on its keyboard sounds. It's an excellent track. The album concludes with a killer song which has a killing melody "Old and Wise".

It's an excellent album but don't expect something prog. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

TAPP's music, aptly classified as "prog-related", has a certain characteristic, that makes it somewhat impossible to become a "masterpiece of prog". It may become a masterpiece of music in general instead. May I justify by claiming that this album, considered one of TAPP's best work, achieved the biggest commercial success, which is a memorable thing indeed. The genius lies in the level of songwriting, and in cohesion. Not a single weak spot on the album, and, what's most formidable of TAPP is their ability to create music that is both interesting, sophisticated, complex and melodic and conceptual. I recommend it to anyone.

There are a few things I remember about this album when it was released in 1982. First, nearly everybody I knew was pretty much sick of punk at this point, and a well- produced album with very high-quality packaging and tasteful artwork was quite appealing, even before listening to it. Second, that damn eyeball sketch ended up being graffiti-painted on just about anything that wasn’t moving in my neighborhood (as well as a few trains and busses that were). And finally, I lived in Chicago for a while a few years after this released and got completely sick of hearing “Sirius” every time I watched the Michael Jordan-led Bulls basketball team take the field. Other than that, this turned out to be a pretty decent album.

I will say that my standards were not very high in 1982 considering the general state of music, and that may have played a part in taking a liking to this piece of very shallow but extremely well-constructed pseudo-symphonic music. As an art and symphonic rock fan of the seventies I was tentatively returning to the fold with baby steps after being led astray by both MTV and Jello Biafra. The prog du jour was the Moody Blues’ ‘Long Distance Voyager’, ELO’s ‘Time’, Roxy Music’s ‘Avalon’, and Asia. Pretty tame stuff, but at least it was heading back in the right direction after a few years of misdirection. I think prog fans of my age who had tired of the tome-like dirges of ‘Tales from Topographic Oceans’ and ‘Thick as a Brick’ were finally ready to reinvest our energy in prog-like materials, fluffy-light though they may have been. And as always, Mr. Parsons was ready to oblige with just enough tasteful art to hook us.

Prior to becoming permanently allergic to ‘Sirius’ thanks to the Chicago Bulls, I thought this was a very well-done instrumental, and the most prog-related thing Parsons had done in quite some time. The short but interesting guitar riff over the catchy keyboard rhythm and seamless fade into “Eye in the Sky” was an auspicious beginning and raised my hopes for this album the first time I heard it. Eric Woolfson appears as lead vocalist once again and does an admirable job of carrying the mellow notes against a backdrop of a repetitive but pleasant-enough guitar chugging away. The nebulous theme of astral whimsy is rather non-committal but is enough to keep the listener’s attention for the full four minutes or so that the song runs.

I’m not sure if the theme for “Children of the Moon” is the exodus story from the Bible, but it is definitely a condemnation of some sort of similar historical event:

“Follow the pilgrim to the Temple of the dawn; the altar's empty and the sacrifice is gone.

We let the Madmen write the golden rules, we were no more than mortal fools - nothing to live for.”

Pretty harsh methinks, but the orchestral backing (much of it synthesized I suspect) is much better than the previous couple of albums, and the horns offer some interesting variety. This would not have been out-of-place on a late 70’s art-rock album.

“Gemini” sounds like something that might have inspired one of Spock’s Beard’s later cheesy barber-shop harmonies. Pretty much filler and nonsense lyrics, but doesn’t really take anything away from the album.

Woolfson returns on vocals for “Silence and I”, and I find this to be an excellent neo- prog ballad of the highest order. The mood is brooding but not morbid, and the lyrics are vaguely meaningful enough to inspire some appealing speculation as to their meaning. This has a dated feel to it that is kind of charming today.

The tempo kicks up a bit on “Gonna’ Get Your Fingers Burned”, and this is really more of an 80’s pop-rock number that borders on sounding like one of those new-age gospel bands like Newsboys or something, although I gather the lyrics are speaking about deception of some sort. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a radio single attempt by Parsons.

The slightly mad Elmer Gantry returns after a couple years’ hiatus on “Psychobabble”. This is another pretty cool tune with some simple but effective bass/keyboard sequences that evoke an anxious mood. I really latched on to this one back in the early 80’s, but it hasn’t aged well and the cheesy keyboards and shout-response backing vocals sound pretty dated today.

“Mammagamma” is one of those electronic-funk instrumentals that Parsons was so good at putting together, but true-to-form it sets the listener up with anticipation of something more substantial but fails to deliver and peters out far too soon. It’s pretty clear by the time this album rolled around that Parsons was far better at finding catchy riffs than he was at developing them into full-blown, mature progressive works, but it’s a nice little ditty anyway.

Parsons tries to end the album with a deep-thinker ballad in the finest Moody Blues tradition, and he partially succeeds. “Old and Wise” is a touching, sentimental farewell song that I suspect a lot of young people dedicated to friends as they entered adulthood and moved on during those days. The symphonic backing and mild saxophone are touching, and the lyrics are sentimental enough to get to you if you let them. For those who are taken in by the sappy sentiments of Klaatu and their ilk this is a keeper:

“I wanted you to know you've always shared my deepest thoughts, you follow where I go. And oh, when I'm old and wise bitter words mean little to me, autumn winds will blow right through me.

And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you –

I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine.”

I was going to give this three stars but I just played that last track in the quiet of the evening and feel the need to bump that up by one. I might revisit that later in the cold light of day but it’s four stars for now. So I’m sentimental – sue me.

peace

Built for the radio!

Even though The Alan Parsons Project is commonly referred to as one of the most commercial artists in progressive rock history, his 1982 release, "Eye In The Sky", just may be the most commercial he ahs ever gotten. Even though the album was intended to be commercially suitable, I think that "Sirius" has taken on a life of it's own shortly after the release. Nowadays, you can't go to a sporting event without hearing "Sirius" before every game.

One thing that draws me, and I'm sure many others, to an album by Alan Parsons is the musical diversity. Sure the keyboards will always be there, but it's always an interesting surprise to see who is enlisted in to vocal categories. For this album, Parsons put together a motley group consisting of David Paton, Chris Rainbow, Lenny Zakatek, Elmer Gantry, and Colin Blunstone, along with Eric Woolfson who provides to the vocals for two songs.

Woolfson's two songs are far and away the favorite vocal tracks of the album. The title track, "Eye In The Sky", features some nice and slow, rhythmic guitar in the background while Woolfson croons away. Anytime you want to hear this song, you can just turn on your local oldies radio station and I guarantee it will be on in the next 20 minutes. His other song, "Silence And I" is another excellent track. It can almost be compared to a primitive blueprint of early neo-progressive music, with it's painful melodies and meaningful lyrics.

Chris Rainbow lends his pipes to "Gemini", which is a god-awful song comprised of filler lyrics and terrible rhythms. David Paton's moment, "Children Of The Moon", is an interesting attempt. It has a very 70's feel to it, and that might be caused by the synthesized orchestra in the background. however the horns add a fresh sense that was lost a few albums back. Elmer Gantry's crazy "Psychobabble" is a song built on a rhythm section, plus the addition of pounding keyboards. "Old & Wise" just may be the exact opposite, however. Colin Blunstone's vocal performance is on a gentle, thinking man's ballad with some great saxophone work.

I think Parsons had recruited Lenny Zakatek for one purpose. Score a hit single. "Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned" is a very cliché 80's rock n' roll song. Just straightforward, no diversity at all. The same can be said about Zakatek's other contribution, "Step By Step". Almost no variety there. Finally, my favorite song on the album, "Mammagamma". One of Alan Parsons's finest moments, this instrumental combined funk and jazz with some powerful keyboard riffs.

Do you like pop music or synthesized orchestras? How about songs made for hit singles? Well then I can highly recommend this album to you. If you want some good instrumentals, I can recommend checking out "Mammagamma", but if you want real progressive to the core, stick your nose elsewhere.

3 stars, some good pop music.

This is the 4th Alan Parsons' Project album to which I have listened, and it's decidedly the last "new" album I plan on hearing for quite a while. The entire disc is completely soaked in 80s pop sounds, characterized by the boring one-or-two-hit drum-beats typical of that era and generic "synthy" backing. Mellow vocals make parts of this album even more boring. (If anything, I suppose it would be a good album to put on if you want to get to sleep quickly.) At any rate, "Eye in the Sky" contains merely one excellent track: "Silence and I" (the only one clocking in at over 5 minutes running time.) It's a return to form and even has a (mini-) epic feel to it, climaxing around the middle of the song and it keeps going strong. Unfortunately, the rest of the album goes downhill as before. The only tracks that are fairly good are 3, 6, and 10. The title track, 4, and 7 are simply average. The rest I consider worse than filler: synthy-pop filler; songs 1, 8, and 9 are better off avoiding altogether. It's unfortunate it had to end for me this way, but I can really only recommend this album to those that call themselves fans of APP. Otherwise, get "Silence and I" and steer clear of the rest!

By the time this album hit the shelves in 1982 the MTV revolution was in full swing, systematically reducing popular music to being soundtracks for three-minute cavalcades of crap visuals designed only to titillate and provide a mind-numbing diversion from reality. Unfortunately, much of this recording reflects that mindset as Parsons and Woolfson seem to be trying to follow trends instead of blazing trails, a pattern they had been establishing slowly but surely since the release of their groundbreaking debut.

Once again, however, they start things off on a promising note with the intriguing instrumental "Sirius" that has a progressive slant to it. It segues seamlessly into the radio hit "Eye in the Sky" that is another one in a string of chart-climbers that still resonates today on AOR stations across the world. Ian Bairnson's tasteful guitar work is a highlight. Next up is the best tune here, "Children of the Moon," that has an unusual melody and a somewhat prog chord progression where Ian provides yet another interesting solo.

If things would have "progressed" in that vein then you might have something special here but that's not the case. With "Gemini" they settle back into their comfort zone, dishing out forgettable ditties that really have little substance. "Silence and I" follows and it's an okay tune that transitions into an interesting instrumental segment before returning to the original verse and chorus. Billy Joel was a big time player in the pop world at that time and "You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned" is a direct mimic of his style. Only it's just not very good.

"Psychobabble" displays everything that was going south in popular music in the early 80s. Totally forgettable ten seconds after it's over. "Mammagamma" is an instrumental in which they could have been a lot more adventurous musically but it never goes anywhere. Another missed opportunity. "Step by Step" is more of the empty fluff that the MTV virus was causing to be manufactured by the trainload so you might want to skip this one altogether. "Old and Wise" finishes the album and it's not bad at all in an Elton John-ish sorta way. Too little too late, though.

What was happening to this group was happening to almost every artist around the globe at the time so it's almost unfair to pick it apart like this but it is what it is. A product of the era. There's very little prog here so it will only truly appeal to the die-hard fan of the APP in general. 2.4 stars.

More a pop album with progressive tendancy than anything, "Eye In the Sky" was the Alan Parsons Project's commercial high-point. "Sirius"/"Eye In the Sky" is the most popular part of the album, but I give "Old and Wise" the nod for best song. The problem is neither is particularily progressive. Normally I'd give this four stars, but I'll down-grade it to three because of its commercial feel.

With the success of The Turn of a Friendly Card (both album-wise and the singles released from it), the Alan Parsons Project aimed for a more commercial output with Eye in the Sky, their sixth studio album. Like its predecessors, it has a general theme throughout the album. This time the concept was surveillance, with the title of the album inspired by the "eye in the sky" cameras used in airports, banks, and casinos. The album also explores life and the universe and maybe lost values and makes reference to George Orwell's 1984.

Eye in the Sky was the best selling album APP ever made and it gave them one of their most popular singles, the title track (with Eric Woolfson providing the vocals). Leading into this song is the intro track, an instrumental called "Sirius." This short intro may be APP's most well known piece of music as it has been often used as theme music for various sporting entrance events, including the Chicago Bulls basketball team, the American collegiate football teams Nebraska Cornhuskers and Iowa State Cyclones, the NFL's Detroit Lions, and pro-wrestler Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. Other slightly successful songs that got airplay included Psychobabble and You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned, plus the interesting instrumental Mammagamma.

Again, the music is chiefly pop rock with some ever-so-slight "progressive tendencies." Or, if you prefer, "pop prog." In my opinion, this is just slightly a notch lower in quality compared with The Turn of a Friendly Card. Most APP fans consider it their best album and should be a must-have for them. If you're not interested in "pop prog," you should probably avoid. Instead seek out their debut first. Three stars. Good, but not essential.

This is not a bad pop album..... and if you like the earlier Albums by the Project you will probably not mind this too much..... but ... there is almost no prog here at all....

The album starts off well with 'Sirius'....and then we get the title track....which is an excellent pop song....

'Silence and I' has some nice bits but there are just not enough progressive elements for me to rate higher.

One of the APP essentials, I think, along with the previous album, this is the one worth buying, the rest are just for true fans. Alan Parsons Project introduces a mainstream style of progressive rock. The plalying is good as it always is, everything is made with professional touch and very accurately, I have nothing to say to that.

To begin with, the opening track Sirius, leaves a lot to expect. It's actually an instrumental, an ambient intro, not too long as it is, and I could imagine a lot of bands making it part of the next song. But it's obvious they wanted to separate the next track on its own and who's to blame.

Indeed, especially, when the track in question is something like Eye in the Sky. Carrying the name of the album, this track is a powerful prog classic. It's actually very pop/rock, but carries the APP name out very well. There doesn't seem to be any problems in introducing this track to people. However, it's all fine for setting the way for the rest of the album.

Children of the moon is a bit more unimmediate track, however I find it closely related to the first one. It's more rock, with powerful drumming, which is the road APP took in the early 80s.

Gemini is again a rather ambient piece, and a bit short, and again, this song seems like a preview to a massive climax, that is the following song. Gemini does have nice lyrics though, you might want to listen carefully.

Not much bad can be said of Silence and I. I reckon it's the most favourite song of most of the people listening to this song. It starts slow and beautiful, but carries soon to a symphonic array. The band introduces what seems to be a whole orchestra playing music that's greatly introduced later on a movie soundtrack - Ladyhawke. However, sticking to this, you can really imagine at around halfway through, some knights riding into battle. And this is really what APP does best. It's basically a soft melodic base on a song that tells a story. It soon gets off in a frenzy and in the end softens back to the original melody which again, can't stress enough how beautiful this is. The singing on this album is brilliant.

Same can't really be said of the next 3 songs. You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burnt. This song is again one of those songs, that APP wrote to get rid of the prog image. At least it sounds like that. There are several songs like this one, basically one or two on each album, and I could see them making a collection called APP - the Identical Pop Songs. Perhaps a great band like this should stick to what they do best rather than going for the radio. However, with their success in mainstream radio in the end, who can really blame them for wanting to get known.

Psychobabble basically carries on along the lines, a bit more mellow, but still very easy song. This song, hearing the chorus seems really like they wanted to give people a groovy tune to expect a lot from, and the introduce a chorus that really makes you want to skip the song. It's really nothing but irritating, and if there's people in the room I usually just don't play this. Though given, this seems to be the thing with a fair number of 80s synth pop.

Mammagamma sounds daft, and isn't very good either. It's a drag-along electro-tune. Bascially what I mean is, it keeps you expecting for more, but in the end, the 3:35 of the song lenght are heard during the first 15 second and the rest just repeats the tune in different ways.

Step by Step, Little by Little, - Line by Line, one day at a time. A nice groovy song, which again, doesn't live up to expectations, but is a radiofriendly pop track. And reaching the end, that seems to be the drive of the whole album, not including some efforts that make this album special. This song is very much a compromise. a good one to jam and groove to, but nothing groundbreaking.

Old and Wise is a forced return to their slowpaced melancholic, melodic style, and this is again what I love about the band. Soft, silent songs that aren't afraid of sounding beautiful.

All in all, it's one of the good efforts of the band, including some real gems. I'm sad I don't have the remastered version, with the extras. It really makes me sad, that APP insist on putting really bad songs to all of their albums. The ending of this album suffers a lot from the bad synth-pop attacks. It's an album that is good, but again, not essential for people that aren't devoted to APP. Though in the end, it's one of the two albums that stand out as their best, the other being the one before this in the year 1980. Find out about it if you will. 3 stars.

"Eye in the Sky" is a very accessible, commercial soft-rock/art-rock album that is easy to enjoy, though at times also easy to forget.

The music contained in this album is, as said before, a combination of soft-rock with a very strong commercial flavor, with some art-rock elements, all given extra shine by the mighty engineering hand of Alan Parsons, who makes everything sound crystal clear and absolutely perfect. Every little detail, every little figure done by the guitars or the keys is totally distinguishable for the ear of the listener.

The music is never completely exciting, though. Most of the time, is played at a mid-tempo that tends to make the whole album listening experience a rather flat one. Most of the songs are typical radio-ready verse-chorus-verse tracks with little innovative elements or special musicianship, even though they're all nicely crafted and very polished. While one will never be dazzled by the musicians doing incredible things or the songs going into uncharted territories, one will never also feel unsafe or in discomfort with "Eye in the Sky": it's an experience built to work, to entertain without taking big compromises, and at that, it is remarkably efficient.

Many of the tracks are not that memorable, but a few manage to rise above the rest: "Silence and I", the longest one, with its very prog-related (if a little Hollywood-esque) middle-instrumental section; "Mammagamma", a spacey instrumental that, while repetitive, it's very entertaining while it lasts (even though we feel it could've been developed much further); "Sirius", the minute opener that has become a staple of many different events; and, of course, the magnificently-beautiful title-track, a testament and proof as to the real possibility of writing fantastic pop-rock songs, with a melody and mood that's certainly perfect.

All in all, "Eye in the Sky" is a decent album, nothing extraordinaire but in general very efficient. No track is really bad, and a couple are actual standouts (with the title-track towering over them all; yes, commercial songs can be great, too.) 3 stars seems like the right rating for me.

Electric eye

Many people here seem to think that the Alan Parsons Project debuted with their best album and then continued to make worse and worse music with each subsequent album. I would rather say that their recording career went a bit up and down and down and up, etc. with Turn Of A Friendly Card having been a return to form after the lackluster Eve and Pyramid albums. The present album continues a positive trend and is one of the better albums of the Project. The opening instrumental leads directly into Eye In The Sky, which is a minor Pop Prog classic in a way. (It is funny that Judas Priest opened their album Screaming For Vengeance - that was released in the same year - also with an instrumental (Hellion) that led directly into a song about an "eye in the sky" (Electric Eye). Strange coincidence! Both are strong ways to open an album, I think. (No comparisons above this though!)).

Children Of The Moon and Gemini are both much more interesting than most songs from albums like Eve and Pyramid. Other good songs here are Old And Wise, that closes the album, and Psychobabble. If you know what Alan Parsons Project sound like, you will know pretty much what this album sounds like since this is a very typical Alan Parsons Project album in many ways. However, this one is a bit stronger and more consistent than many other of their albums. Vocals duties are still divided between several different people. This usually leaves an album incoherent and disjointed. Here it does not have that damaging effect to the album as a whole. I think this might be because these singers are not radically different from each other.

The seven and a half minute, Silence And I has a surprising and very Symphonic and progressive section in the middle that leads into a good guitar solo finale, before the original melody of the song returns. One of the few real progressive moments on this album.

The overall quality of the songs here is very good. However, there are also a couple quite awful songs as usual on Alan Parsons Project albums. This time it is the Boogie Rock 'N' Roll of You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned and the even worse Step By Step.

Overall, a very good Alan Parsons Project album with some very good stuff and some lesser stuff. But the worst bits are better hidden here than on most of their other albums.

Eye In The Sky is one of the few CDs by Alan Parsons Project that I haven´t have heard at the time. In fact I only knew a couple of songs until few weeks ago. So I was not really sure if I should write a review. But now I found the experience of hearing such CD for the first time quite an enlighteening experience on the subject why so many progheads hate APP. When I first listened to the CD it sounded to me like a bland, ordinary collection of pop songs. And I guess not too many people did have the trouble to go deeper.

That might would be my case too if I haven´t decided to listen to it again paying more atention to every track. And I was quite surprised how much I liked this album after some spins. Ok, this is nothing as strong as their earlier works, but still is a fine work. Anyone with some musical sensibility wil recognise the very well crafted songs and harmonies, the exquisite and symphonic orchestrations, the tasteful arrangements, the fantastic musicanship of all players. Even if you don´t like some of the songs (that was my case with You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned) you can´t simply discard them as bad. It is just a matter of personal taste. As usual, the production and engineering are perfect.

There are a number of fine tunes on this album, and my favorites are the beautiful Silence And I and the very poignant Old And Wise. I used to like the title track but it got too much play so I got a little fed up with it. If you´re looking for a fine progressive pop/rock music that is actually much more interesting than 95% of what is being played on the radio, this is a good choice. Eye In The Sky is not as strong as their previous effords but it is still pleasant and well made. 3 stars.

I not willing to get into the debate on whether or not APP is prog. For whatever reason, APP simply sounds too much like mainstream pop for me to really enjoy. What caused me to buy this particular album was the interesting ''Sirius/Eye in the Sky'' combination; the instrumental beginning is something I've heard at random sporting events and caused intrigue to flow through my brain, and the poppier title track wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, the rest is basically the explanation I gave earlier in the review as to why I don't care for APP. Only the Star Wars-like instrumental goof-off-ery in the middle of ''Silence and I'' holds any interest to me. Fans of pop-prog or neo-prog might be more in line to like this kind of album, but I really think the prog here is minimal at best, paving the way for just another pop album.

APP's music never quite moved me (not even their acclaimed debut). And ultimately, I can only say that rhe worse ("Eve") was mixed with the weak ("Turn of a Friendly Card").

This one just lying in between (at best). An ultra popular hit with the title track and some pleasant pop melodies to listen to ("Children of the Moon"). Now, to tell you that these belong to the prog Walhalla would be quite in excess. Just average, and bear in mind that they do count amongst the "best" ones featured here.

The major problem is when the "project" would like to sound more complex like during the pompous "Silence And I", I would have wished more silence?This is some kind of poor attempts on a more developed song.

If you would like to experience the worse from this album (which is plenty), you'll just have to avoid the press next exercise while listening to the dreadful "You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned" (but "Psychobabble" is just on par unfortunately). Gosh! What an experience!

The major problem when you are pointing some poor tracks, is that it is almost a neverending story ("Mammagamma" etc.).

Actually, this album leans severely with the one star rating as far as I'm concerned. But 57% of the reviewers do rate this album as either a masterpiece of PROG music or an excellent addition to any prog rock music collection.

My HHO is that it only worth two stars. And I'm generous in terms of prog here.

Eye In The Sky is a much better ALAN PARSONS PROJECT album than most people give credit to. I see that most people do not have the highest regard for this album. I think that it does deserve a bit more credit.

The first two songs flow very well in to each other. The first song Sirius is an instrumental song that is very good and has become a very common in sports games. The song then leads into the title trackEye In The Sky. This song is their best and most famous on the album. Children Of The Moon,Gemini and Silence And I are very well put together tracks. You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned, Psychobabble, Mammagamma and Step By Step are ok songs. There really is nothing special about them. They are just ok songs. The last song Old And Wise is an excellent song to end the album.

The album is a very good prog rock LP and does have songs that die hard prog fans might not like. Over-all i give the album 4/5 stars

"Eye in the sky" by Alan Parsons is probably his most famous record, containing his biggest hit: the song with the same. All in all is a really average album, since in terms of innovation it brings very few, all the songs own a lot to previous APP efforts: for instance "Silence and I" melodic line and arrangement are very similar to "The turn of a friendly card" or the, quite useless opening instrumental piece "Sirius" is very similar in approach to "Lucifer" from the "Eve" album. The song "Eye in the sky" is frankly horrible, a very poor pop song from the 80's very very easy listening. There are no doubts about what is the highest point of the album: "Old and wise", a splendid ballad, one of the best in APP entire catalog, for sure. Another fair track is the rockin' number "You're gonna get your fingers burned", a simple rock song, somehow recalling Queen, especially due to its wild riff. In terms of progressive there is little, the band is working around a well established list of clichès, however what's missing are the ideas and quite repetitive melodic lines. Boring the rest of it: the soft pop of "Psychobabble" and the awful instrumental "Mammagamma".

PROS: Great production, as always, "Old and Wise", "You're gonna get your fingers burned"...it's hard to listen to it entirely. CONS: Few interesting and fresh melodic ideas, "Eye In the sky" (the song: really boring and surely overplayed), lots of clichès which give a sense of deja-vu.

2.75 stars...just because only two good tracks are not enough for 3.

I count "Sirius," "Eye in the Sky," and "Silence and I," among my favorites from this group, as all three exhibit three different sides about what makes The Alan Parsons Project a remarkable band, especially in the context of their time. Eye in the Sky is an incredibly uneven collection of songs that fortunately leans toward the side of good progressive pop music.

"Sirius" This introductory instrumental offers an immediate feeling of anticipation, and as such, became a staple of sporting arenas, perhaps most notably the famous championship era of the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s during which Michael Jordan was in his prime. The piece utilizes a simple clean guitar riff and powerful drums.

"Eye in the Sky" Perhaps the most popular song from The Alan Parsons Project, "Eye in the Sky" is one of my favorites from them. It is completely catchy, and has lyrics reminiscent of Big Brother from George Orwell's 1984, a very popular subject for many progressive rock bands. It follows seamlessly from the previous instrumental, with clean guitars bringing out the soft rhythm and delicate electric piano filling out the sound. The vocal melody throughout is amazing.

"Children of the Moon" To my ears, this is somewhat similar to the 1980s John Elefante-led Kansas. It is a decent song with a somewhat quirky introduction.

"Gemini" Soft vocals drift over a sleepy electric piano.

"Silence and I" Gentle piano, subtly blending classical and jazz influences, begins the lengthiest and most progressive work on the album. After a brooding string passage, a Renaissance-like bit takes over, featuring cheerful brass and a charging rhythm. The electric guitar solo is a fitting climax for this stirring movement

"You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned" Whereas the previous track was a glorious symphonic pop song, this one is straight-up 1980s rock and roll. While the song is decent, it's quite generic, with only a fantastic guitar solo to salvage it from complete cheesiness.

"Psychobabble" Sparse bass and piano open this one. It's a cheesy rocker, way more so than the previous one because it attempts to add a bit of white-boy funk here, as well as a questionable keyboard theme.

"Mammagamma" This second instrumental keeps a straightforward beat and a sound. It's similar to "Sirius," but has a real disco groove.

"Step by Step" "Step by Step" is a pleasant song with further disco sensibilities. The counterpoint vocals are the highlight, however.

"Old and Wise" The orchestral opening is stunning, as is the piano and vocal section that follows- very lovely. The album closes with an appropriate saxophone solo.

Perhaps the last of the non-self-paradying APP albums, the music is by now sounding very formulaic and very familiar. Had Alan and Eric used up all of their fresh ideas? Were they just popping out variations of things previously published? Had the pop scene their main target audience? This album seems to lead me into thinking "yes" to all of the above. The melodies, soundscapes, vocals, and even lyrics seem to be so familiar and so overdone. Still, were I to come from Mars and encounter this as my first APP album I'd have to admit that it's good, it's not terrible, it's got plenty of catchy hooks and pleasant sounds--even a few brainworms of ear candy to feed off of for days ahead. It's just not leading edge, risk-taking progressive rock anymore (was it ever?)

2.5 stars rated down for lack of freshness, lack of progressiveness.

To me Alan Parsons Project represents relatively good hi-tech pop ("Prog-Related", if you like) music of its era, from the mid-seventies to mid-eighties. I have listened to their albums since my late teen years (23 years), never very actively but never having been totally bored with them either. Two best albums are no doubt the Poe-inspired debut and Pyramid (1978), then maybe comes I Robot, Gaudi or this one, all tastefully produced and containing some very nice tracks but in the end perhaps a bit uninnovative and too commercial-sounding, and including some very dull (usually radio-friendly) songs. The same can be said of all the other albums as well, only the amount of interesting stuff gets smaller and smaller, and they started to repeat themselves badly.

Eye In The Sky is quite a typical APP album. There are two instrumentals (the opener 'Sirius' is short but great) and several vocalists. Lenny Zakatek and Elmer Gantry are regular APP vocalists, and naturally, as always, Eric Woolfson (Parsons' writing partner), who I don't really consider that good singer. His 'Silence And I' is nevertheless among highlights, though the James Bond-esque fast orchestral section is a bit banal. Also the soft voice of Colin Blunstone was heard already on Pyramid ('Eagle Will Rise Again'); here he sings equally dreamy and sentimental 'Old And Wise'. I like it, but it lacks the glory of the earlier song. Chris Rainbow, if my memory serves, sings the mellow 'Gemini'. (Wasn't he, by the way, also guesting on CAMEL's Single Factor...?)

There are a also couple of songs I never liked. But on the whole this is a fairly good and safe Parsons album, if not the very best of them.

Whilst the first two studio albums from The Alan Parsons Project('Tales Of Mystery & Imagination' and 'I, Robot') blended slickly-produced progressive rock compositions with a catchy pop sensibility, follow-up efforts 'Pyramid', 'Eve', 'Turn Of A Friendly Card' and this 1982 release mined a much more accessible, streamlined pop-rock style that would prove commercially-successful throughout mainland Europe and, for a brief while, across the USA. The oddity that is the Alan Parsons Project was, of course, much more than just a rock band, with the core duo of Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson handling the writing and production abilities and a handful of trusted musicians - mainly from the Parson-produced groups Pilot, Cockney Rebels and Ambrosia - brought into to translate the duo's ideas into musical reality. Whilst Woolfson was, like Parsons, very much a behind-the-scenes kind-of- a-guy, he in fact did contribute the fragile lead vocals that adorn the hit single 'Eye In The Sky' despite the fact that Parsons had originally vetoed the idea(!). Both 'Eye In The Sky' the single and 'Eye In The Sky' the album would count amongst the Project's most popular releases, a fact which lead to Woolfson becoming a much more prominent singer on future albums and the outfit treading a much more overtly radio-friendly path in the years to come. Fans of progressive rock in the truest sense of the word may grumble when confronted with the Project's later works, and whilst albums like 'Eye In The Sky' may lack the innovative experimentation and vivid sonic landscapes conjured up by the likes of Robert Fripp's King Crimson or symphonic stalwarts Yes, they more than make up for it with the project's warm and emotive palette of harmonies and the expert production abilities of Parsons(who engineered Pink Floyd's breakthrough album 'Dark Side Of The Moon' amongst many others). 'Eye In The Sky' is probably the purest evocation of the Project's crystal-clear sound, and also the album which opened the group up to a wider audience in the post-punk days of the early-eighties. Tracks such as the crisply-realised synth-prog opus 'Mammagamma' add a touch of keyboard-based prog to the carefully--filtered mix, whilst the funky gusto of 'Psychobabble' and the The Beatles-esque 'Old & Wise' showcase the confident Parsons- Woolfson writing dynamic at it's zenith. As is now standard in Alan Parsons Project albums, 'Eye In The Sky' starts with a moody instrumental piece whose theme and structure is repeated at various brief intervals throughout, giving the whole a 'concept' feel that belies the duo's pop-rock ambitions. Considering that Parsons, Woolfson and their team of musicians are performing one hell of a balancing act in attempting to produce slick-edged, pop-styled symphonic rock for the masses, this technologically-enhanced studio album works surprisingly well. The classically-tainted, synth-prog-pop formula has been used with varying degrees of success since the Project's1975 debut 'Tales Of Mystery & Imagination was released to an unsuspecting public, yet it is on this beautifully-assembled fifth album that the ingredients truly fit. Their earlier efforts may be infinitely more progressive, yet in the grand scheme of things it is 'Eye In The Sky' that proves to be the definitive release from this most innovative of groups. Crisp, tasteful and highly-emotive, this is the Alan Parsons Project in full, glorious flow. STEFAN TURNER, LONDON, 2011

Eye In the Sky may not be their most engaging work musically, but it's actually one of their stronger lyrical efforts. Throughout, there are plenty of near-profound statements that are uncommon to unheard of in music that stays as close to the pop/rock sound as this album does, namely in the title track, that song, with it's intro-counterpart "Sirius" being probably my favorite of their instrumental to pop song segues. Don't get me wrong, there's some sublime music on this album - in fact, the whole of Side One is very close to being a masterpiece of progressive rock music, culminating in the highly symphonic "Silence and I", one of the band's most moving dramatic pieces. And while I don't particularly get as much out of most of the music on the second side, the lyrics are still interesting, especially on the otherwise musically uninspiring "Old and Wise." "Mammagamma", however is an exception, it being a typical intsrumental for them, but still good, and "Step By Step" is actually quite catchy. The feeling of ennui that the second side always leaves me with makes me stay away from the album for long periods of time, which is too bad, because I always forget about the great music that Eye in the Sky does contain. And even though it may not be something that would find it's way into the average prog listeners heavy rotation, I would recomend all people to hear the album at least once for the lyrics.

To give Eye In the Sky its due, it starts out really well - the capably performed synthesiser-led instrumental Sirius giving way to the dark, bass-driven, paranoid title track, which applies the cold, stark production values of the Project to intriguingly murky material.

It doesn't last, however; the rest of the album shifts into a decidedly different mode, which it took me a long time to warm to because I was expecting and hoping something more in keeping with the style of their early albums. However, if you see The Turn of a Friendly Card as the end of their "pop-tinged prog rock" phase, and Eye In the Sky as the start of their "rock-inflected prog pop" phase, material like Gemini or Psychobabble suddenly lands much better.

Some parts I do question, though. Parsons has the gall to include a track entitled Mammagamma on the album - the title being a slang phrase from similar sources to Ummagumma. To see the Project milking its Pink Floyd connection when this many albums into its career the band really should have been carving out its own identity is, to me, really quite irritating.

Still, the album is a great case study in how sensitive, careful production can take even simple material and add something extra to it. As the blueprint for the rest of the band's career, it's understandable that it's become an important landmark in their discography, but don't expect something rooted in their 1970s approach.

Well, well, well, this is somehow a Pyramid part two. And it's better. The best thing the Project did after "I Robot". No doubt for me.

From the hypnotic bright star of "Sirius" which fades into the super hit "Eye in the Sky", to the closer "Old and Wise" this album is almost impeccable, extremely well crafted. Deep, romantic and sad as the closing number, it forces the listener to sail alone with his own thoughts into a vast musical interstellar space.

"Silence and I" is the most memorable track. Aching and brilliant with sumptuous orchestra. The swan song of the Project.

The galactic exploration flies over the moon ("Children of the Moon") and points to the "Gemini" constellation. "Mammagamma" is a sort of "Sirius" part two with the addition of a disco groove and strings... excellent.

"As far as my eyes can see, there are shadows approaching me...".

The final evaluation is a matter of heart.

My review is based on the version with the bonus tracks. I never really gave this a chance at the time, having felt that the Project's mega success represented by the title track and the prior hit "Time", was contingent upon an ever mellower formula. It's true that some of this sounds frighteningly like what CHICAGO, TOTO or AMERICA were doing at the time. As much as I wanted to give this a thumbs down, and as kitschy as it gets, this actually delivers competently as progressive tinged pop.

The instrumentals in particular cross FLOYD and TD, and in fact were familiar to me without knowing the author. Even the way "Sirius" segues into the title track causes me to reconsider the validity of that overplayed representative of the early 1980s. But "Silence and I" shows Parsons/Woolfson still aiming for the more elaborate even under reconfigured ambitions, and the orchestral touches seem to have influenced the work of SAGRADO CORACAO DA TERRA who came along later in the decade from Brazil. This is particularly apparent on "Old and Wise", which also includes a stirring sax solo from Mel Collins.

The rest of the original material is more uneven, with the best probably being "Psychobabble" which retools the formula of "The Voice" and "Snake Eyes", although it's never quite as entrancing the third or fourth time around. Hence without the bonus material I would feel inclined to rate this as a strong 2 stars, but the extra tracks are lovingly compiled and sequenced, and appear almost as an elaborate suite with themes, particularly "Sirius", looped about the extended, instrumental and alternate versions. These underscore the perfectionism of the artists involved, and give a gently guided glimpse into how an album is compiled by shrinking down the available material rather than by adding up all the pieces, fit or otherwise. That so much of it is excellent is all the more remarkable.

Far from a masterpiece and tarnished somewhat by mass success and period weaknesses, "Eye in the Sky" can now be looked upon with a somewhat more forgiving eye, especially in the expanded form.

The eye on the ground!

The eye in the sky is about the all seeing eye, which is the symbol of god in old Egypt. I used to like this record a lot when I was not so deep into the progressive rock yet. With the Alan Parsons Project I get more and more problems to accept the cheesy vocals and the clinical clean soundscapes since I got more into the eclectic and avant garde prog. Nowadays I don't understand anymore why I liked this record once.

The best part of the record is the orchestral part on side one `Silence and I`. Actually this is now the only song I should give four stars. This seems to be the most intellectual written song with nice symphonic progression. The other songs are to messed up by the vocals and clean sound and easy songwriting.

This record could be a nice adition for those who are just beginning to explore the progressive rock scene and/or those who don't have troubles with the strong pop influence in this music.

I wasn't actually planning on reviewing another Alan Parsons Project release any time soon since I've already previously talked about their first two albums. Their debut album is the one that gets most critical praise, which is quite understandable since the album introduced the project's style and, most importantly, the album format that will be set in stone for years to come. So why am I actually reviewing Eye In The Sky, the project's sixth release? The shortest answer is --- Colin Blunstone! Here is the whole story:

I've been a huge fan of the pop group The Zombies and especially their brilliant 1968 release Odessey And Oracle for nearly two years now. This love has nothing to do with nostalgia, since I've actually never listened to the band up until the recent years. We're talking about unconditional love that can only be brought upon by a truly spectacular experience! I highly recommend The Zombies to anyone who has not yet heard this great band... but let's get back to the topic at hand. Two days ago, I finally got the chance to see The Zombies perform live. Actually the real name of the band that I saw was The Zombies featuring Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent, the two of the more prolific members of the band who both have had successful careers after the original band had called it a day back in 1968. During the show, the band played quite a few classic The Zombies tracks but they also mixed in quite a few covers from the two members solo careers. One of these songs just so happened to be an Alan Parsons Project cover that Blunstone just so happened to be featured on back in the day. I'm referring to the magnificent composition called Old And Wise, a song that I've heard on quite a few occasions previously but have never actually connected it to neither Colin Blunstone nor Alan Parsons Project!

With my new (re)discovery, I simply had no choice but to listen to the rest of Eye In The Sky just to see if it might actually be on the same level as the band's debut album or, my personal favorite, I Robot. Well, I can safely say that I was both impressed and disappointed by my experience of this album since it did happen to feature quite a few excellent moments, but the overall experience felt a bit lackluster. The album can roughly be divided into a great side one which opens with the memorable instrumental Sirius and an even better title track, featuring Eric Woolfson on vocals. After a slight drop in quality on Children Of The Moon, we're treated to a memorable track duo of Gemini and Silence And I. The latter is easily one of the most progressive pieces that the project has ever recorded, thus making this release worthy of its Crossover Prog title.

Side two is where this album completely loses any momentum that it previously had with tracks like You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned, Psychobabble and Step By Step all being standard pop songs that don't impress me one bit. Even the otherwise interesting instrumentals aren't up to the usual standard on Mammagamma which just passes me by completely without any notice. Luckily, the album is saved right in the last moment with the very strong ballad Old And Wise. Colin Blunstone does an amazing vocal performance, the orchestral arrangement really fits the composition like a glove and let's not forget the last moment saxophone solo that brings back the memories of Dark Side Of The Moon, thus making this composition the most memorable one off this album!

Even thought Eye In The Sky is far from an excellent album, it's still worth a spin or two just because of the few tracks that actually make this into the good, but non-essential release that it is.

***** star songs: Eye In The Sky (4:36) Old And Wise (4:55)

**** star songs: Sirius (1:55) Gemini (2:10) Silence And I (7:20)

*** star songs: Children Of The Moon (4:51) Psychobabble (4:52) Mammagamma (3:34) Step By Step (3:54)

** star songs: You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned (4:22)

Alan Parsons is best known to me for his work with Pink Floyd, but he is a successful artist in his own right and "Eye In The Sky" is the album that proves it, at least commercially. Parsons forged what I believe to be an 80s type of progressive music - geared more toward electronic, computerized music than screaming guitar solos or complex technical skills. Don't get me wrong, it takes skill to do what Alan does on his albums, but he is no Robert Fripp or Steve Howe. Alan is Alan.

Alan does have a "sound" and songs like "The Raven", "I, Robot" and "Eye In The Sky" give us a little bit of that Alan Parsons feel. You know it when you hear it, in other words. This album, I will admit, is not Alan's best overall effort, but it is a worthy spin nonetheless.

The album begins with "Sirius" (best known as the Chicago Bulls' theme). The intensity of this song builds with the passage of each measure. More and more instrumentation is added to this piece, like an architect would lay a foundation and add more and more complex design. Does Alan get more and more complex? Well, that could be debated, but he does flesh out the track with tedious detail and a smashing climax that goes straight into the second track "Eye In The Sky."

"The Eye In The Sky" may be the commercial hit, but it is still the most enjoyable track to me. Compared to this track, the remainder of the album feels like fluff or filler. This album is definitely not what I would consider essential prog, by any means. The first two tracks are the highlights. After the second track, the album is hit and miss.

"Children of The Moon" has moments of interest (sounds a bit like Yes-lite), but the chorus sounds like pure 80s sitcom cheese. I can barely get through this track once the chorus kicks in. It is not at all interesting, in my opinion.

"Gemini" begins with some interesting vocal arrangements and is a very mellow song with descending harmonies and is basically a very simple song that is a bit more enjoyable than "Children", but ultimately I was glad that it was only two minutes long.

"Silence and I" is a little similar to a bit David Gilmour-solo type material, minus the awesomeness of Gilmour's guitar. The strings and piano are interesting and there is a change of up that is similar to ELP or Yes. It is definitely not a boring song, but it's not great either. Some parts make me think of Rick Wakeman.

The next two tracks make me want to go beat my head into a tree. "You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned" and "Psychobabble" are odd tracks for this album. They are by far the worst songs on any Alan Parsons album and definitely bring the album down. If the first two tracks are 4 out of 5, these are like 1 out of 5. Simply awful.

Things pick back up a bit with "Mammagamma". The track is dated and definitely sounds early 80s like a mix between The Police's "How Stupid Mr. Bates" and some backing track for Blondie, but it is a welcome piece after the horrific two songs that precede it.

"Step By Step" is a little better than "Psychobabble", but not by much. I think a cheap imitation of Billy Joel got tossed in the mix here. This is only entertaining if you are stuck in an elevator ... and I am being nice.

"Old & Wise" brings us back to the same territory of "Silence and I" and I actually think I enjoy this one a bit more. For some reason, it is almost King Crimson-esque (in the vein of Islands or Wake) and is like a cheaper, diet version of "Epitaph". It is worth listening to.

Overall, this album is a rollercoaster of very pleasurable moments and intolerable moments. The first two tracks and the final track are by far the best the album has to offer while the songs in between are definite hit or miss (mostly miss). Taking all that into consideration, a 3 is a solid score, but only because I can't give it a 2.5.

"I am the Eye in the Sky looking at you, I can read your mind, I am the maker of rules dealing with fools, I can cheat you blind, and I don't need to see anymore to know that I can read your mind (looking at you)".

This catchphrase will likely jam itself into your brain after hearing the monster single from The Alan Parsons Project's much heralded "Eye In The Sky" album. The single certainly is melodic and infectious and of course captures the signature AOR sound of the early 80s radio airplay. I had heard this on the radio playing in the background as a teenager and I remember thinking who the heck are those wimpy crooners? Of course back then I was too busy to listen to soft rock or AOR as I was obsessed with my Kiss, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, Ultravox, Pink Floyd and Sweet albums. The radio sound never interested me and I am still ummoved by radio hogs these days with a similar radio friendly sound.

But people change and so do their tastes in music. I still love Kraftwerk, Numan, Sweet, Ultravox and Pink Floyd (not so much Kiss) but I have opened my ears to the sounds of The Alan Parsons Project, particularly their first 3 albums. My ears are now atuned to the infectious melodies of "Eye In the Sky" and the single sung so well by Eric Woolfson, following on so brilliantly from Sirius, the standard instrumental APP opener. Sirius has become synonymous with sporting arenas over the years, such as the Chicago Bulls games, and was even well used on TV. Ricky the Steamboat used it as he made his way to the arena in Wrestling arenas, then it would be played again if he won the bout, and I always wondered where the heck that music came from. It is similar to ELP's Fanfare for the Common Man in the way it has been used to accompany sports events.

Children of the Moon is another melody driven catchy thing, and has some high quality production with ratatat marching percussion and a killer hook musically. APP do not leave any space to contemplate on the depth of the lyrics or to admire songs on their own merit, as the album flies by in mere moments, every song seamlessly moving into the next and soon before you know it you will be caressed by Gemini. It is a sweet sugary sound but it appeases the ears and I couldn't help thinking how much better this album is than the disappointing "Eve" or "The Turn of a Friendly Card".

The next track drifts along on a feather weight musicscape of strings, flute and very soft processed vocals. Silence and I seems to have a lot to say about isolation and loneliness and it does so in a way that is not so much depressing as uplifting thanks to some delightful woodwind. Mel Collins is always a delight on saxophone and Eric Woolfson is unbeatable when his keyboard is allowed to dominate. The orchestra conducted by Andrew Powell is simply beautiful and stirring to the emotions. The track builds with a crescendo of symphonic majesty, a plethora of orchestrated melodies that change time signature and move into classical music dramatis. Then the lead guitar break augments the sound; a masterpiece of music that is then joined by another verse. The early demo vocals of Woolfson are worth listening to on the bonus tracks also. Silence and I was certainly a journey clocking 7:17 and I was quite astonished at the quality of such a track after hearing the mediocrity of "Eve" and "The Turn of a Friendly Card" recently. This type of music on "Eye in the Sky" is definitely from another universe; at polar opposites to the 2 previous albums prior to this release.

The next track You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned, is a solid rocker, not the high point of the album but it has a decent rock feel and breaks up the ambience and symphonic layers on previous tracks. Ian Bairnson's lead guitar work is excellent and the track flys by quickly with an AOR feel. Next up is Psychobabble, a tantalising title, and it has a strong bassline and electric piano intro. The vocals are echoed and forceful as it builds with an uptempo beat into a melodic chorus hook. It sounds like the early 80s of course but it drives along with some inventive diversions on keyboards.

Mammagamma is another absolutely brilliant APP instrumental, and as soon as it began I knew it from somewhere, as I listened to a lot of synth albums over the years. You know the ones where a synth player plays a bunch of famous covers such as Equinoxe, Oxygene Part IV, Toccata and er? Mammagamma. This tune sounds like my more preferred Hyper Gamma Spaces of course, but I can never get enough of Eric Woolfson's inimitable keyboard style; he never disappoints in his instrumentals. The way he plays here with staccato key stabs and a blazing guitar accompaniment is awe inspiring. It sounds similar to the rock side of Jean Michel Jarre or Mike Oldfield, but definitively APP all the way. Again it is the instrumentals that really draw me to the band more than anything else. This track is found on most APP compilations along with Eye in the Sky.

Back to vocals and a straight forward AOR sound follows with Step By Step, with a cool keyboard motif and catchy chorus well performed by the harmonised singers. Next up is Old and Wise and it was a delight to return to the flute and symphonic orchestra again. The song softly crooned and has lovely piano and gentle melodies. The ballad sounds similar to ethereal Pink Floyd vocally but that suits me fine. The saxophone work of Collins is mesmirising, lifting up the sound with emotional resonance. It is a melancholy way to end the album, but it works to cap off one of the greatest releases from The Alan Parsons Project.

The bonus tracks are endearing on their own merits. Sirius (Demo) is similar to the album version though has raw edges, but it is great to return to those haunting melodies. Old And Wise is interesting with Eric Woolfson's vocals, and a more pronounced piano treatment, and no orchestra or sax, though misplaced on the album as it has been too soon since we heard this song on this release so it gets a little dull to hear it again at this stage; it would have been better to place this at the end of the album. Any Other Day (Studio Demo) is very rough without vocals, and a bad studio mix, but interesting to hear how it developed from this version to the final album release. Silence And I is a piano driven version, though has the fretless bass, solid drumming, and very nice vocals from Woolfson, but you kind of miss the studio version, with multilayered vocals and full blown orchestra.

The Naked Eye is almost 11 minutes of new material that is always welcome as a bonus track, though it actually a medley of all the album tracks given an instrumental treatment. As such it is like the karaoke version of the album, and I could recognise the music from the actual album without vocals. Mammagamma is there too though without Woolfson's keyboard lead, joined by orchestra, making it sound very different in comparison, but quite interesting. There is also a lead solo and some other unused material worth checking out including acoustics and dramatic distorted guitar, and another saxophone solo to delight in. Eye Pieces (Classical Naked Eye) ends proceedings with 8 more minutes of unheard material during the making of the album, in this case the orchestral sections by themselves. They sound very ethereal without the rock elements or vocals but it is relaxing music and well executed by the orchestra; showcasing the awesome quality of the music on the album.

Overall this album was perhaps the last great Alan Parsons Project, certainly the last time they received any glowing accolades such as a Platinum record. The Hipgnosis designed gold embossed Egyptian eye cover art is recognizable and I remember it well during the 80s proudly displayed in record stores, an album that I tried to ignore, though it wasn't easy as that image was everywhere. It is difficult to rate this album now 30 years on, as it is a product of the times, but the 80s were so lean of prog that it has to be commended that at least APP injected some prog elements into their music on such albums. It was definitely designed for radio airplay, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that, and this will have some prog reviewers reaching for the skip button no doubt. However, held on its own merits, "Eye in the Sky" delivers some great music and boasts at least 4 classic tracks worthy of attention. Though not quite up to the standard of the first 3 albums, it buries "Eve" and "Turn of a Friendly Card," so 4 stars is warranted.

8/10

I really felt very tempted to praise this album with a rating of 5 stars, considering how good it has been to listen to him these days. But this time I will respect the ratings of PA and give it 4 stars, as I recognize that this album is not progressive in its whole. However, if he were in the category prog related, would not hesitate to give it a top rating.

The truth is that like so many others I knew the name of Alan Parsons for his involvement in Dark Side of the Moon, but had never heard of him until the day my father showed me a video of his concert in Madrid where they were executed Sirius and Eye in the Sky. They sounded familiar to me, though I can not say where heard before, but the fact is I became extremely addicted to these songs for the following days. So I went behind the whole album and well, here we are.

At this point , The Alan Parsons Project was already generating considerable recognition with its efficient blend of art rock , prog rock and pop . But it was in Eye in the Sky they met his greatest recognition , making this their most successful album. Again Alan Parsons and his partner in the project Eric Woolfson bring several musicians to participate in dsco , including an excellent range of vocalists ( including Woolfson himself) .

Knowing that Sirius has been played to exhaustion by the Chicago Bulls and many, many teams in various sports, as well as in various media, it is no surprise that it sounds so familiar . But you can not deny it's admirable how she grows from keyboards, a discreet orchestration and nice guitars to connect with the title track of the album, which is certainly the most famous song from the project. I have to point out that this song is so beautiful in its melody that is impossible to forget . And the vocals Woolfson, restrained and melodic, are an excellent addendum to the song as a whole (its participation in the project as a vocalist would only grow from here).

Children of the Moon, sung by David Paton, is one of my favorite songs here, and I can not describe why. Are the Paton's vocals? The addictive chorus? The guitar solo? Or orchestrations at the end, which ends with the ethereal vocals that connect to the short but beautiful, Gemini, which is sung by Chris Rainbow and has some distinctive and beautiful vocal harmonies in the background? I do not know. The two "doubles" that open this album are really awesome. The last song on side A, and the longest and progressive in the disc is Silence and I, again sung by Woolfson. This song is probably the magnum opus of Eye in the Sky, not only for being the longest and prog, but mainly for its instrumental section, with rich orchestrations, as some have pointed out, is strongly reminiscent of the orchestral works of the Renaissance.

Side B starts with the rocker 're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned, one of the songs most 80 's here. She is very direct in its objective, with vocals by Lenny Zakatek efficient and striking guitar solo. Even though some around here have hated or despised, I really liked that song ( what can I do? I'm A Progger who also loves the "appalling" 80 ). Serve very well as a single. Psychobabble is, despite the ridiculous title, another nice track, strong vocals from Dave Terry being supported for excellent bass lines. The instrumental Mammagamma is the funkiest track here, too eighties in its essence. The highlight is the Woolfson's keyboards, which in general is an exquisite work with shades of organ, piano and synths throughout the album. Step by Step is possibly the weakest track on the album , but still a decent song, with more vocals Zakatek. And the closure Old and Wise is one of the most beautiful and progressive music here, the vocals somewhat hoarse whispering from Colin Blunstone favoring the dreamy atmosphere that song has. At the end we still had a great saxophone solo by Mel Collins , King Crimson , terminating this album with a great note.

By my standards, I would not hesitate to give this album 5 stars. I have absolutely no problem with this commercial approach, as I think sometimes fans of progressive rock tend to be very elitist and snobbish in their musical preferences, ignoring some real works of art just for being "mainstream." Do not consider myself open-minded in that sense, but I can not help but ignore music that pleases my ears, whether genuinely prog or not. Anyway, 4 stars with a certain resignation. I hope that more people can look beyond labels and appreciate this album as I enjoyed.

Alan Parsons Project and the album "Eye in the Sky" have an important place in my personal history of popular music appreciation. Somewhere around the ages of ten or eleven, I began listening to popular music and deciding that I actually liked some of the songs. It was no longer background music for me. I remember asking for Christmas to get a cassette called "Rock '82" that contained, among others, latest hits by Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rick Springfield, Kim Carnes, REO Speedwagon, .38 Special, and Rush. A friend of mine had a similar compilation that included a very beautiful song called, "Time" by a band called Alan Parsons Project. Coincidentally, shortly after I heard it, the same band released a very catchy song called, "Eye in the Sky." I liked the song a lot, but once I heard it played on a rock radio station together with the instrumental, "Sirius" I was really hooked. My friend managed to record it onto cassette from the radio for me.

Soon, however, I was into heavy metal, first with AC/DC and then soon after came Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and lots of other big acts of the early eighties. It was the time of staying up late to watch "Friday Night Videos" and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's "Good Rockin' Tonight" on Saturdays, hoping that after Michael Jackson, Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper, The Thompson Twins, Wham!, Madonna, Prince and other top 40 fluff, I might get to see a Motley Crue or Quiet Riot video. Some artists and songs weren't so bad. The Police, Genesis's "Mama", "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes, Asia, Toto, and a few others were alright. But I never bought their albums because I was into metal.

It took a few years before I got round to becoming a fan of Pink Floyd, and that got me thinking about Alan Parsons Project and "Eye in the Sky". If I could appreciate a non-metal artist such as Pink Floyd ("A Momentary Lapse of Reason" quite impressed me and I went to see the concert in Vancouver), then why not go out and buy "Eye in the Sky" on cassette. This in turn was for me an important stepping stone toward getting into The Moody Blues. Thus, Alan Parsons Project and "Eye in the Sky" (I also bought "I, Robot" and "Turn of a Friendly Card") were key players in getting my interests shifted towards prog early on, though I had never heard the term "progressive rock" and had no inkling of artists doing anything other than creating their kind of music.Some songs were simple, others were more complex. My first encounter with the term was while watching an Austin Powers movie. Dr. Evil talks about his laser that he has called the "Alan Parsons Project" and Scott chides, "The Alan Parsons Project was a progressive rock group in the eighties." Progressive rock? I guess. Their music was different. It was somehow more intelligent, more sophisticated than much of the pop music out there. The next time I would encounter the term was when I read the Wikipedia article about Rush in 2010.

So, how about this album then? My impression is that it is still a very sophisticated album though not without pop tendencies. The opening instrumental, "Sirius" is not particularly complex but it is very effective at setting a mood. It's no wonder that the sporting world has picked this tune in many instances as a theme for arriving power and impending excitement. "Eye in the Sky" is basically a pop song but that melody and Eric Woolfson's vocals never fail to capture my emotions. I still love that song 32 years later!

"Children of the Moon" delivers the kind of progressive music you can hear on older APP albums. A liberal use of piano and synthesizer, a horn section, ooh-ooh harmony vocals, and some proggy beats allow the band to shift away from the standard pop/rock song structure. "Gemini" uses vocals to greater effect here with a soft, relaxed atmosphere. I always liked side one of the album because of the diverse approaches to each of the songs.

The real stand out track of side one is "Silence and I". It's a beautiful slow song with strings and an oboe and Woolfson's laid back, soothing vocals. In the middle we get a contrasting musical ride with an exciting and vibrant piece performed by an orchestra of horns, strings, and various percussion instruments. This is perhaps where the progressive music reaches its apex on the album.

Side two begins with a simple pop rock song, "You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned" with Lenny Zakatek on vocals, and I have to say that, even though he does a good job for the style of music, this song and his other lead vocal track, "Step by Step" are the least enjoyable songs on the album, being nothing more than standard pop rock fare.

"Psychobabble" and "Mammagamma" are more interesting with the former having a cool piano and bass intro and short musical interlude that sounds like part of a soundtrack for a suspense movie, while the latter is another simple but effective instrumental on keyboards and guitar with a steady beat on electric drums that I find unusually enjoyable. The bassline deserves mention, too.

Another highlight for me here is the album closer, "Old and Wise". I never realized that this album has six lead vocalists contributing, and it is Colin Blunstone who takes the lead vocal here with great suitability to the music. I used to try to emulate his singing style when I was younger when I sang along to the cassette, or later to the CD in the nineties. This is a beautiful song for string orchestra and piano, with the rock band only joining in at the end, and a sax solo (the first one I ever appreciated) takes the song out with the fade. A very powerful piece.

The 2007 reissue comes with bonus tracks that include demos and early takes on songs. I am surprised at how clean and powerful the sound is. It is almost a shame that a few demos that were not meant to be good enough for the album have such a clean and rich sound. "The Naked Eye" is a little interesting because it's a patchwork of music from the album not always it the exact same form as on the album and in between there are also bits of music that didn't end up on the album. The final bonus track is a medley of the orchestral music used on the various songs.

Once again, this is for me a very important album and one that has remained a delight to listen to now and again for nearly 30 years. I'd give it a very solid four stars for myself. However, I am aware that Alan Parsons Project was writing even more sophisticated prog earlier in their career and that there is also much more advanced progressive music out there. I therefore give it three stars for this site.

Alan Parsons Project waited two years from "The Turn of A Friendly Card" to 1982 with doing a new record. Then came their sixth disc "Eye In The Sky" which became a quite powerful statement that the band where still fit for fight. The year was 1982 and the record was very green, a light green colour with an easy sign which matched several other eighties covers with a stripped design such as Genesis and Yes' albums at the same time. Just as on earlier attempts Alan Parsons Project is a lot of talanted musicians such as Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson, Mel Collins, Chris Rainbow, Lenny Zakatek, David Paton, Stuart Elliott, Ian Bairnson, Elmer Gantry, Colin Blunstone, Andrew Powell and The English Chorale. Togtether they did a lovely collection of songs I liked to hear. This stands absolutely up to the level of the precursor.

"Sirius" an instrumental and decent one starts everything and them comes the lovely hit "Eye in the sky" which has a great melody and the instruments do it very well. "Children of the moon" follows is as good as the more light "Gemini" which is so fine. "Silence and I" is also one of the best tracks, really powerful. Two songs are more usual pop songs: "You're gonna get your fingers burned" and "Step by step" don't I like as much. In "Psychobabble" I like the seventies-guitar and the instrumental "Mammagamma" isn't bad at all. "Old and Wise" is the name of the closing song which starts calm and ends with a saxophone from heaven(Mel Collins).

As a full album I do like the result, quality shines through it all. It doesn't match their debut record, but I can recommend it for a september afternoon. The title track and "Silence and I" are my favourites from here. Four stars(3,55)!

"Eye In The Sky" was released in 1982, around the time that many prog giants were turning to pop. Yes, King Crimson and ELP alumni had debuted as Asia and Alan Parsons Project had found itself releasing an album of music in a similar vein. The music on "Eye In The Sky" is primarily keyboard-based pop and soft rock, though there is still prog present. And unlike on "Asia", the prog content is a lot more deliberately delivered.

While the vast majority of the album's content is pop, strong moments still abound. After a dull instrumental start with "Sirius", several catchy, hum-able soft rock songs give way to the ballad "Silence And I", which is one of the strongest works in the Alan Parsons catalog. Featuring emotive instrumental performances and sophisticated orchestral arrangements, this is a crossover prog gem. The remainder of the album is done largely in the same fashion as the first half, with another masterpiece rounding out the record. "Old And Wise" is a wonderful ballad, melancholy and nostalgic, moving and powerful. The vocal performance is delivered very expressively and the final saxophone solo is one of those ones that gets me emotionally every time.

While there's a lot of uninteresting material to wade through to get to it, "Eye In The Sky" does have its moments as a quality prog album. And being an Alan Parsons Project album, the production is top-notch. An accessible, well-done 3 star album, I'd highly recommend this to anyone who is starting to get into prog but isn't looking for anything too complex just yet.

After Alan Parsons came out with their conceptual masterpieces: "iRobot" and "Tales of Mystery and Imagination-- Edgar Allen Poe", I got to say that I was a bit disappointed with "Eye in the Sky". Much like Genesis, I feel like Alan Parsons Project's music got worse as they shifted into the new, pop "electronic age" of the 80's. The album is by no means bad though, I just expected more out of the audio engineers of the greatest album of all time ("The Dark Side of the Moon"). The entire album didn't seem very planned out, almost like all of the tracks were just experimenting with individual themes and ideas; sometimes a little bit boring.

The 80s let prog liquefy, so an APP to see if there isn't still a little liquid in it! 1. Sirius... how to transcribe this intro which was broadcast on the airwaves, one of the few more... at the top left well perched this da dig dong, and right in the middle the riff, the pad behind central and right; brief stereo to donf, an intro not the intro and 2. Eye in the Sky arrives like this, the killer intro which leads to the title which becomes even better, longer, well delivered...and a hell of a chorus, simple but catchy 3. Children of the Moon follows, a velvety synth title, the autumn soups are coming back; good David on bass and vocals for the chorus with violins; not for nothing that there will be a version with orchestra; a rise and a trumpet in the distance which makes you hope for a break, the second verse with choirs, those of the 'English Chorale'... for those who follow me they know that they are going to read...; trademark of the group; ah, here it is, this break with a soaring guitar and military perception then these intimate ouhouhs, bringing 4. Gemini and its variation watching, touching.... in bulk or how the voice can magnify itself with this pseudo redundancy of piled up verbs, in short an interlude because 5. Silence and I follows yes the sequence is subtle but very real; well again a typical symphonic start, a cymbal, a piano and a flight that emerges, just a little dreaminess and Eric Woolfson on vocals; that's it, the flight is there, grandiloquent with trumpets and... and the castanets, come on, it goes in all directions; it stops, it starts again, elegant, clean prog, easy to listen to and guess without having to torture your ears; yes no need for a GENTLE GIANT sound to say that it's prog; the verse returns to the air before returning to the flowing, sweet, long and symphonic solo and ends like a wave on the quay of a port; this piece is great, whatever the fundamentalists will say

6. You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned ah the B side is going to be harder, I feel it with this title which flirts more with a good catchy pop-rock à la TOTO, à la ELO, which flows more than it don't hold on, in short it's going to be hard 7. Psychobabble and this bass, ah this piano which is encrusted on it; latency, startup, not bad; it's Elmer Gantry on vocals here yes it changes often with APP; good a Japanese synth tune from afar and the more rhythmic title; well the siren ok ah the air which suddenly suspends, which swells, ah yes not bad that, the surge of out-of-tune violins, the piano which giggles with the clear drums and the velvety guitar solo and this heady final chorus , nice surprise 8. Mammagamma with this deafening bass which brings us to the instrumental on a variation of cascading notes; repetitive tune like that of Giorgio MORODER and you see your head headbanging in the mirror in front of you; who had the idea of putting one up, now I feel spied on; good this synth which vibrates, which comes to caress and dust my speakers, pure monolithic sound bordering on hypnotic; by the way, listen to the album of APP instrumentals, it's worth the detour much more than you think 9. Step by Step with Lenny again on vocals, for the consensual marshmallow title which lacks the instrumental madness of the previous titles 10. Old and Wise for the finale and Colin Blunstone on voice, marshmallow again yes but that's intentional; a long tirade, a symphonic ballad to capsize the blonde you have in your heart; the sax of Mel COLLINS who played on KING CRIMSON and CAMEL adds the melodic impulse effect, far from the pieces of the first progressive side; good one side of radio titles..

This is the most commercially successful album coming from the Alan Parsons Project, led together with Eric Woolfson by the man who was an engineer on The Beatles' "Abbey Road" and Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side Of The Moon"! It contains many of their big hits such as "Sirius", "Eye In The Sky" and "Old And Wise", the former even serving as the theme song for the Chicago Bulls. The album continues on the road of pop the project would venture out on after their first two albums.

I will start the actual review off with saying the same thing that many other reviewers already have: this is not really prog rock. The album does not have many traits left of ALP's roots in prog rock, as shown in "I Robot" for example. This is a quite poppy and radio-friendly album. That should however not make the album's listening experience any worse in my opinion, and I think it has many traits that prog fans would appreciate. Regardless of whatever genre you ascribe the album to, it keeps a lot of the ALP's artistic values, and you could even go as far as to call this "progressive pop" or "art pop".

When it comes to my overall impression of the album, I have three things to say. First of all, the sound quality is spot on. It should come as no surprise, considering the album comes from the man who was a sound engineer on one of the most successful albums of all time. The sound is extremely clean, probably to the point that some would call it overproduced, and it is no wonder that it was nominated for the Grammy Awards for the Best Engineered Album in 1983. Second of all, with the exception of "Silence and I", the songs are very straightforward, resulting in a good flow throughout the album, like a river that flows into the ocean that is "Old And Wise". And lastly, the album has a lot of personality. A lot of the artistic value is put into the lyrics, making the album just more fun to listen to in general. In my opinion, good albums are those you can build a personal connection to. If this album was a person, they would be a very quirky and friendly type with an emotionally sensitive side.

I will not talk about every single song on the album, but I will bring up some highlights. The opener "Sirius" packs a big punch in barely two minutes with powerful guitar work (including an amazing solo) and a beautiful symphonic atmosphere. I can see why this became the theme song for a big basketball team. The second track, "Eye In The Sky" is the biggest hit the project released. It is an embodiment of soft rock, sounding incredibly melodic with no instrument taking over the song at any other instrument's expense. Three songs later, "Silence And I" is perhaps the album's finest moment, even if it did not become a hit. Out of all the songs on the album, this is probably one that any prog fan would appreciate. It starts off very slow-paced and symphonic and at the 2:38 mark, the tempo shifts and becomes much faster with an explosion of symphonic soundscapes. Not to mention the spot-on guitar solo, of course. "Psychobabble" is just pure fun to listen to, both musically and lyrically. You just cannot ignore the flute lick, and it also has a lot of progressive characteristics. "Mammagamma" is a great funky tune which you cannot help but to dance to. The album is finished off with the rich, melancholic ballad "Old And Wise", which tops the sundae off with a cherry that is the killer saxophone solo in the end.

To conclude, while the album has not much to offer in terms of progressive rock, it is an excellent album for pop rock standards and I still recommend any fan of prog to check it out. If you like Supertramp's "Breakfast In America" and "Even In The Quietest Moments", and ELO's "A New World Record" and "Out Of The Blue", I think you will enjoy this one too, as well as their earlier albums "The Turn Of A Friendly Card" and "I Robot".

I give this one a total score of 8.5/10.

Well, The Alan Parsons Project wasn't always the most proggiest or experimental band back in the 70s, in fact I'd say they were just straight up prog pop like ELO or Supertramp, so what they got going for them with Eye In The Sky isn't quite surprising to me.

This is the band's most popular album, with, I think, I Robot and The Turn Of The Friendly Card being close behind. Unlike those albums, Eye In The Sky is more or less a standardized artsy?poppy soft rock album for the 80s. Now admittedly, I am actually fine with this direction Alan Parsons Project takes here, they definitely already had a knack for pop music so this isn't bad to me, but you can definitely tell these songs were kinda made for the radios and single sales.

The best way to describe this album in my opinion is that it is a good pop album, but not really the best Alan Parsons Project album. I think the best aspect of the album is obviously Alan Parsons production, as expected with anything he has a hand in, and also the first side of the album. I think Sirius through Silence And I are some of the best music the band has created, with the more fun pop comings of Eye In The Sky and Gemini, to the more overtly art rock Children Of The Moon and Silence and I. Silence and I is especially my favorite track off this album, due to its power and emotion that builds throughout its 7 minute run.

However, the album definitely showcases its potholes with the second side. Unlike the moody, and more artistic first side, side B is a lot more basic (for lack of a better term) in terms of music, having a lot of songs that are kinda your usual soft rock flair from the 80s. I am not that offended by the second side, mostly since I grew up in a more pop loving household so the sound is a bit more well known for my tastes, but some of these songs I feel just aren't really that good, especially You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned and Step by Step. I also feel like compared to the first side it just doesn't stack as well. I mean how are you gonna compare the slightly lackluster instrumental Mammagamma with the pretty and somber Gemini?

I would be a lot more forgiving if this wasn't an Alan Parsons Project album, but since it is, and since this band has made some really great music especially on their second sides (IE The Fall Of The House Of Usher suite and The Turn Of The Friendly Card suite) I feel like I can give this album it's dues and critiques, especially since after this album the band kinda starts to sound like they are constantly trying to do what this album does, instead of trying new and fresh ideas like they did before. Well, the second side isn't all that bad, Old and Wise is on it and that song is a fantastic closer in my humble opinion.

Again, this is not a bad album, but for Alan Parsons Project standards it is kinda lukewarm. There are definitely a lot of good moments on here, but the very top heavy song structure, plus the very middle of the road songs on the second side just doesn't get me wanting to return to it all that much. If you like the more pop stylings of Yes or Genesis in the 80s then this isn't a bad record to put on your shelf, but if you want something more proggy like what this band did before, you'd best be looking somewhere else.