APP "Eye In The Sky" album

The Alan Parsons Project

Eye In The Sky

This album was originally released by Arista Records in 1982. An Arista press kit described it as "a cautionary tale about the loss of individualism."

March 5, 2007 saw the release of a remastered version of this album, complete with bonus tracks and improved packaging.

Concept:
The concept behind this album was related to belief systems, whether they be religious beliefs, political beliefs or belief in luck (as in gambling). Generally the concept is related to the universal idea that there is someone looking down on us all. The expression is also used in military and surveillance contexts.




TRACK LIST

Sirius instrumental (1:55)
Eye In The Sky vocal: Eric Woolfson (4:36)
Children Of The Moon vocal: David Paton (4:51)
Gemini vocal: Chris Rainbow (2:10)
Silence And I vocal: Eric Woolfson (7:20)
You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned vocal: Lenny Zakatek (4:22)
Psychobabble vocal: Elmer Gantry (4:52)
Mammagamma instrumental (3:34)
Step By Step vocal: Lenny Zakatek (3:54)
Old And Wise vocal: Colin Blunstone (4:55)
BONUS TRACKS    
Sirius (Demo) instrumental (1:53)
Old And Wise vocal: Eric Woolfson (4:31)
Any Other Day (Studio Demo) instrumental (1:41)
Silence And I vocal: Eric Woolfson (7:33)
The Naked Eye instrumental (10:48)
Eye Pieces (Classical Naked Eye) instrumental (7:51)


TRACK CREDITS

Sirius

Fairlight Alan Parsons
Additional Keyboards Eric Woolfson, Haydn Bendall
Guitars Ian Bairnson
Drums Stuart Elliott
Bass David Paton
Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Eye In The Sky

Vocals Eric Woolfson
Backing Vocals Chris Rainbow
Wurlitzer Eric Woolfson
Electric and Acoustic Guitars Ian Bairnson
Fairlight Alan Parsons
Drums Stuart Elliott
Bass David Paton

Children Of The Moon

Vocals David Paton
Keyboards Eric Woolfson
Electric and Acoustic Guitars Ian Bairnson
Drums and Percussion Stuart Elliott
Piccolo Trumpet John Wallace
Bass David Paton
The English Chorale Choirmaster, Bob Howes
Orchestra and Choir arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Gemini

Vocals Chris Rainbow
Keyboards Eric Woolfson
Pedal Steel Guitar Ian Bairnson
Bass David Paton
Drums Stuart Elliott

Silence And I

Vocals Eric Woolfson
Keyboards Eric Woolfson
Guitars Ian Bairnson
Drums Stuart Elliott
Bass David Paton
Additional Piano Andrew Powell
Orchestra and Choir arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

You're Gonna Get Your Finegrs Burned

Vocals Lenny Zakatek
Backing Vocals Lenny Zakatek, Eric Woolfson, Alan Parsons
Keyboards Alan Parsons
Guitars Ian Bairnson
Drums Stuart Elliott
Bass David Paton

Psychobabble

Vocals Elmer Gantry
Backing Vocals Ian Bairnson, Jack Harris
Keyboards Eric Woolfson
Guitars Ian Bairnson
Drums Stuart Elliott
Bass David Paton
The English Chorale Choirmaster, Bob Howes
Orchestra and Choir arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Mammagamma

Fairlight Keyboard and Linn Drum Machine Alan Parsons
Guitars Ian Bairnson
Additional Drums Stuart Elliott
Bass David Paton
Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Step By Step

Vocals Lenny Zakatek
Backing Vocals Chris Rainbow
Keyboards Eric Woolfson
Guitars Ian Bairnson
Drums Stuart Elliott
Bass David Paton

Old And Wise

Vocals Colin Blunstone
Keyboards Eric Woolfson
Sax Solo Mel Collins
Guitars Ian Bairnson
Drums Stuart Elliott
Bass David Paton
Brass Band and Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell

Recorded and mixed at Abbey Road Studios, London. An Analog multitrack recording mixed to Sony 1610 digital format.

Thanks to David Rockberger, Don Cohn, Lee Blackman, Jack Quinn, Leonard Green, George Bozier, Jack Galloway, Mike Howard, Aron Misan, George Hamer, Chris Blair, Ken Townsend and the Abbey Road brigade and especially to Smokey, Hazel and Bob Buziak for their patience and understanding.


EYE IN THE SKY

BONUS MATERIAL NOTES

by Eric Woolfson & Alan Parsons

December 2006

The recording process contains many magical moments on the creative journey. The process is not unlike throwing a lump of clay on a potter's wheel and then shaping and re-shaping the material an infinite number of times until the potter is satisfied. A casual observer might say "but you had the pot within the first minute, why didn't you just leave it at that." The art of the potter is to know just how far to go. The record producer's skill is to know when that point has been reached as far as the recordings are concerned and the writer has to apply a similar process to his compositions. They say a poem is never finished, it is abandoned. The same could certainly be said of music, lyrics or any creative effort. The great advantage of the recording process is that as one keeps rough mixes as a guide, one can delve into stages before the point of abandonment and revisit some of the magic from earlier attempts or stages.

Whenever the core musicians compete a basic backing track, there is a sensation of having reached a plateau and although the eventual production may take the recording in a totally different direction, at that moment something rather special has been created which the music buyer is often unaware of.

Amongst this collection of bonus material, there are several examples of the magical early takes and in this re-mastered version of Eye in the Sky, for those interested in the process, there is a unique opportunity to glimpse behind the curtain of the recording process.

From our personal point of view, it has been a fascinating experience to re-live these early stages, much of which were kept in archives and tape libraries and which might have well been forgotten with the passage of time but for the initiative of Tim Fraser-Harding at SONY BMG. We are also grateful to Haydn Bendall for his untiring patience and skill in assisting us in our trawl through the archives to complete this material.

Sirius (Demo) AP: "I often worked at home on writing instrumental tracks that could be programmed and subsequently imported into the Studio environment, where Eric and I would work on them together with the studio band. This demo of Sirius is an example of a very early version. We later changed the key to make it an intro to the title track."
   
Old Wise (EW guide vocal) AP: "Eric would always record a guide vocal at an early stage sometimes with only draft lyrics which were subsequently revised. This was most likely the version Colin Blunstone used to learn the song for his vocal on the master."
   
Any Other Day (studio demo) EW: "Although this song did not make it onto the original album, it is perhaps interesting for two reasons. Stylistically, there is a similarity between the arrangement of this track and the middle orchestral section of 'Silence and I'. Secondly, the song is one of my personal favourites, though perhaps more suited to musical theatre and I'm currently in the process of completing it."
   
Silence I (EW early guide vocal) EW: "One of the most interesting things for me was to be reminded of the original middle section before the orchestra was added. Andrew Powell's masterful orchestral arrangement was added later, but here is the unembellished early version."
   
The Naked Eye EW: "The Naked Eye selection gives a glimpse behind the curtain of the recording studio process. One of the producer's roles is decision making as to what is used and what is not used and in this medley we have incorporated some early pre-lead vocal mixes and backing tracks which have a special magic of their own as well as individual tracks which were used in the final masters, and some which were not. As the composition of the album was thematic, it is perhaps no surprise that many of the component tracks fitted easily together. Speaking of magic moments, a feature of many of the project recordings are the masterful multi-track harmonies of Chris Rainbow and we have included a small segment where you can hear clearly what has only previously been submerged in the overall mix."
   
Eye Pieces (Classical Naked Eye) EW: "One of the most enjoyable parts of the recording process is the orchestral overdub session. In this compilation, We have taken a selection of the orchestral tracks on their own. Some of Andrew Powell's outstanding arrangements are heard here as we experienced them at the time. Some of the component parts were not used in the final mix, but even those that were will not have been heard as they are here. Some of the component parts can be easily identified, but the slow string section comes almost incredibly from the orchestral overdub on Mammagamma and only a small fragment was incorporated in the original mix. At the end of the piece, we have included an experiment tried at the end of Silence I. Andrew Powell and I built up a multi-piano idea, which was subsequently replaced by an orchestra."

All tracks written by Eric Woolfson/Alan Parsons

except "Any Other Day" written by Eric Woolfson


Produced by Alan Parsons

Executive Producer - Eric Woolfson

Engineered by Alan Parsons

Assistant Engineer - Tony Richards


Expanded Edition Mastered by Dave Donnelly and Alan Parsons at DNA Mastering, Studio City, California.

Compiled for reissue by Eric Woolfson & Haydn Bendall (for Woolfsongs Ltd.), Tim Fraser-Harding & Jeff Magid (for SONY BMG) and Alan Parsons.

Special thanks to Tim Fraser-Harding, Haydn Bendall and Sally Seddon

Original album sleeve design - Hipgnosis/APB/Colin Chambers Photo of Serveillance Eye In The Sky courtesy of Tropicana Hotel Las Veags, a Ramada Resort and Casino. Photographer Keith W. Lehman

The official website www.the-alan-parsons-project.com

Additional Design for Expanded Edition - Mainartery

Published by Woolfsongs Ltd./Careers Music Inc. (BMI) Administered by BMG, except "Any Other Day" published by Woolfsongs Ltd. (MCPS)

Original album patent 1982 Arista Records LLC

All bonus tracks patent 1982, patent 2007, licensed courtesy of Woolfsongs Ltd.




One of the benefits of the Expanded Edition of the classic APP albums is the improved bookelets and extra artwork. Early in the remastering project Tim Fraser-Harding contacted Steve Martin at The Avenue about artwork and rarities.

Many of the images submitted were used within the booklet, but just like "Any Other Day", some things got left on the cutting room floor. In spirit of the Extended Editions, here are three of the images that didn't make the cut.

"Eye In The Sky" bonus art "Eye In The Sky" bonus art "Eye In The Sky" bonus art

Left: only APP single with custom labels; Middle: cover of Song Hits magazine; Right: inner-sleeve art from original LP.

Click on any image to enlarge.


Back to The Avenue Home Page

This page, copyright 2007 The Avenue / Avenue Communications.