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The Alan Parsons Project |
I Robot |
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The Alan Parsons Project |
I Robot |
This album was originally released by Arista Records in 1977.
From the album notes:
I Robot...
The story of the rise of machine and the decline of man,
which paradoxically coincided with his discovery of the wheel...
And a warning that his brief dominance of this planet will
probably end, because man tried to create robot in his own image.
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: |
| AP: "Observations on man and machine. The whole sentence that is inscribed on the cover gives you a pretty good idea. I hated those notes, I thought they were so pretentious, but never the less accurate." |
| I Robot | instrumental | (6:02) |
| I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You | vocal: Lenny Zakatek | (3:22) |
| Some Other Time | vocal: Peter Straker and Jaki Whitren | (4:06) |
| Breakdown | vocal: Allan Clarke | (3:52) |
| Don't Let It Show | vocal: Dave Townsend | (4:24) |
| The Voice | vocal: Steve Harley | (5:23) |
| Nucleus | instrumental | (3:22) |
| Day After Day (The Show Must Go On) | vocal: Jack Harris | (3:57) |
| Total Eclipse | instrumental | (3:12) |
| Genesis Ch. 1 v. 32 | instrumental | (3:29) |
| BONUS TRACKS | ||
| Boules (I Robot Experiment) | instrumental | (1:59) |
| Breakdown (Early Demo Backing Riff) | instrumental | (2:09) |
| I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You (Backing Track Rough Mix) | instrumental | (3:28) |
| Day After Day (Early Stage Rough Mix) | instrumental | (3:40) |
| The Naked Robot | instrumental | (10:19) |
I Robot
Soprano Vocal Hilary Western Clavinet Eric Woolfson Projectron and SynthA Programming Alan Parsons Yamaha CS10 Synth Duncan Mackay Cimbalon and Kantele John Leach Guitars Ian Bairnson Bass David Paton Drums Stuart Tosh The English Chorale Choirmaster - Bob Howes Choir arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell
I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You
Vocal Lenny Zakatek Keyboards Eric Woolfson Guitars Ian Bairnson Bass David Paton Drums Stuart Tosh
Some Other Time
Vocals Peter Straker, Jaki Whitren Piano and Clavinet Eric Woolfson Cimbalon and Kantele John Leach Projectron Alan Parsons Acoustic Guitars Ian Bairnson, David Paton Guitars Ian Bairnson Bass David Paton Drums Stuart Tosh Backing Vocals Tony Rivers, John Perry, Stuart Salver Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell
Breakdown
Vocal Allan Clarke Wurlitzer Eric Woolfson Synths Duncan Mackay Projectron Alan Parsons Guitars Ian Bairnson Acoustic Guitars Ian Bairnson, Alan Parsons Bass David Paton Drums Stuart Tosh Choir The New Philharmonia Chorus Orchestra and Choir arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell
Don't Let It Show
Vocal Dave Townsend Organ Eric Woolfson Piccolo Trumpet John Wallace Guitar Ian Bairnson Bass David Paton Drums and Percussion Stuart Tosh Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell
The Voice
Vocal Steve Harley Projectron and Vocoder "Voice" Alan Parsons Keyboards Eric Woolfson Guitar Ian Bairnson Bass David Paton Drums and Percussion Stuart Tosh Orchestra arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell
Nucleus
Tape Loops, Projectron and Effects Alan Parsons Keyboards Eric Woolfson, Duncan Mackay Cimbalon and Kantele John Leach Guitar Ian Bairnson Bass David Paton Drums and Water Gongs Stuart Tosh The English Chorale Choirmaster - Bob Howes
Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)
Vocal Jack Harris SynthA Sequencer Programming Alan Parsons Jangle Piano Eric Woolfson Hammond Organ Andrew Powell Pedal Steel Guitar B.J. Cole Guitar Ian Bairnson Bass David Paton Drums Stuart Tosh Backing Vocals Jack Harris, David Paton, Eric Woolfson, Alan Parsons, Ian Bairnson
Total Eclipse
The English Chorale Choirmaster - Bob Howes Choir arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell
Genesis Ch. 1 v. 32
Keyboards Eric Woolfson, Duncan Mackay Guitars Ian Bairnson Acoustic Guitars Ian Bairnson, David Paton Bass David Paton Drums Stuart Tosh Backing Vocals Tony Rivers, John Perry, Stuart Salver Choir The New Philharmonia Chorus Choirmaster Bob Howes Choir arranged and conducted by Andrew Powell
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 I Robot, 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.
Boules ( I Robot experiment ) EW "This is an example of an abandoned experiment. While in France, I noticed that Boules was the local French obsession, much like snooker in the UK or pool in the US. I discovered these metal balls made a fascinating noise when you banged them lightly together and I tried to incorporate this into an early studio demo recording of I Robot. Although I thought the effect could have worked quite well, Alan didn't share my enthusiasm and the idea was abandoned." Breakdown (Early Demo of Backing Riff) AP "This is an early attempt to find a feel from a chord sequence I had come up with. Eric constructed the final melody and lyrics around it. It is slower than the tempo eventually chosen." I Wouldn't Want Be Like You (Backing Track Rough Mix) EW "This is an excellent example of the early stage of the magic 'take' which was eventually developed into the master recording. Interestingly, from the point of view of any aspiring solo guitarists, this rough mix pre-dates the tremendous Ian Bairnson solo which was such a feature of so many of the Project recordings, but this was what Ian developed his solo over and it gives an opportunity for others to see what they might have come up with by playing along with the backing." Day after Day (early stage rough mix) AP "This was an example of a 'feel' based track built around a synthesizer figure." The Naked Robot EW "I recall that in creating 'Projects' we attempted to let different tracks merge into each other as part of the editing process and this meant that much of the material recorded was in compatible tempos and keys. We were reminded of this while reviewing much of the archive material on this album and had the idea of trying to re-combine some early stage mixes of material that was subsequently developed differently. This ten-minute medley of early stage mixes of instrumental pieces on the album seems to take on a life of its own with a different ambience and feel to the original record. The elements contained within this medley all appeared in a modified form on the eventual master, which could obviously have gone in a very different direction."
Recorded and mixed at Abbey Road Studios, London between December 1976 and March 1977
Sleeve Concept - Eric Woolfson
Original Sleeve Design by Hipgnosis, Graphics by George Hardie
Additional Design for Expanded Edition - Mainartery
Memorablia - with thanks to Steve Martin, Sally Seddon and Mainartery
All tracks written by Eric Woolfson/Alan Parsons
except "Total Eclipse" written by Andrew Powell
Produced by Alan Parsons
Executive Producer - Eric Woolfson
Engineered by Alan Parsons
Assistant Engineers - Patrick Stapley, Chris Blair
Expanded Edition Mastered by Dave Donnelly and Alan Parsons at DNA Mastering, Studio City, California.
Produced for reissue by Alan Parsons, Eric Woolfson and Jeff Magid.
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
The official website www.the-alan-parsons-project.com
Published by Woolfsongs Ltd./Careers Music Inc. (BMI) Administered by BMG.
Original album patent 1977 Arista Records LLC
All bonus tracks patent 1977, 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 "Boules", 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.
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Left: Photo from Arista Press Kit; Middle: custom label from original vinyl edition; Right: Japanese release of album, complete with OBI strip.
Click on any image to enlarge.
This page, copyright 2007 The Avenue / Avenue Communications.