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Alan Parsons |
News Archive |
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2007 / 2008 |
DAVID PACK GETS NOMINATED
(January 11/07): David Pack has been nominated Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards for Best International Male Vocalist of 2006. You can support him by voting online. One vote per person. Best of luck to him at the awards this Spring in Toronto.
JOHN MONTAGNA PODCASTS
(January 12/07): John Montagna, who is the current bass player with Alan's live band, has just formed Radio418, a podcast program that he'll be hosting. John will be presenting music from Four Eighteen, solo stuff, and "anything else from my archives that I've created and/or participated in". It's a great way to hear his music and it can be found here.
REMASTERS: BONUS TRACKS
(January 13/07): A major component of the soon-to-be remasters APP albums is the promise of bnous tracks. Bonus tracks for the first wave of disks have been an announced and are:
| I ROBOT | |
| I Robot (Boules 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." |
| EYE IN THE SKY | |
| 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." |
| VULTURE CULTURE | |
| No Answers Only Questions (final version) | EW: "The essence of the Vulture Culture album for me was a comment on the economic harshness of Western society and this track was meant to represent a street musician performing in a very non-Project way. I even expected to include the sound effect of coins being thrown into a hat, but it was decided to leave the song out. We now have the perfect excuse to include it as a bonus track." |
| Separate Lives (Alternative Mix) | EW: "This version of the song has a different approach from the version that was originally released. There are no backing vocals and the synth instrumental line in the choruses is emphasized." |
| Hawkeye (demo) | AP: "This is one of my demos, parts of which were subsequently imported as a synth sequence into the Studio environment and the "real" rhythm section was added. It's a good example of an early version of the track where feel is more important than accuracy." |
| The Naked Vulture | EW: "On each of these re-mastered albums we are including a 'Naked' medley, which consists of extracts form various tracks of the original master recordings, together with early rough mixes etc. The body of this selection is taken from early mixes without vocals, which give a good indication of the basic feel of many of the tracks. As part of the track 'Let's Talk About Me' we had edited in a conversation which took place in the Villa Bianca restaurant in London with a good friend of the Project, radio programmer Lee Abrams. Lee accompanied by his wife Sandra, was performing his party piece at dinner, which consisted of a ten-minute rant on any subject you cared to mention, as well as his apparent skill as an air traffic controller! His performance was recorded on a Sony Walkman and some of it was subsequently incorporated into the master. On reviewing the archive, we realized that there were other marvelous moments, many of which are included in this Naked medley. Incidentally, I realised that Laser Beam was a perfect anagram of his name and he was credited on the original album as such." |
| No Answers Only Questions (The First Attempt) | AP: "I remember we struggled rather to make this song work in the context of the other tracks which had much more of a rock feel. This early take came across with a 'folky" feel which seemed to carry through to the final version (included here - Track 9). I think it was the right decision to exclude it from the original album, but it has been interesting to hear it again." |
REMASTERS: BONUS TRACKS
(February 5/07): Details have just been announced for the Tales of Mystery and Imagination re-release. In addition to the release having both the 1987 remaster version, and the hard to find 1976 original version, the set will also include the following bonus tracks:
| TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION | |
| The Raven(original demo ) | EW "Before I had even met Alan, I had gone in the studio to attempt several demos which could eventually comprise an Edgar Allan Poe "Project". This attempt was made in the early 70s." |
| Edgar (original demo of an unreleased track) | EW "I had hoped to include this song as part of the Project's first recording, but was dissuaded by a record company executive." |
| Orson Welles Radio Spot | AP "Welles was given a script for narration and radio spots. He had
not heard any music at this point. We took his dialogue and the music from the
album and played around with it. One of the results was this radio commercial
which was used in the US advertising campaign." SM "This material has been available on a 7" promo single a long time ago, but was very hard to find |
| Interview with Alan and Eric 1976 | AP "Warren Duffy who had worked in radio for many years and who had been a long-standing associate of The Beach Boys, assembled this promotional Q A session with Eric and myself just before the album's original release.." |
| Eric's Guide Vocal Medley | EW "I always sang a 'guide' version of the songs I had written in order to play the material to chosen vocalists for them to learn. This is an edited collection from the archives of my rough guide vocals." |
| Orson Welles Dialogue | AP "This is the full content of Welles' tape (without music). There
is a segment that was not included anywhere on the previously heard narration
or the radio spots." SM "Some fans didn't care for the inclusion of the Orson pieces on the 1987 version, not liking the "addition", however those narrative pieces were always intended to be there and were the way the album was meant to sound." |
| Sea Lions in the Departure Lounge ( experiment with sound effects ) | EW "We had hours of amusement playing with sound effects and this example has survived. It consists of a rough mix of a section of 'The Fall Of The House of Usher' where the traveller approaches the menacing and mysterious building, knocks on the door and enters an airport departure lounge inhabited by sea-lions and sheep!" |
| GBH Mix - unreleased experiments | AP "While recording the album, we were concerned that somebody else might steal the idea of an Edgar Allan Poe theme, so we kept it secret from all the session players, vocalists and Abbey Road staff. Obviously the real titles would have given the Poe concept away, so we chose deliberately confusing titles that only had meaning to Eric and myself. For example "The Cask Of Amontillado" became Bristol Cream, The Raven became The Raver, and although it never made it to this album, The Murders In The Rue Morgue became "GBH (Grievous Bodily Harm) In A French Street". Arthur Brown saw through the veil, but with the lyrics he was given it was understandable. The Bonnie And Clydesque ragtime track was an early attempt at Tarr and Fether, but bears no resemblance to the final version. Other snippets include out of context extracts from Usher and A Dream Within A Dream." |
RELEASE UPDATES
(February 5/07): The first wave of remastered APP albums will now be released in April 2007. "The Essential" compilation (availble as 2 or 3 CD set) is now available and can be found at www.the-alan-parsons-project.com.
GODFREY SOLO ALBUM
(February 5/07): Godfrey Townsend, better known for playing lead guitar in Alan's live band, is about to release his first album. Hard to believe he has waited this long, but it should be well worth the wait. He has enlisted the talents of John Montagna, Steve Murphy and Manny Focarazzo (also from Alan's live band). Godfrey describes the album as, "instrumental guitar stuff in the vein of Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Satriani, Vai and Robin Trower". Samples and ordering information will soon be available at www.godfreytownsendmusic.com.
RELEASE UPDATES
(March 18/07): The first wave of remastered APP albums is starting to be released. "Tales Of Mystery and Imagination" will now be released April 30 by Universal, but the first three are available now. Click the links below to go to Amazon.com to order today:
Two compilations are also available now at Amazon.com:
The other APP albums have been delayed and will now be released as follows:
| JUNE 2007 | |
| Pyramid | Expanded Edition |
| The Turn Of A Friendly Card | Expanded Edition |
| Stereotomy | Expanded Edition |
| SEPTEMBER 2007 | |
| Eve | Expanded Edition |
| Ammonia Avenue | Expanded Edition |
| Gaudi | Expanded Edition |
RELEASE UPDATES
(August 6/07): There has been a delay with the next two waves of remastered APP albums. The new dates are as follows:
| SEPTEMBER 2007 | |
| Pyramid | Expanded Edition |
| The Turn Of A Friendly Card | Expanded Edition |
| Stereotomy | Expanded Edition |
| DECEMBER 2007 | |
| Eve | Expanded Edition |
| Ammonia Avenue | Expanded Edition |
| Gaudi | Expanded Edition |
RELEASE UPDATES
(October 28/07): There has been a delay with the next two waves of remastered APP albums. The new dates are as follows:
| JANUARY 2008 | |
| Pyramid | Expanded Edition |
| The Turn Of A Friendly Card | Expanded Edition |
| Stereotomy | Expanded Edition |
| MARCH 2008 | |
| Eve | Expanded Edition |
| Ammonia Avenue | Expanded Edition |
| Gaudi | Expanded Edition |
RELEASE UPDATES
(January 20/08): There has been a delay with the next waves of remastered APP albums.
| FEBRUARY 2008 | |
| Pyramid | Expanded Edition |
| The Turn Of A Friendly Card | Expanded Edition |
| Stereotomy | Expanded Edition |
| MAY 2008 | |
| Eve | Expanded Edition |
| Ammonia Avenue | Expanded Edition |
| Gaudi | Expanded Edition |
RELEASE UPDATES
(February 14/08): The wait is almost over! The next wave of remasters is just days away and the discs are available for pre-order at Amazon ... just follow the links below.
| MARCH 10, 2008 | |
| Pyramid | Expanded Edition |
| The Turn Of A Friendly Card | Expanded Edition |
| Stereotomy | Expanded Edition |
PYRAMID (Catalogue #82876815252)
Bonus Tracks:
Pyramid: Amazon Pre-Order
THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD (Catalogue #82876815262)
Bonus Tracks:
The Turn of a Friendly Card: Amazon Pre-Order
STEREOTOMY (Catalogue #82876838602)
Bonus Tracks:
Stereotomy: Amazon Pre-Order
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