The Avenue: Issue Fourteen

The fourteenth issue of The Avenue was released on July 1, 1999. Contents included:

Current News:

The biggest news of course is the new album "The Time Machine", and therefore the cover of the issue featured the front cover artwork by Storm Thorgerson.

Other big news included plans for a DTS version of the new album, Alan's feelings about the Y2K bug and a look at the topic of MP3 files and the Internet. On the issue of MP3, Alan said, "I don't feel that I'll be a victim of MP3 now, but it will get steadily worse. It will have a very damaging affect long-term on how music is delivered. I don't know if there is a simple solution on how to police this, or how to get people paid on this practice. It will become a major problem and it will affect the whole music industry very negatively, but I think I'll be retired before the time it gets to a point where it'll affect me."

The news section also took a look at early plans for touring, as well as the plans for a book about Alan Parsons.

Of Note:

In this issue, the "Of Note:" section looks at the mention of Alan Parsons in the new Austin Powers movie, updates about the career paths of Alan's sons Jeremy and Daniel, and an announcement of the wedding of Ian and Leila Bairnson.

David Paton interview (Part 1):

Because this issue was packed with information about the new album, this installment of the David Paton interview might seem a little short. In this part we look at his early days, the bands he started in, and how he joined Pilot.

Tales Of...:

Part fourteen of this section brings our continuing history story up to 1979, where we take a look back at "Eve". Included is a picture of Lesley Duncan.

The Time Machine

In this article, readers get an in-depth look at the new album before its release. Included is the back cover artwork by Storm, plus a track-by-track breakdown: who wrote the songs, who sings them, and who plays on them. The article includes quotes from Alan Parsons, Ian Bairnson and Stuart Elliott. There's no better place to find out the story behind the songs. For fun, we also look at the subject of time travel and where the band members would go if they had their own time machine.

"Let's Talk About...":

The question and answer section looks at making albums, and more....

bullet I read an interview where Alan Parsons said that a concept album is out of question in the 90s decade. However "On Air" is a concept album.

"I've kind of eaten my words on that one because I think concept albums are still what our market wants. If the Spice Girls went out and did a concept album it might be laughed at, but I think we can still get away with the kind of thing we do, especially with the kind of age group and market that we appeal to. Our audience enjoys the concept of a concept."

bullet Has Alan ever thought to make an album alone? An album in which he could be producer, engineer, play all the instruments, and even sing.

bullet What do you do when you aren't recording?

bullet Was the "Keats" album inspired by the works of the English poet John Keats (1795-1821)?

bullet What are Alan's feelings about his involvement with MTVs "London Calling"?

Contest prizes in this issue include: the chance to win an autographed copy of David Paton's "Fragments" CD, the chance to be interviewed for the new Alan Parsons book, and more items autographed by Alan Parsons!

In this issue, one insert page is the discography section's look at press kits, the other is the sheet music for the track "Gemini". Plus, pictures from Ian Bairnson's wedding!

This, and much more is happened in Issue Fourteen of The Avenue!


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