CULT HEROES
PROG! CONCEPT LPS! FABS’N’FLOYD! HELLO AGAIN THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT
Missing Parsons: Alan in 1976; (below) Reds fan Parsons today, readying a new remix project with Pink Floyd.
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“JETHRO TULL, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Moody Blues, Yes…” Alan Parsons OBE is reeling off the prog-ish British acts who cracked America. There is, though, another – one who had US Top 10 albums with 1977’s I Robot and 1982’s Eye In The Sky, and four platinum-sellers: The Alan Parsons Project.
Their albums were high-falutin concepts (Gaudi, chess, pyramids), their sound was pristine and for all that they embraced elements of prog, pop, rock and electro, they were unique, while not appearing on their album covers enhanced their mystique. “People called us progressive rock,” Parsons remembers. “We weren’t, we were progressive pop. It was a disappointment those others got more attention than we did.”