The Alan Parsons Project Songs Ranked
The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock band active between 1975 and 1990, whose core membership consisted of Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson. They were accompanied by a varying number of session musicians and some relatively consistent band members such as guitarist Ian Bairnson, arranger Andrew Powell, bassist and vocalist David Paton, drummer Stuart Elliott, and vocalists Lenny Zakatek and Chris Rainbow. Parsons was an audio engineer and producer by profession, but also a musician and a composer. A songwriter by profession, Woolfson was also a composer, a pianist, and a singer. Almost all the songs on the Project’s albums are credited to “Woolfson/Parsons”.
The Alan Parsons Project released eleven studio albums in its 15-year career (the twelfth, The Sicilian Defence, was originally recorded in 1979 and released in 2014), including the successful I Robot and Eye in the Sky. Some of their most notable songs are “The Raven”, “(The System of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Feather”, “I Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You”, “Games People Play”, “Time”, “Snake Eyes”, “Sirius”/”Eye in the Sky”, “Old and Wise”, and “Don’t Answer Me”. Here are all of The Alan Parsons Project songs ranked.
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15. Some Other Time (I Robot, 1977)
“This is one of the best Project songs. I think that it is about a society prying into his thoughts. Lyrically, it might have been better on Eye in the Sky, but it’s still great on I Robot, the best project album.”
14. Prime Time (Ammonia Avenue, 1983)
“Listening to this song, you can almost imagine what the songwriters’ thinking…he’s essentially saying, “You got one shot at this life…when the opportunities come your way, you’ve got to be prepared to take them for you never know when they’ll come around again.”
13. Breakdown (I Robot, 1977)
“Listening to this song, you can almost imagine what the songwriters’ thinking…he’s essentially saying, “You got one shot at this life…when the opportunities come your way, you’ve got to be prepared to take them for you never know when they’ll come around again.”
12. You Lie Down With Dogs (Eve, 1979)
“It just becomes more difficult from LP to LP to criticize without repeating yourself. After all, good Alan blew his way from album to album with his successful formula. This is why this, the fourth, studio album, an instrumental as an intro or overture, is followed by a seamless transition into the first official vocal part. This time the title is called “You Lie Down With Dogs”.
See more; The Alan Parsons Project Albums Ranked
11. The Raven (Tales Of Mystery And Imagination, 1976)
“Another in a series of songs based on Edgar Allen Poe stories- or, in this case, poetry. This song certainly does the poem justice, it’s great– although the pace (of the lyrics at least) is a lot faster than that of the poem.”
10. Sirius (Eye in the Sky, 1982)
“The instrumental opening track Sirius refers to the brightest star in the night sky. Its bassline segues into the title track Eye in the Sky, a warm synthpop song with a guitar solo and Eric Woolfson singing about protection and telepathy.”
9. Games People Play (The Turn of a Friendly Card, 1980)
“Another strange-not-strange single from APP. On casual listen, it just sounds like a pretty good pop song, but there’s some strange stuff going on (the whooshy stuff before the guitar solo, the repetitive keyboard lick that opens and closes the song, the odd lyrics). Can’t say as I know how this fits into the whole gambling theme of the LP, but then again, the LPs tended to have vague themes rather than massively coherent concepts.”
8. Days Are Numbers (Vulture Culture, 1984)
“This is an amazing song. Maybe it would be a better world if everyone just took a little time to think in what is really important. The clock is ticking, and we don’t have much time left to do meaningful things.”
7. Turn of a Friendly Card (Turn of a Friendly Card, 1980)
“One of their best efforts. It eloquently shows what gambling’s like. In addition, I occasionally find myself singing ”Nothing’s good, the news is bad…”. Its sounds so cheerful even if it’s so pessimistic.”
6. Silence and I (Eye in the Sky, 1982)
“I was thinking he had some secret grief that he couldn’t tell anyone, for whatever reason. Maybe he’s ashamed of something he has done or that has happened to him, or maybe he’ll be in some kind of trouble if he talks… just guessing.”
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5. Don’t Answer Me (Ammonia Avenue, 1983)
“I love this song. I think it is about two persons who were in a relationship but then separated in a moment of madness. And now they have somehow met up as strangers and the singer is saying Don’t answer me as it will make me win this fight, just run and hide and think if we can change the things that happened.”
4. I Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You (I Robot, 1977)
“Following the theme of the album I believe that this song is about robot/human conflicts. The robot is saying that even though human is smarter and the master he still wouldn’t want to be like him. I’m not sure about that but its what I get out of it. A good song worth listening to.”
3. Time (The Turn of a Friendly Card, 1980)
“Beautiful, melancholic song. The symbolic river of time flows to the sea and appears to be gone forever, but we learned in grade school about evaporation, precipitation and the river’s renewal through the water cycle. Maybe the river time isn’t gone forever after all. Who knows when we shall meet again after we die? I don’t see anything atheistic about this song.”
2. Old and Wise (Eye in the Sky, 1982)
“I think this song is pretty much about one’s acceptance of death and that inescapable sense of regret and melancholy that comes with it. The older I get, the more its stanzas appeal to me. It’s a lyrical as well as musical masterpiece.”
1. Eye In the Sky (Eye In the Sky, 1982)
“It’s about how two people were in a relationship, and one of them lied. He was saying sorry’s not always enough, and that the lier can’t try to turn it around and blame him either. He gave many “second chances”, but just couldn’t take it anymore. He knows the person will try to lie their way back.”