Friday, July 1, 2022

The Albums of 1982: The Alan Parsons Project: Eye in the Sky


 Release Date: May 1982

Members: Alan Parsons; Eric Wolfson; 

Produced by Alan Parsons

Track List: Side One: Sirius; Eye on the Sky; Children of the Moon; Gemini; Silence and I; You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned; Psychobabble; Mammagamma; Step by Step; Old and Wise

Eye in the Sky was the sixth studio album by the Alan Parsons Project, featuring two of their most played songs "Sirius" and "Eye in the Sky."

"Sirius" serves as trippy prologue suggesting excitement and menace with its synth thumping riffs (Parsons made little money when sports teams began using it). "Eye in the Sky" would've made for an excellent theme for a James Bond film accompanying a Maurice Bender credit sequence. "Children of the Moon" leans into a Sci-Fi prog rock vibe, imagining humans on the moon watching the earth decay. "Gemini" is a two minute New Age hymn of melodic vocals. "Silence and I" is the longest track with a a melodic instrumental placed in between melancholy musings. 

"You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned" is a pleasant enough power pop with surreal imagery. "Psychobabble" questions dream interpretation, "Mammagamma" is pulsating instrumental that's pure cinematic. "Step by Step" also deals with mental health, taking things day by day in catchy soft rock mode. Closing track "Old and Wise" is a ballad musing on mortality and gaining knowledge, bracketed by a syrupy string section. 

An album emblematic of 1982 with its use of studio technology and themes of emotional and spiritual malaise, Eye in the Sky sustains an aura of blissful detachment.  


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