Alan+parsons

Along with The Definitive Collection, The Essential Alan Parsons Project gives the casual fan the proper mixture and proportion of radio hits, Alan Parsons' signature instrumentals, and Eric Woolfsons' thought-provoking ballads. Best of all, SONY/BMG has included the once lost gemstone No Answers Only Questions (Final Version) that Eric Woolfson composed and guitarist Ian Bairnson arranged. Everything has been digitally remastered from the best available source tapes…

Alan Parsons studied a number of musical instruments in childhood but, like many of his peers, settled on the guitar in his early teens. His job in the late 1960s at the EMI tape duplication facility allowed him access to many classics of the day, including the tape master of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), which fired him up to become a recording engineer. He subsequently managed to get work at the Abbey Road Studios and participated in the creation of The Beatles albums Let It Be (1970) and Abbey Road (1969) and the infamous Apple rooftop session. He also went on to work as mix engineer with Paul McCartney and George Harrison after The Beatles split…

Five years after The Time Machine, Alan Parsons returned to the producer's chair refreshed and ready to go with an arsenal of new songs. The immediate standout is Parsons' highly updated super-polished sound, and to expect less from Parsons would be an insult to his legacy and reputation as one of rock's most respected producers and engineers. As usual for a Parsons project (pun intended), guest appearances once again run the gamut. The Crystal Method, David Gilmour, John Cleese, Nortec Collective, and Orson Welles all make contributions, with some most definitely faring better than others…

This box set contains 5 Alan Parsons Project albums (Pyramid, Turn of a Friendly Card, Eve, Stereotomy and Gaudi) as remastered in 2008, including the bonus tracks issued at that time. The Alan Parsons Project were a British progressive rock band, active between 1975 and 1990, consisting of singer Eric Woolfson and keyboardist Alan Parsons surrounded by a varying number of session musicians. Behind the revolving lineup and the regular sidemen, the true core of the Project was the duo of Parsons and Woolfson. Woolfson was a songwriter by profession, but also a composer and pianist. Parsons was a successful producer and accomplished engineer. Almost all songs on the band's albums are credited to "Woolfson/Parsons".