Alan Parsons Project

Esoteric Recordings is proud to announce the release of a new re-mastered limited edition deluxe expanded boxed set of the classic album Ammonia Avenue by The Alan Parsons Project.
First released in February 1984, Ammonia Avenue was the seventh album by The The Alan Parsons Project, the brainchild of composer, musician and manger Eric Woolfson and celebrated producer and engineer Alan Parsons. The inspiration for the album title came from a visit Woolfson had made to the ICI Chemical plant in Billingham, England after meeting ICI chairman Sir John Harvey-Jones on a flight from New York. Upon visiting the plant, Eric Woolfson noticed a long street called Ammonia Avenue, devoid of people and trees and dominated by miles of pipes…

One of the most interesting aspects about the Alan Parsons Project is the band's ability to forge a main theme with each of its songs, while at the same time sounding extremely sharp and polished. Much of this formula is used in Ammonia Avenue, only this time the songs rise above Parsons' overall message due to the sheer beauty of the lyrics partnered with the luster of the instruments…

This beautiful box set has been produced with the full co-operation of Eric Woolfson’s family and Alan Parsons and is a landmark release for the album that launched the Project.
The 40th Anniversary deluxe edition of Tales of Mystery and Imagination comprises 3 CDs, 1 Blu-Ray and 2 vinyl LPs. The 3 CDs present the original 1976 mix, the 1987 remix plus a whole CD of over 70 minutes of previously unreleased bonus material.The set is complete with a stunning 60-page coffee table book with photographs and new interviews about the making of the album, with Alan Parsons, Hazel and Sally Woolfson, David Paton and Stuart Tosh.
The debut album by The Alan Parsons Project, Tales of Mystery and Imagination was released in 1976 and comprises eleven tracks based on the works of the great American gothic writer, Edgar Allan Poe…

One of the most interesting aspects about the Alan Parsons Project is the band's ability to forge a main theme with each of its songs, while at the same time sounding extremely sharp and polished. Much of this formula is used in Ammonia Avenue, only this time the songs rise above Parsons' overall message due to the sheer beauty of the lyrics partnered with the luster of the instruments. The album touches upon how the lines of communication between people are diminishing, and how we as a society grow more spiritually isolated and antisocial…

The Best of the Alan Parsons Project, Vol. 2 typically picks up where its predecessor left off. With 11 tracks covering seven albums, including Gaudi, Stereotomy, and Vulture Culture, the songs here are a tad weaker than those on the first collection, since some of the albums that these songs originate from were not of this band's finest caliber. The highlights here include both "Prime Time" and "Don't Answer Me" from Ammonia Avenue, and the provocative instrumental "I Robot," the only non-vocal track on the album. All of the selections on this package convey their purpose much better within their former albums, since each song is a link in the album's conceptual chain.

Alan Parsons delivered a detailed blueprint for his Project on their 1975 debut, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, but it was on its 1977 follow-up, I Robot, that the outfit reached its true potential…