The Alan Parsons Project Anthology

I really got into the APP my last 3 years in high school. During that time I I owned all the LPs out at the time up to and including Vulture Culture. It is so great to read the stories behind the songs. Read about the men and women that comprised the stories. To finally understand the sounds I have been so familiar with for over 30 years .

I've been a lifelong fan of the Project and Parsons. I think some of the 'solo' albums Parsons has done (including 2019's The Secret) are every bit as good as some of the original Project recordings. There are a lot of great insights and pieces of information that I never knew about the material that this author brings forward. It's not by any means a waste of time, although it did take me some time to finish. Sometimes, the author overplays his ability to critic as gospel, and can get a bit long-winded (not to mention, annoying when he slams a song you're particularly fond of).I would really suggest this: It's not like there's a ton of completing biographical works out there on the APP. This is worth the time and investment. It's even ok to sit through someone's detailed opinions (sometimes fair critiques; sometimes not), to get to the nuggets of facts you might never have known about. BUT...be prepared. About halfway through this, you'll understand that the author is heavily biased towards Woolfson. Almost to the point that the man (God rest his soul) could do no wrong, and Parsons was 'obviously' the evil tyrant of the duo.If you can push past that, it's still a worthwhile read. Just to clarify, though: The author is very dismissive of the quality of Vulture Culture and Stereotomy. Which, again: I'll take my lumps. The albums were quite experimental, compared to the normal, straight prog-rock standard of the Project sound. But, when the author goes on an overlong chapter to extol the virtues of the appalling Freudiana album, and writes at length about the rather perverse background of Freud's "psychology" just to drop a few words of showering praise for songs (the most of which don't hold a candle to the most lackluster of the classic Project albums), the author somewhat sabotages the credibility of the preceding pages.Again: I'm endorsing this overall, and 4 stars because it's informative in general, and nothing else is out there. Just beware that you might get aggravated at times by the author's tendency to treat his subjective opinions as 'facts' that we all share.

A good read for APP fans!

As a 30+ year Alan Parsons fan, this a great book with insights into every album and even every song. I would have easily given it 5 stars but for one reason - the book is FULL of the writers opinions. I want facts about everything (which I got), but I don't want to read "This song is silly" "This song is out of place" "This or that didn't work well" etc, etc... The list could go on and on. The book was obviously VERY well researched, but the opinions should have been kept to a very minimum. It simply made the book frustrating because you knew that every couple of pages would include something you really didn't want to read. Even though I did agree with some opinions that very presented, it was kind of like your best friend telling you that many of songs you love weren't that great.

This book is not very interesting if you like this band enough tot buy it. Chances are you will already know the facts stated in this book as they are all pulled from album liner notes. Basically this book is the author giving his opinions on their material.

As a big fan of their early lps who lost the plot after Eye (I was going indie), the book is nicely comprehensive. As a college English teacher, I just wish the author had had a good line-editor...oh well, it's not like there are any Gentle Giant bios on Kindle...

Not what I expected, but a very good read for APP fans...

Excelent, and very detailled book about APP.

A fun read, full of fascinating information about Parsons and Eric Woolfson -- the latter the real creative force behind the APP. As someone who was struck by the thinness of Woolfson's vocals on the guiding tapes for the APP's vocalists (many are included on the remastered and deluxe editions of the albums), I was intrigued to learn here that Parsons improved Woolfson's vocals by layering one copy of the vocal track, ever-so-slightly offset, against the other. If only I could do that in real life with my own voice!Not sure how much I agree with some of the author's opinions of the albums and tracks, however. For me, the first four APP albums (Tales, I Robot, Pyramid, Eve) were all distinctive, with "Turn of a Friendly Card" (very listenable, to be sure) signaling the arrival of a formula to which they adhered through the remaining six albums. Bur variety in everything -- especially opinion -- is the spice of life.The book would have benefited from a cleaner translation, and a good copy-edit -- lots and lots of words and phrases are clunkily repeated, often close by one another.

Para amantes de laMúsica

Die Kindle-App auf dem iPad / iPhone zeigt bei Bedarf simultan eine Übersetzung ins Deutsche an, die man auch vorlesen lassen kann.Inhaltlich ist das Buch jedem Alan Parsons Fan zu empfehlen.

I liked this book. Let's start with that. It focuses on the music and the lyrics of every song in every album, and the author shows a more tha adequate knowledge of music theory, instruments, recording and mixing techniques. As he guides you almost second by second into every track, you can hear it playing in your head, or, better still, put it on loudspeaker and check out for yourself all the nuances and details this book offers.Now, the (few) cons. The English version is not perfect. Readable, but not perfect. The book lacks insights about the musicians: the bios are really bare-boned (though every person who ever sang a line or played a chord with APP is mentioned), interviews are absent, and you are somehow left wanting to know more about Eric and Alan. What was their relationship really like? Why exactly did they split up? Did the get along after the end of the Project? The part dealing with Freudiana is really slow and redundant with stories about Freud himself and his works (it's all psychobabble to me... ;) )In the end, this is not a biography in the style of The Dirt, or It's so Easy. It's rather a really excellent musical guide to the works of APP. Maybe because or heroes did not have such an interesting life, after all.

Didn't know this book existed until I found it on Amazon. I'm a big Alan Parsons fan and I have really enjoyed reading this publication. The background history threw up a few things I didn't know, and the album information is thorough and very informative. The 'concept' of each album is explained, some being a little ambiguous and hard to follow, still very enjoyable though. The 'After the Project' chapter is also very interesting. What a pity that Eric Woolfson never really got the credit he deserved. I have some of his solo albums and they too are really great. One burning question remains unanswered ... WHERE ARE THE UK CONCERTS? ... I saw 'APP' at the Shepherd's Bush Empire some years ago for a one night only show with the original 'APP' line-up, ('Pilot' etc.) ... to my knowledge this is pretty much the only UK show he has done. Why do the rest of Europe, South America etc. get all the pleasure? Alan Parsons and 'APP' are essentially British, is there a 'contractual' reason for the absence of concerts here? ... Anyway, the book is great, and I still love every album, hence 5 Stars!