The Alan Parsons Project Anthology

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!

Very good publication as expected.

As a long time fan of The Alan Parsons Project I was thrilled to see that someone had finally written a book about them and I awaited it’s arrival with eager anticipation. Once I started reading it, however, I have to say that I was extremely disappointed.To start with, it’s immediately clear that the book was originally written in a foreign language, (French), and subsequently translated into English. There are numerous instances where the translation is very poor and the overall effect is a narrative that is somewhat simplistic and stilted.This, however, is something of a minor quibble. The main problem is that the author writes with absolutely no authority whatsoever.Normally, when attempting such a project, (excuse pun), one would first undertake extensive research and try to engage the co-operation of persons associated with the band, preferably members, but failing that at least managers, producers, engineers, people who have worked with them in the past, or at the very least, road crew.It is clear, however, that the author has made absolutely no attempt whatsoever to contact anyone associated with the band, so the book contains no inside information or anecdotes at all.Half of the information provided by this book is blatantly obvious to anyone, such as album titles, themes, years of release, track listings etc. and the other half is mundane trivia that anyone could have easily obtained from the internet.The author’s sole research for this book appears to have been to type The Alan Parsons Project into an internet search engine.By far the largest part of the book consists of the author going through each album giving his appraisal of each track. Why he thinks anyone would be interested in knowing why some French bloke who they are never likely to meet likes one track and isn’t quite so keen on another is something of a mystery.His appraisal includes such gems as “the drums kick in at 2.06”. Anyone who’s heard the albums will already know that, and anyone who hasn’t ……well who wants to read a book about a band they’ve never heard?Another example is when referring to an interview given by Eric Woolfson he states that the interview "probably took place at his home." And upon what evidence is this tantalising piece of erudition based? Absolutely none. As far as the author is concerned it could just have easily taken place on the moon or at the bottom of the sea.This is not so much a book about The Alan Parsons Project, but more of a book about why the author likes The Alan Parsons Project.Save your money.

Great item, great price, great service 👍

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 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 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.