11. Sirius (Demo) 1'56
(Eric Woolfson / Alan Parsons)
12. Old And Wise (Eric Woolfson Guide Vocal) 4'34
(Eric Woolfson / Alan Parsons)
13. Any Other Day (Studio Demo) 1'43
(Eric Woolfson)
14. Silence & I (Early Version - Eric Woolfson Guide Vocal) 1'33
(Eric Woolfson / Alan Parsons)
15. The Naked Eye 10'49
(Eric Woolfson / Alan Parsons)
16. Eye Pieces (Classical Naked Eye) 7'51
(Eric Woolfson / Alan Parsons)
Total Time: 77:09
Alan Parsons - Fairlight (1, 2, 8), Keyboards (6, 8), Linn Drum Machine (8) , Backing Vocals (6)
Ian Bairnson - Guitars (1, 5-10), Electric Guitar (2, 3), Acoustic Guitar (2, 3), Pedal Steel Guitar (4), Backing Vocals (7)
Eric Woolfson - Additional Keyboards (1), Keyboards (3-5, 9, 10), Wurlitzer (2), Vocals (2, 5), Backing Vocals (6)
Haydn Bendal) - Additional Keyboards (1)
Andrew Powell - Additional Piano (5)
Mel Colfins - Sax Solo (10)
John Wallace - Piccolo Trumpet (3)
David Paton - Bass (1-10), Vocals (3)
Stuart Elliott - Drums (1-7, 9, 10), Percussion (3), Additional Drums (8)
Chris Rainbow - Vocals (4), Backing Vocals (2, 9)
Lenny Zakatek - Vocals (6, 9), Backing Vocals (6)
Elmer Gantry - Vocals (7)
Colin Blunstone - Vocals (10)
Jack Harris - Backing Vocals (7)
The ENGLISH CHORALE: Bob Howes - Choirmaster (3, 7)
Produced by Alan Parsons
Executive Producer - Eric Woolfson
Engineered by Alan Parsons
Assistant Engineer -Tony Richards
Expanded Edition Mastered hy Dave Donnelly and Alan Parsons at DNA Mastering, Studio City, California.
Compiled for reissue by Eric Woolfson & Haydn Bendall (for Woolfsongs Ltd), Tim Fraser-Harding & )eff Magid (tor Sony BMC), and Alan Parsons.
Original Album Sleeve Design - HIPGNOSIS / APR / Colin Chambers
Photo of Surveillance Eye In The Sky courtesy of TROPICANA HOTEL, Las Vegas, a RAMADA RESORT and CASINO.
Photographer Keith W. Lehman
Additional Design for Expanded Edition - MAINARTERY
All Tracks Written by Eric Woolfson / Alan Parsons
Except 'Any Other Day' Written by Eric Woolfson
Published by
WOOLFSONGS Ltd / CAREERS MUSIC Inc. (BMI),
Adminstered by BMG,
Except 'Any Other Day' Published by WOOLFSONGS Ltd. (MCPS)
Original Album о1982 ARISTA RECORDS Inc.
All Bonus Tracks о1982, о2007, licensed Courtesy of
WOOLFSONGS Ltd.
Recorded and Mixed at ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS, London
Special Thanks To Tim Fraser-Harding, Haydn Bendall and Sally Seddon
The official Alan PARSONS PROJECT Website:
www.the-alan-parsons-project.com
www.the-alan-parsons-project.com
Eric WooIfson recalls hearing the 'Eye In The Sky'
expresston used 3 times in one day in different contexts
which inspired the title. Firstly, he was in tas Vegas
and a friend was marketing manager of the TROPICANA HOTEL & CASINO
and took him to see their surveillance stem, a small picture of which is on the inside album cover.
This surveillance system was known as the 'Eye In The Sky',
although these days they are apparently
much larger installations. In Eric's room in the hotel,
listening to the news, there was a reference to an 'Eye In The Sky'
spy satellite which had picked up some
military installation and at the end of the same bulletin,
the programme went over to the 'Eye In The Sky'
weather helicopter. So the phrase really stuck!
Somebody also pointed out that on the hack of a
dollar bill, there is an eye in the sky on top of a
'Pєramid' which made an obvious link.
In more general terms, the album is really about belief systems,
either political or religious without being in any way judgmental
or preaching, as Eric is a confirmed, but respectful atheist.
There's also an obvious connection to the gambling theme of
the earlier 'Turn Of A Friendly Card' album.
They say opposites attract and both Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson couldn't appear to be more different. The former, thoughtful and studious, has a past in recording music ingrained in history. Assistant engineer at EMI's Abbey Koad Studios when The Beatles were recording 'Let It Be' and 'Abbey Road', and later renowned as the engineer on Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of The Moon', Parsons soon made the jump to producer, storing immediate success with the likes of Cockney Rebel, Pilot, Al Stewart, John Miles and American an prog-rock band Ambrosia in the mid-'70s.
Woolfson, an amiable and engaging native of Glasgow, Scotland, travelled to London and worked as a songwriter for pop mogul Andrew Loog Oldham.
"Oldham took me to his offices, sent me into р room with
a piano and told me not to come out until I'd written a song for every artist in the Top 10, Woolfson recalls. "So i went into the room and wrote ten songs."
Turns for the likes of Frank Ifield, Marianne Faithfull,
The TREMOLOES and MARMELADE followed before a move into
production saw Wooifson work with The EQUALS and 10CC's
Graham Goutdman before turning his attention in
management. It was then the fateful meeting between
Woolfson and Parsons took place.
"I met Eric at ABBEY ROAD studios and we chatted
about record industry business matters", Parsons reveals.
"I'd already started working with PILOT and had some chart
success without earning much money and thought Eric
might steer me in the right direction. He offered to manage
me and within a few short days he came up with the idea
of a concept album based on the Edgar Allen ╨юх stories
and then he said, Oh by the way I've got some songs'.
I listened to them and was very impressed."
The seeds of what would become
'Tales Of Mystery And Imagination' were sown. Now all the pair needed was
a name.
"The Alan PARSONS PROJECT was originally used as a term to
describe the 'Tales' album. It was never our intention that
it would become the identity of an act, but somehow the
phrase stuck", says Parsons.
Although producer extraordinaire Alan Parsons may have had his
name lent to this talented, groundbreaking outfit and arranged the majestic sounds that emanated from
no less than ten successful studio albums, it was Woolfson who came up with the concept behind each album and wrote the bulk of the material, even lending his voice to some of the band's major hits
"In a typical manager fashion he chose to put his boy's name forward as the going to be the first producer's album and he would be the main songwriter and manager. Over the years
I think he regretted that. Maybe he helt it should have been the Parsons / Woolfson PROJECT. I've got mixed feelings about it. I had the reputation and production successes. Eric had less to go on as far as recognition".
The first APP album 'Tales Of Mystery And Imagination' was an immediate success, and a switch to ARISTA RECORDS for 77's 'I Robot' reaped even more rewards.
Over the next few years, albums like 'Pyramid' (1978), 'Eve' (1979) and 'The Turn Of A Friendly Card' (1980) firmly established The Alan PARSONS PROJECT as a major act around the world.
By the time the pair arrived at 'Eye In The Sky' they also reached their commercial peak with an album brimming with excellent material.
"We spent a lot of time in America promoting 'Eye In The Sky'," muses Parsons. "I remember being in the States driving around and hearing the title track on the radio three or four times a dav."
Few APP albums have made an impact on America like 'Eye In The Sky', and few tracks more so than the album opener, the pulsating instrumental 'Sirius'. It is used by several US basketball teams including The Chicago Bulls and by WWF wrestler Ricky, 'The Dragon' Steamboat. It was also utilised by rap star P. Diddy (formerly Puff Daddy) as the title track of his multi-platinum album 'The Saga Continues'.
Yet like all Alan PARSONS PROJECT albums, 'Eye In The Sky' is not about one track.
Employing their favoured method of using guest vocalists, long-time APP favourites Lenny Zakatek, Chris Rainbow and David Paton (ex-PILOT) all appear.
But perhaps, alongside 'Sirius', the defining moments that help make 'Eye In The Sky' manv people's favourite are Woolfson's own voice on the extremely catchy title track and Colin Blunstone's shimmering performance on the emotive ballad 'Old & Wise'.
The Alan PARSONS PROJECT continued releasing quality albums until 1987's 'Gaudi'. After a final project they worked on together entitled 'Freudiana', Parsons and Woolfson went their separate ways.
The former has carried on recording music as 'Alan PARSONS' and tours with his own band playing predominantly APP material,
while Woolfson has carved out an impressive track record in musical theatre around the world.
As this exquisitely repackaged set of reissues shows they leave behind them a unique and lasting legacy.
Jerry Ewing
CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE,
London, October 2006
EYE IN THE SKY
BONUS MATERIAL NOTES
by Eric Woolfson & Alan Parsons,
December 2006
The recording process contains many magical moments on the creative journey. The process is not unlike throwing a lump of clay on a potter's wheel and then shaping and re-shaping the material an infinite number of times until the potter Is satisfied. A casual observer might say 'but you had tiie pot within the first minute, why didn't you just leave It at that?' The art of the potter is to know just how far to go. The record producer's skill is to know when that point has been reached as far as the recordings are concerned and the writer has to apply a similar process to his compositions. They say a poem is never finished, it Is abandoned. The same could certainly be said of music, lyrics or any creative effort The great advantage of the recording process Is that as one keeps rough mixes as a guide, one can delve into stages before the point of abandonment and revisit some of the magic from earlier attempts or stages.
Whenever the core musicians complete a basic backing track,
there is a sensation of having reached a plateau and
although the eventual production may take the recording
in a totally different direction, at that moment something
rather special has been created which the music buyer is
often unaware of.
Amongst this collection of bonus material, there are several examples of the magical early takes and in this re-mastered version of Eye in the Sky, for those interested in the process, there is a unique opportunity to glimpse behind the curtain of the recording process.
From our personal point of view, it has been a fascinating experience to re-live these early stages, much of which were kept in archives and tape libraries and which might well have been forgotten with the passage of time but for the initiative of Tim Fraser-Harding at Sony BMG. We are also grateful to Haydn Bendall for his untiring patience and skill in assisting us in our trawl through the archives to compile this material.
Track 11 - Sirius (Demo)
AP "! often worked at home on writing instrumental tracks Jbat could be programmed and subsequently imported into the Studio environment where Eric and I would work on them together with the studio band. This demo of Sirius is an example of a very early version. We later changed the key to make it an intro to the title track.''
Track 12 - Old & Wise (EW guide vocal)
AP "Eric would always record a guide vocal at an early stage sometimes with only draft lyrics which were subsequently жrevised. This was most likely the version Colin Blunstone used to learn the song for his vocal on the master." Track 13 - Any Other Day (Studio Demo) ;|W "Although this song did not make it onto the original жalbum, it ts perhaps interesting for two reasons. Stylistically, ihere is a similarity between the arrangement of this track ^arwl the middle orchestral section of'Silence and I'. Secondly ╪х song is one of my personal favourites, though perhaps more suited to musical theatre and I'm currently in the process of completing it."
Track 14 - Silence & I (EW earn/ guide vocal)
EW "One of the most interesting things for me was to be reminded of the original middle section before the orchestra was added. Andrew Powell's masterful orchestral arrangement was added later, but here is the unembellisbed early version." Track 15 - The Naked Eye
Track 14 - Silence & I (EW Early Guide Vocal)
EW "One of the most interesting things for me was to be
reminded of the original middle section before the orchestra
was added. Andrew Powell's masterful orchestral arrangement
was added later, but here unembellished early version."
Track 15 - The Naked Eye
EW "The Naked Eye selection gives a glimpse behind the curtain of the recording studio prot:ess. One of the producer's roles is largely decision making as to what is used and what is not used and in this medley we have incorporated some early Ёух-lead vocal mixes and backing tracks which have a special magic of their own as well as individual tracks which were used in the final masters, and some which were not. As the composition of the album was thematic, it is perhaps no surprise that many of the component tracks fitted easily together. Speaking of magic moments, a feature of many of the project recordings are the masterful multi-track harmonies of Chris Rainbow ami we have included a small segment
where you can hear clearly what has only previously been submerged in the overall mix."
Track 16 - Eye Pieces (Classical Naked Eye)
EW "One of the most enjoyable magic parts of the recording process is the orchestral overdub session.
In this compilation, we have taken a selection of the orchestral tracks on their own.
Some of Andrew Powell's outstanding arrangements are heard here as we experienced them at the time.
Some of the component parts were not used in the final mix, but even those that were will not have been heard as they are here.
Some of the component parts can be easily identified, but the slow string section comes almost incredibly from the orchestral overdub on "Mammagamma" and only a small fragment was incorporated in the original mix.
At the end of the piece, we have included an experiment tried at the end of "Silence & I".
Andrew Powell and I built up a multi-piano idea, which was subsequently replaced by an orchestra."
1. Sirius
(instrumental)
2. Eye In The Sky
Don't think sorry's easily said
Don't try turning tables instead
You've taken lots of Chances before
But I'm not gonna give anymore
Don't ask me
That's how it goes
Cause part of me knows what you're thinkin'
Don't say words you're gonna regret
Don't let the fire rush to your head
I've heard the accusation before
And I ain't gonna take any more
Believe me
The sun in your Eyes
Made some of the lies worth believing
Chorus:
I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I don't need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind
Don't leave false illusions behind
Don't Cry cause I ain't chnaging my mind
So find another fool like before
Cause I ain't gonna live anymore believing
Some of the lies while all of the Signs are deceiving
Chorus
3. Children Of The Moon
Pay no attention to the writing on the wall
The words seem Empty cause there's nothing there at all
We let the wise men beat the Drums too soon
We were just children of the moon
No one to turn to
Nowhere to Run to even if we could
Too late to save us but try to understand
The seas were empty there was hunger in the land
We let the blind man lead the Way too long
Easy to see where we went wrong
Nothing to live for
Nothing to die for
We're Lost in the middle of a hopeless world
Lost in the Middle of a hopeless world
Children children of the moon watch the world go by
Children children of the moon are hiding from the sun and the sky
Children Children of the moon watch it all go by
Children children of the moon are Blinded by the light in their eyes
No one to turn to
Nowhere to run to even if we could
Follow the pilgrim to the Temple of the dawn
The altar's empty and the sacrifice is gone
We let the Madmen write the golden rules
We were no more than mortal fools
Nothing to live for
Nothing to die for
We're lost in the middel of a hopeless world
Lost in the Middle of a hopeless world
Children children of the moon watch the world go by
Children children of the Moon hiding from the sky
4.
Gemini
Watching waiting rising falling
Listening calling Drifting
Touching feeling seeing believing
Hoping sending leaving
I couldn't say why you and I are gemini
If I tried to write a Million words a day
I see your shadow coming closer
Then watch you drifting away
Watching Waiting rising falling
Listening calling Drifting
Touching feeling seeing believing
Hoping Sending leving
I couldn't say why you and I are gemini
We are travelling a million worlds away
I see your Shadow coming closer
Then watch you drifting away
5. Silence And I
If I cried out loud
Over sorrows I've known
And the secrets I've heard
It would ease my mind
Someone sharing the load
But I won't breathe a word
We're two of a kind
Silence and I
We need a chance to talk things over
Two of a kind
Silence and I
We'll find a way to work it out
While the children laughed
I was always afraid
Of the Smile of the clown
So I close my eyes
Till I can't see the light
And I hide from the sound
We're two of a kind
Silence and I
We need a chance to talk things over
Two of a kind
Silence and I
We'll find a way to work it out
I can hear the cry
Of the leaf on a tree
As it Falls to the ground
I can hear the call
Of an echoing voice
And there's no one around
We're two of a kind
Silence and I
We need a chance to talk things over
Two of a kind
Silence and I
We'll find a way to work it out
6. You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned
Watch me closely catch my eye
If you do I Beg you to remind me
Who is stronger who is Weak of those who seek
And don't know where to find me
Ask me why, I don't know
You ask Me why and I say
Now you see me now you don't
I thourght by now you'd learned
You're gonna get your Fingers burned
Watch me closely understand
That what you see is only an illusion
If I'm wrong and you are right
Then I will Light your darkness with confusion
Ask me why I don't know
You Ask me why and I say
Chances are you're playing with fire
I thought by now you'd learned
You're gonna get your fingers burned
Watch me closely be aware
That All I do is only to suprise you
Every move is sleight of hand
And every word is planned to mystify you
You ask me why I don't know
You ask me why and I say
Don't get fooled a second time
I thought By now you'd understand
You're gonna get your fingers burned
7. Psychobabble
Tell you 'bout a dream that I have every night
Tell you 'bout a Dream that I have every night
It ain't kodachrome and it isn't black and white
Take me for a fool if you feel that's right
Well I'm Never on my own but there's nobody in sight
I don't know if I'm scared of the Lightning
Trying to reach me
I can't turn to the left or the right
I'm too scared to run and I'm too weak to fight
But I don't Care it's all psychobabble rap to me
Tell you 'bout a dream that I have every night
It's in dolby stereo but I never hear it right
Take me for a fool well that's alright
Well I see the way to go But there isn't any light
I don't know why I'm scared of the lightning
Trying to reach me
Help me to find what I don't wanna know
You're taking me There but I don't wanna go
I don't care it's all Psychobabble rap to me
Psychobabble all psychobabble
Psychobabble all psychobabble
I don't care it's all psychobabble rap to me
You're readin' my mind you won't look in my eyes
You say I do things that I don't Realise
But I don't care it's all psychobabble rap to me
Psychobabble all psychobabble
Psychobabble all psychobabble
You're lighting a scene that's faded to black
I threw it away cause I don't want it back
But I don't care it's all psychbabble rap
8. Mammagamma
(instrumental)
9. Step By Step
I was just a joker in a serious game
I Didn't have the Heart to play
But sooner or later
I'll find a reason to throw it away
Risin' on the crest of a natural wave
That Never seems to break my way
I'm livin' without it
But I got to Do something about it
Step by step little by little
Step by step take it line by line
Move move move, move a Little closer
I was Just a runner in a one horse race
Livin' on the don't pass line
Sooner or later
I got to lose cause I'm wasting my time
Lady luck must have been a wonderful girl
She's never been a Friend of mine
I'm living without her
But I still got that mountain to climb
Step by step little by little
Step by step rake it line by line
Move move move, move a little closer
Step by step the deal is mine
10. Old And Wise
As far as my eyes can see
There are Shadows approaching me
And to those I left behind
I wanted you to Know
You've always shared my deepest thoughts
You follow where I go
And oh when I'm old and wise
Bitter words mean little to me
Autumn Winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time
When they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine
And the sadness would be Lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise
As far as my eyes can see
There are shadows surrounding me
And to those I leave behind
I want you all to know
You've always shared my darkest hours
I'll miss you when I go
And oh, when I'm old and wise
Heavy words that tossed and blew me
Like autumn winds that will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time
When they ask you if you knew me
Remember that You were a frined of mine
As the final curtain falls before my eyes
Oh when I'm Old and wise
As far as my eyes can see
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