This is must have album for prog-heads, or for those with a technical bent to their music, but admittedly its not as commercial as the many Alan Parsons Project albums which followed.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Alan Parsons Project
ALBUM: I Robot
LABEL: Arista
SERIAL: 4C 064-99168
YEAR: 1977
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Alan Parsons – acoustic guitars, keyboards, projectron-vocoder * Ian Bairnson – guitars * Eric Woolfson – keyboards * Duncan Mackay – keyboards * B.J Cole – steel guitar * David Paton – bass, guitars * Stuart Tosh – drums * John Leach – cimbalom, kantele
Additional Musicians: Allan Clarke, Steve Harley, Jack Harris, Peter Straker, Jaki Whitren, Dave Townsend, Lenny Zatatek – vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 I Robot * 02 I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You * 03 Some Other Time * 04 Breakdown * 05 Don’t Let It Show * 06 The Voice * 07 Nucleus * 08 Day After Day (The Show Must Go On) * 09 Total Eclipse * 10 Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 32
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
This is the second album from the extensive collection of material from the Alan Parsons Project. Perhaps considered to be their darkest album, when one looks at the theme, lyrics, and musical bombast used throughout. The theme (in a nutshell), sees the rise of the robot, and demise of man, where man has created the robot in his image. In any case, through the lyrical doom and gloom rather ironically comes some musical brightness.
The Songs
The progressive strains of 70’s keyboards kicks off on the title track, followed by their massive worldwide hit ‘I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You’. ‘Some Other Time’ has some nice orchestrated parts, on what is essentially an acoustic pop ballad. Allan Clarke of The Hollies gets to sing lead on ‘Breakdown’. This is followed by the gorgeous but melancholy ‘Don’t Let It Show’.
‘The Voice’ is a catchy but one dimensional ditty keeping in touch with the albums theme, as does the choral mixture of ‘Nucleus’. Another ballad takes shape with ‘Day After Day’ (The Show Must Go On), while the closing two tracks ‘Total Eclipse’ and ‘Genesis Ch 1 v.32’ perhaps best represent the end of world theme being followed on the album.
In Summary
Altogether though, this is must have album for prog-heads, or for those with a technical bent to their music. Not as commercial as the many Alan Parsons Project albums which followed. So for those purists among you, then this one, and probably their debut ‘Tales Of Mystery And Imagination’ from 1976 are worth collecting. If like me, you’ll have just about every Alan Parsons Project album in your collection.
Alan Parsons Project on Video
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