I Robot

by The Alan Parsons Project, Alan Parsons

Overview

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. Borrowing not just its title but concept from Isaac Asimov's classic sci-fi Robot trilogy, this album explores many of the philosophies regarding artificial intelligence -- will it overtake man, what does it mean to be man, what responsibilities do mechanical beings have to their creators, and so on and so forth -- with enough knotty intelligence to make it a seminal text of late-'70s geeks, and while it is also true that appreciating I Robot does require a love of either sci-fi or art rock, it is also true that sci-fi art rock never came any better than this. Compare it to Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, released just a year after this and demonstrating some clear influence from Parsons: that flirts voraciously with camp, but this, for all of its pomp and circumstance, for all of its overblown arrangements, this is music that's played deadly serious. Even when the vocal choirs pile up at the end of "Breakdown" or when the Project delves into some tight, glossy white funk on "The Voice," complete with punctuations from robotic voices and whining slide guitars, there isn't much sense of fun, but there is a sense of mystery and a sense of drama that can be very absorbing if you're prepared to give yourself over to it. The most fascinating thing about the album is that the music is restless, shifting from mood to mood within the course of a song, but unlike some art pop there is attention paid to hooks -- most notably, of course, on the hit "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You," a tense, paranoid neo-disco rocker that was the APP's breakthrough. It's also the closest thing to a concise pop song here -- other tunes have plenty of hooks, but they change their tempo and feel quickly, which is what makes this an art rock album instead of a pop album. And while that may not snare in listeners who love the hit (they should turn to Eye in the Sky instead, the Project's one true pop album), that sense of melody when married to the artistic restlessness and geeky sensibility makes for a unique, compelling album and the one record that truly captures mind and spirit of the Alan Parsons Project. [Legacy's 2007 reissue is wonderfully remastered and contains demos of "Breakdown," "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You," and "Day After Day," along with the previously unreleased track "The Naked Robot."] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	03/20/2007
Label:	Arista / Arista Legacy / Sony Music Distribution
UPC:	0828768152423

Tracks

1. I Robot
2. I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You
3. Some Other Time
4. Breakdown
5. Don't Let It Show
6. The Voice
7. Nucleus
8. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)
9. Total Eclipse
10. Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32
11. Boules
12. Breakdown
13. I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You
14. Day After Day
15. The Naked Robot

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Alan Parsons   Primary Artist,Loops,Vocals,Vocoder,Keyboards,Mellotron,Synthesizer,Guitar (Acoustic),Vocals (Background)
The Alan Parsons Project   Primary Artist
David Katz   Violin
Duncan Mackay   Keyboards,Synthesizer
Hillary Weston   Vocals
John Perry   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Dave Townsend   Vocals
Smokey Parsons   Vocals
Stuart Salver   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
New Philharmonia Chorus   Choir/Chorus
Allan Clarke   Guitar,Vocals
Tony Rivers   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
John Leach   Kantele,Cimbalom,Percussion
Steve Harley   Vocals
B.J. Cole   Guitar (Steel)
Jack Harris   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Eric Woolfson   Organ,Piano,Vocals,Vocoder,Clavinet,Keyboards,Wurlitzer,Clavichord,Vocals (Background)
Lenny Zakatek   Vocals
Stuart Calver   Vocals
Stuart Tosh   Drums,Vocals,Percussion,Water Gong
Jaki Whitren   Vocals
English Chorale   Choir/Chorus
Andrew Powell   Organ,Conductor,Orchestra,Organ (Hammond)
Ian Bairnson   Guitar,Vocals,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
David Townsend   Vocals
David Paton   Bass,Guitar,Vocals,Guitar (Acoustic),Vocals (Background)
John Wallace   Piccolo Trumpet
Peter Straker   Vocals
Hilary Western   Vocals,Soprano (Vocal)

Technical Credits

Eric Woolfson   Producer,Composer,Lyricist,Projection,Executive Producer
David Katz   Orchestra Contractor
George Hardie   Design
Richard Manning   Illustrations
Hipgnosis   Photography,Cover Design
Patrick Stapley   Assistant Engineer
Not.Applicable   Composer,Lyricist,Producer
Pat Stapley   Assistant Engineer
Alan Parsons   Effects,Composer,Engineer,Lyricist,Producer,Projection,Programming,Sequencing Programmer,Synthesizer Programming
Andrew Powell   Arranger,Composer,Choir Arrangement,Orchestral Arrangements
Chris Blair   Mastering,Assistant Engineer