Alan Parsons Project / Pink Floyd / Abbey Road.......

[Ani]

Behind the scenes...

 

The Internet is a great place to backtrack and learn things about some of your favorite artists that you never even questioned.

 

Listening to some of Pink Floyd's individual members post Pink Floyd, none of them, as a solo act, quite capture anything that made the full group mystical and magical. Sometimes a group as a whole is far better than it's individual parts; sometimes one band member stands out above the rest. In the case of Dark Side of the Moon, I am now curious as to whether or not the backbone of Pink Floyd's success resided in the hands of Alan Parsons as the engineer. It would be cool to see some of the original DSOTM songs PRE-production. Was Dark Side of the Moon a case where the engineer made everything work, but the band swept the credit?

 

I've always been a fan of the Alan Parsons Project "Time", "Raven", "Sirius", and other great tunes they released. I never realized that Alan Parsons was connected with Pink Floyd in any way until just recently. I never realized that Alan Parsons was a successful recording engineer. I just knew that the APP band was awesome; one that stood out above most in that era. I was sad, as a kid, that their releases were limited to just a handful of great tunes. They had that same great flow as Pink Floyd, one of the headliners just prior to that time. I see the mystical magic in Parsons work, as an artist, that was present in DSOTM.... the magic that lacks in anything done by the solo members of Pink Floyd.

 

While running a few inquiries as to Alan Parsons as an engineer; he has quite an amazing record. Wow, what time will reveal.

[rasputin1963]

I heard a recent story on BBC4 radio about him; his is the classic case of a guy working at the service of others who woke up one day and thought, "Gee, I can do it as well or better than they can!"

 

....and proceeded to do so.

[Mr. Botch]

Ani, to see some pre-production DSOTM work, pick up the DVD "Behind the Scenes: the making of DSOTM".

[Ani]

Well, hanging on these forums for as long as I've been a part of the community; I have witnessed several threads where engineers have contributed their talents to the overall sound of an artist's works and failed to be recognized for their musical contributions.

 

I've been involved in threads where producers have all but rewritten the tunes, and yet, not received any writer credits; only production credits. Of course, I did see that Parsons had scored a couple of Grammy's on his works with PF...

[Ani]

 

Ani, to see some pre-production DSOTM work, pick up the DVD "Behind the Scenes: the making of DSOTM".

 

 

There is actually such a DVD? I just used Behind the scenes at the beginning of this thread at random.

 

Have you ever heard the DVD and are the initial tracks lacking in comparison to the final outcome?

[Ani]

 

Ani, to see some pre-production DSOTM work, pick up the DVD "Behind the Scenes: the making of DSOTM".

 

 

I read some of the reviews on Amazon and will be ordering the DVD. Should be interesting. One of the reviews said that Parsons actually goes into detail about the dissecting and relayering of tracks.

[Dean Roddey]

Personally, I think that Roger Water's "Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking" is better than anything Floyd did as a group. Though, given that I think that they are one of the greatest groups ever, that's not putting Floyd down, but just saying how good the Roger Waters album is. It's just an amazing piece of work.

[Ani]

I dug up a few of Waters solo tunes on Playlist.com and really wasn't incredibly impressed with those that I listened to. Maybe I just picked a few sour apples. A couple started out strong and then began to get monotonous/redundant; I got bored before listening to them all the way through. I did notice, however, that he was one of the main writers for PF.... good stuff.

 

DSOTM just has so much FLOW, up/down movement in chord progressions, rises and falls in the sound levels, and the whole production is just mesmerizing. I didn't get that with the solo performances from Waters or Gilmour either one. I do, on the other hand, here those qualities whenever I listen to "Time" or "Raven" by Alan Parsons.

[Dean Roddey]

Pros and Cons of Hitchiking isn't one that you really can listen to just a few songs. It's a conceptual album even more so than things like The Wall, and is intended to be listened to as a piece. Waters was actually the primary song writer in Pink Floyd. If you want to pick one song out though, listen to "Every Stranger's Eyes".

[blue2blue]

I heard a recent story on BBC4 radio about him; his is the classic case of a guy working at the service of others who woke up one day and thought, "Gee, I can do it as well or better than they can!" ....and proceeded to do so.

 

 

 

Mind you, I loved early Pink Floyd, right up through and including Dark Side. (I was phenomally sick of that album and, really, still am, but have been reliving it every once in a while through the charming and quite effective Dub Side of the Moon.)

 

I think there is a real divide between people who came up with Floyd from the beginning and those who became aware of PF because of Dark Side and then went on to bond with stuff like Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. [None of which did anything much for me. WYWH, in fact, was a huge disappointment, because, when it came out, I was still a big and active PF fan, despite being sick-to-death of Dark Side.]

 

 

From the word go, I found the Alan Parsons Project to be, at best, music suitable for white-wine-and-cheese parities for us yuppies-in-training. Put on Alan Parsons, follow it up with Boz Scaggs' Silk Degrees after desert as the tiki-torches were being lighted. Follow with a little Utopia. Pretty much yawnsville.

 

 

[DISCLAIMER: There is no such thing as bad music. If someone/anyone likes it, it has value. The appreciation of music is personal and subjective. It is perfectly OK for someone to hate the music I love. In fact, they probably do in many cases. ]

[Ani]

Pros and Cons of Hitchiking isn't one that you really can listen to just a few songs. It's a conceptual album even more so than things like The Wall, and is intended to be listened to as a piece. Waters was actually the primary song writer in Pink Floyd. If you want to pick one song out though, listen to "Every Stranger's Eyes".

 

 

Didn't find it on Playlist.com, but found it on YouTube. Much better than those available on Playlist.com. This one was live,not embellished by studio charm, and was still pretty good. Listening to "Each Small Candle" on YouTube right now and it has a good strong start. Playlist.com didn't have much to choose from regarding Waters. Still listening... love the music, but Waters isn't quite as good of a singer as Gilmour..... but the music is there in this one.

 

I still think that Parsons added a special spark to DSOTM. Sorry, Blue, must be that yuppie in training in me.

 

Okay, I'm hearing a lot of good stuff by Waters on YouTube, most of it's live. There's some backbone there. I like a lot of the obscure lyrics that he writes. Some of those on Playlist.com were petty and mushy songs; not the deep stuff. I like DEEP! Thanks Dean!!!!

[blue2blue]

Agreed on Parson's contributions to DSotM. And no apologies necessary, Ani!

 

If we all liked the same stuff, how boring would that be? It'd be like living in Irvine, CA, or something.

[Alndln2]

I think there is a real divide between people who came up with Floyd from the beginning and those who became aware of PF because of Dark Side and then went on to bond with stuff like Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall .

Although I liked Syd's spirit, my favorite is still Umma Gumma which is right after he left and before the change. Even though they changed later on, I always kind of felt that they based almost everything on his descent into madness in some way or another, so even though I wasn't as much a fan anymore, I was somehow reminded of him even with the later stuff.

[Ed A.]

Here's a link to "The Making of the Dark Side of the Moon" with an interview of Alan Parsons demonstrating some engineering details (at 1:41-2:30 and 6:59-8:00):

 

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LMa-vfu4frY&feature=related

 

Also in the same clip, at 3:40-5:47, Gilmore explains how "On the Run" was done with a Synthi-A.

 

-

[Super 8]

Roger Waters' "Amused to Death" is an amazing and very engaging album. Like Pros and Cons it's an album you put on and listen to in it's entirety. I can't listen to it any other way. If I start in the middle I want to go to the beginning, if I start at the beginning, I can't stop listening till the end. That whole "Ballad of Bill Hubbard" about a WWI vet recalling his attempts to carry a wounded friend to safety and ultimately being forced to leave him behind, pretty much hooked me for the rest of the album. The whole album paints quite a picture.

 

 

I think there is a real divide between people who came up with Floyd from the beginning and those who became aware of PF because of Dark Side and then went on to bond with stuff like Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall .

 

Yeah, that would be me. I loved Dark Side. I think Animals is a more consistent album, and it's probably my favorite. Much less enthralled with Wish You Were Here.

[Ani]

Here's a link to "The Making of the Dark Side of the Moon" with an interview of Alan Parsons demonstrating some engineering details (at 1:41-2:30 and 6:59-8:00): http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LMa-vfu4frY&feature=related Also in the same clip, at 3:40-5:47, Gilmore explains how "On the Run" was done with a Synthi-A. -

 

Wow, thank you Ed, there were six parts total and I just watched all six of them. Great band efforts.... and yeah, I heard several of the raw tracks; Parsons was as much there as the band members were in the making of the magic. All accomplished minus the automation.....

 

At one point, I had to chuckle when they said there were times where all of them had their hands on the console at once. I've been there before, where there were three of us all rotating the L/R buttons to give the recording the vibe of a helicopter circling around the room. We were pretty much drunk at the time, but the mix that became of our madness is one that we've never been able to match. That was probably one of the most FUN recording sessions I've ever participated in.

[Ani]

 

Yeah, that would be me. I loved Dark Side. I think Animals is a more consistent album, and it's probably my favorite. Much less enthralled with Wish You Were Here.

 

 

DSotM is still my all time favorite album EVER!!!! EVER!!!!!!!!

 

It's just kind of cool to see that another one of my all time favorites was in collaboration in the efforts.

[Ed A.]

Funny how Gilmore now looks like a college professor from Oxford.

[Lee Flier]

In the case of Dark Side of the Moon, I am now curious as to whether or not the backbone of Pink Floyd's success resided in the hands of Alan Parsons as the engineer. It would be cool to see some of the original DSOTM songs PRE-production. Was Dark Side of the Moon a case where the engineer made everything work, but the band swept the credit?

 

 

No. If that were the case, every other record Alan Parsons engineered would be just as successful as DSOTM.

 

It was a killer band working with a killer engineer, plain and simple. It was obviously a collaboration that worked, it wasn't anybody being the "backbone." And Parsons has certainly not gone unrecognized for his part in it!

[nursers]

Most people don't realise that the term 'Parson's Nose' (a part of the chicken) is named after Alan Parsons due to his nose for a great tune

[Lee Flier]

:D :D

[nice keetee]

Parson Floyd. Martin Beatles.

[rasputin1963]

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this blue... Will I dampen the love-fest by admitting that I cannot abide Floyd in any of their manifestations? I even saw them in concert way-y back during their flying pink pigs tour... tagged along with some friends. I just never felt the love. I toss them into a cloth drawstring bag, along with Joni Mitchell and Laurie Anderson, then take a Sharpie and label the bag PEOPLE WHO HAVE CRAWLED UP THEIR OWN BUMS WITH SELF-INDULGENT PRETENTIOUS MISH-MOSH, FOISTED IT UPON THE PUBLIC AND CALLED IT ART.

[Ani]

Funny how Gilmore now looks like a college professor from Oxford.

 

Yeah, I noticed that. Not quite as much of a honey as he used to be. Not at all bad, but he's lost that "FREEDOM IS ME" look and now looks like a white collar stiff.

 

Roger Waters actually looks BETTER with age.

[Jeff da Weasel]

My feeling is that a huge amount of Floyd's best stuff was done without any involvement of Alan Parsons... including Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. Floyd had already established their avant-garde vibe long before DSOTM, and even afterwards both Gilmour and Waters had some great solo stuff.

 

So, it's not like Parson did a bad job on DSOTM, but he only represented one small aspect of the Floyd sound, and only for a short time frame. I can't say that you should assign too much importance to his role there.