I was picked up as a hitch hiker by Alan Parsons in the about 1984 (a two hour journey), I remember he asked what music I liked and I replied I loved Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here I had only just got into Pink Floyd very recently through a friend (he had one Floyd tape, we were both young and poor), he then pulled Wish You Were Here from the glove box and I was thinking wow what a coincidence he has the album, after finishing that album he then said you should listen to Dark Side if you like Pink Floyd, which he then also pulled from the glove box, it was the first time I had ever heard the album and I was genuinely blown away and totally lost for words which I think he took joy in hearing/watching, when it got to the Clare Torry part, I was like a enthusiastic 5 year old kid at this point and I tried to convey how impressive her voice was but was stuck for words, he then said he was responsible for her being on the album, and I then immediately started to think who is this guy? he never told me, I just thought he was some rich business man has he had an air of calm gravitas about him and a very expensive car a brand new Merc 560 SEL I think (which impressed me when the car stopped to give me a lift). A really nice guy and just like in this video, bizarrely he almost looks the same as in 1984, other than a bit of grey. It was a sunny day and a lovely journey it really stuck in my head, I bought the album a few days later, I can remember it as if it was yesterday.
He was right in the middle of recording Ammonia Avenue in 1984 with the Alan Parsons Project. Or he may have just finished wrapping up the album. That is pretty damn cool that you got a ride from THE Alan Parsons.
You probably gave him a great memory also. Not every producer gets to see a real fan react to their (Grammy nominated) LP for the first time. What an authentic experience it must have been to get the feedback of the looks on you face. Pretty rad.
Such a great talent. And APP had some really innovative ideas in the 70's and 80's.. Sad to see the traditional recording prosess lost to the digital age...
Alan Parsons needs more recognition for his work. Tales of Mystery and Imagination, I Robot, Eve, The Turn of a Friendly Card, Eye in the Sky, Ammonia Avenue, Vulture Culture and Guadi are incredible albums.
@@LoveOneAnotherHeSaid Why not? Wth are you talking about after "he does not"? What all happened for decades? He's only just started to get the recognition he deserved (along with Eric Woolfson too) right from their very first album. And, sadly, it came far too late for Eric.
This was the first album I ever owned. I think my dad gave me my(his) vinyl copy in 1987 when I was 11. I've still got it. I first heard the album when I was 8. It was my first real experience with musical experimentation and my first real inspiration as a musician. I have Autism and didn't have many friends as a young kid. I spent a lot of time home alone (it was the 80's). One afternoon I decided to go through my dad's record collection; mostly to look at the covers. When I got to the one with nothing on the outside but a shaft of light being split by a prism, my curiosity got the better of me. I had to know what it was. My dad had a big Sansui stereo system with the quadraphonic tower speaker setup. The speakers were of his own design and construction, and I remember that they had foreboding ox-blood burlap grilles over the 15" and 10" main cones that screamed "you're not supposed to mess with us, kid!" And they were right; I was not supposed to go anywhere near them. That stereo system was my dad's other child. I figured I'd just have a little listen and nobody would be the wiser. It took me a few minutes, but I figured out how to power up the amp, select speakers, select a source, and with a bit more difficulty, how to get the phonograph spinning at 33 and 1/3 rpm. From the first moments of the heartbeat fading into existence as the album opened, I was lost in the sounds and totally enraptured by the completely foreign nature of the sounds I heard. When my dad came home, I was sitting cross-legged about a foot from the face of one of the speakers, eyes closed, listening intently. I didn't even notice him; I was somewhere else. He just sat and watched until the first side ended- and then flipped the disc for me. Years later he told me that he knew something was happening for me just then and didn't want to get in the way. From that day on, I immersed myself in every and any music I could get my hands on. I studied several instruments and also became a vocalist. Eventually I spent 20 something years of my life as a working musician. At one point I played over 300 cities a year for three years consecutively and had a gig all 365 nights of the year. I played in blues bands, funk bands, rock bands, metal bands, peanut shells on the dirt floor country bands. I traveled by plane, by helicopter, by train, by boat, by van, you name it; if it floats rolls or flies I've been in one. I've seen 4 continents as a musician and a dang fair slice of every nook and cranny of the U.S.A. I've slept in beautiful hotels, on stages, on couches, in tents and by the side of the road. I got paid, "compensated" to varying degrees of satisfaction or not, just plain screwed over and everything in between. It was an amazing ride that doesn't really exist anymore (at least, for now) and I wouldn't take any of it back for the world. But I'm pretty sure it all started that day when I heard this album at 8 years old and got my mind blown wide open.
Just an awesome moment that was! Often times we punish our kids for “not obeying”, but that way we kill their curiosity and zest for life to a certain extent. It’s important sometimes to just let them experiment and explore the world.
Pink Floyd is my favourite rock band of all time; bar none. True story: I was working with my Dad (I was about 16), and as we walked back to the truck after finishing a job, he saw a cassette tape sitting in the parking lot. It had been driven over and cracked, and even had some of the tape unwound out of the cassette case, and the tape was broken. At the time, I had a giant ghetto-blaster I listened to the contemporary music of the time on (Elton John, Wings, etc.; pop music of that generation.), and my Dad picked up the cassette and carried it into the truck, handing it to me, and asking if I knew what this was; I read the label, and said I didn't. He didn't either (this is not a "father introducing son" story; my Dad was 62 years old when I was 16, and wasn't listening to Floyd, or any other such music!) "I'll fix it for you", he said, and we took it home, he spliced the tape, glued the cracked casing, and a day later gave it to me to listen on my player... The tape was, as could have been anticipated by now, "Dark Side of The Moon". I discovered DSoTM by my Dad picking up a broken cassette off the road in 1978. It (naturally) blew me away; I played it for him; he liked it too (or at least, appreciated the production of it), and it was shortly after that time that I bought my first stereo system (it's why I was working at 16!), a Yamaha system... and with the purchase, I looked for a Pink Floyd album to christen my system on. Ironically, after flipping through the Floyd album selections (not knowing nothing from nothing), the cover of "Wish You Were Here" caught my eye (the iconic man shaking another man's hand, who happens to be completely ablaze!), and I couldn't put it down; THIS was the next Pink Floyd record I would try. I bought it with my new stereo system. Going home, I unpacked with unmatched expectations my boxes of components, connected all the wiring, double checked everything, sliced open WYWH, placed it gently on the turntable, and lowered the needle onto the spinning vinyl... an organ holding on forever; what is that? French horns? Gilmour plucking ... Dum-dum-dum-duuuuuuuum..... "Shine On...", ending with that saxaphone; then "Welcome to The Machine"... I was shivering! I had my new stereo (it was set up in our basement) BLARING! Next, "Have a Cigar", and "Wow!", and then: BOOM! My BRAND NEW STEREO SYSTEM just blew a gasket! OR SOMETHING... Bam! The music was coming through in scratchy, barely audible whisper! WHAT THE FUCK! I jumped off my back from lying on the floor listening, to turn off the system before any further damage could be done! And just as I was about to switch it off, "Wish You Were Here" started playing ... What I'd been thrown into a near heart attack about was the ending of "Have a Cigar"... The last 10 seconds of the song, which drops out into a distant radio playing mode. "FUCK YOU, Pink Floyd! FUCK YOU! ... Fuck... I love you...", and as my heart beat calmed and I stopped hyperventilating, I lay back down, finished listening to one of the most masterful experiences in my life, and then went out the next weekend to buy my next Floyd album...
I grew up being brainwashed with the Dark Side of The Moon - when I was a young boy in the early 70's me and my lovely Dad went to house party at the neighbours next door, who had bought himself a mega-impressive turntable, amplifier and speakers, and was playing Dark Side of The Moon full blast! Dad was soooo impressed, both with the gear and the album, that the very next week he too bought himself an expensive turntable, amplifier etc., plus the vinyl of this album. Every Saturday afternoon thereafter, week after week (for I don't know how long) he would sit in his armchair listening to the album at maximum volume! Needless to say, I grew up loving the album, and 40-odd years later from those far-off days of the early 70's, I can definitively say this is my MOST FAVORITE ALBUM EVER, bar none!!! Thanks Dad (RIP) for brainwashing me with the most incredible music ever!!!
@Kevin Counihan I said that because it's obvious that this guy knows this album was originally a vinyl. He grew in the 70's, so he is totally aware of the evolution of mediums for listening to music. He specified that the album his father bough was a vinyl to share the feeling he had, remembering the readers that the story takes place in the 70s. I don't say to you that we don't want to learn, I'm just saying you don't have to correct people on every little details because you though it was useless or incorrect. It's just highly annoying. One thing you could do if you really have to, is change the way you point it out, being more a friendly guy who mentions it rather than a teacher saying you made a mistake.
I’ll be playing Rick Wright’s “Us & Them” and “The Great Gig in the Sky” when I arrive at my death, hopefully late, in love, and a little drunk. (Aside: This will all be following a massive intake of #StevePerry’s singing.) 🎶🎶🎶
I heard this album the first time in 1973 when I was eight years old. Nothing on earth sounded anything like Dark Side of The Moon. It was crisper, cleaner, clearer, fuller, and more captivating than anything else I had ever heard. A total revolution in sound production, which is probably why it is still discussed today.
I think what makes DSOTM so special is the extraordinary coincidence of pieces falling into place like Alan Parsons, Claire Tory and many others. An absolute masterpiece that will last as long as there is music.
Claire Torry's incredible vocal improvisation on "The Great Gig In The Sky" was the biggest achievement in my view. She literally made it up as she went along. There was hardly any rehearsal beforehand. The wailing of her voice just happened to make a melodic pattern, which fitted perfectly with the preceding track. How DOES that happen ? It was truly a minor miracle !
@@gribwitch Fully agree with you. Whenever I listen to this masterpiece of modern music I’m eagerly awaiting that very part of it. Seems that Pink Floyd later needed to reward her for this defining contribution which to me is appropriate.
I absolutely love DSOTM. One of the greatest albums ever. And Alan's work has always been in the mix of it all. But I really wanted to tell Alan, if I were to ever meet him or get a chance to ever interview him, that APP was one of those most amazing bands of my lifetime. I Robot is like DSOTM for me, just an amazing set from start to finish. "Some Other Time" is purely epic. "Breakdown" and "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You" nearly perfect pop records. But also, not to mention the following records. Loved APP back in the day. Still do. They are great to revisit from time to time to get into something more obscure but familiar. Soundscapes and excellent writing and composing. So cheers to Alan for not only his Beatles/Floyd work, but for APP as well.
I remember my first time hearing I Robot. It was during a very dark, depressing, disturbing time in the mental state that I was in. This album seemed to make me feel like it was a big soundtrack to my life then. I listened to it over and over. But it also made me think deeper and darker. I got even more depressed. This album would drag me into depression many times, and sooth it too, if I already was in a state of depression. The same could be said about Alan's work on the Dark Side of The Moon. I don't know if he worked at all on other Pink Floyd albums, because I get a sense of his work on Wish You Were Here, as well as The Wall. The Wall hit me hard too, but only in the past few years. I had never even seen the movie, let alone listened to the full album. Just didn't happen. I wasn't feeling it for much of my life. But now that I'm older, watched the movie, heard the album in full, over and over, that in any other fashion, could have been my life story. I'm sure that even if Alan Parsons didn't have any direct connection to the other albums, he must have gave the Pink Floyd boys tools to use and ideas to keep using on those albums, knowing that they work well. Kudos to Alan Parsons and Pink Floyd.
Our local PBS station used the opening electric piano chords for bumper music during Station ID time. In fact, they used the entire I Robot LP for bumper music---I think I even heard some songs on a few episodes of NOVA? Very appropriate music for SERIOUS public television--I mean, you would want Oscar the Grouch singing "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" on Sesame Street!
Omg yes! I heard that not long ago and quickly fell in love. Great great stuff thanks for the reminder!
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I do remember that one from the "I Robot" album but my favorite even to this day is "Day after day" which is a bit sad but so true. BTW "I Robot" is my favorite APP album, I got them all.
She ended up taking Pink Floyd to court over this and I think she got a back payment out of it, she's certainly now credited as co-author of the song so she's getting her share of royalties, and rightly so!
I call it The Great Orgasm in the Sky, and I have heard many try to out sing Claire, or even equal her effort, with no success whatsoever. There was a woman I heard this year do it, and she was so good she brought me to my feet, but she was attempting to do Claire note-for-note, and didn’t quite make it. She was very close, though, and it was one of the greatest live music performance thrills of my very long life.
Yes, he plays guitar, keys, and flute, but he is no 'master' of the traditional instrument - and that is from his own mouth. I saw him back in the 90's at the 'Walk Down Abbey Road' tour. He came on and played the Beatles' 'Blackbird'. Before he started (and it was a solo performance), half jokingly he said something like, 'I honestly don't know what I'm doing up here - I'm just a bloody engineer!' His performance was acceptable, but not 'masterful'. NOTE: He IS a master at recording technique and his ability to place individual pieces of what make up music into form is unparalleled.
When this album came out I was 13 and my sister and I had just gone in together and bought a pair of Bose 901 speakers, because that was all I could talk about after reading about them in my favorite magazine, Popular Mechanics. It took us a couple months to save up the $250 (quite a bit for the time), but when we finally bought and got the speakers home and setup, we were debating on which music to listen to first and my first suggestion was Mahler's 9th (I was a bit of a musical snob and considered Rock a lot of unnecessary noise) when sis brought out her newest album, Dark Side of the Moon. I started to protest to Rock and Roll to be the first thing to come through them, when she reminded me I had been saying I wanted to expand my musical horizons, so why not give this a try. We sat between those 901s and I wasn't instantly smitten when it began, but by the time On the Run faded, we just looked at each other and were silent (stunned?). We absorbed that album, like the ground soaks up water. When we snapped out of our reverie to change sides, we still didn't say anything, we just started the second side and closed our eyes, ready to be transported back into the music and the myriad of emotions/feelings that wash over you as you listen. A transformative experience for that adolescent. I'm now 60 and still enjoy listening to that album and always in its entirety, never just a track or two.
Hahaha, due to his work as a sound engineer assistant for classical recordings, my dad was kind of a musical snob too. But when I brought in this album he was thrilled and from then on, he accepted this stuff as well as ‚serious music‘ 😄 (and today I enjoy Mahler, Debussy, Stravinsky & Co the same way).
V.E., you hit too many of my recall buttons... I was moaping about Thursday, 22 March 1973... and at the last minute went to see PF at the Hampton Roads Coliseum Bought a ticket at the door and had a good stadium seat. Knew of them from record shop employee days but had not heard the DSOTM album yet. Yes, mind-blowing 4 channel surround sound and effects. They set off a gas bomb? that lit up the stage, set off by a triple bass drum beat. It "blew" the audience into a standing ovation. I recall a RtoR 4 channel tape deck being "one of the instruments" on stage. Wondering if Mr. Parsons (or anyone) knows what parts were being played thru it? So when the album hit the Langley AFB BX I snapped it up. Went home and cranked up the Bose 901s to the clipping level led diodes on a Bose 500W amp. Sat on the floor in easy pose and practiced yogic breath control till my body dissolved and flowed out my mouth, reassembling in a vision of meditating by a lake, all in shades of pink. Senses went from flowing in, to flowing out, and a feeling of being "complete" brought a tear to my eye...and boom I was "back" With the deepest transcendental life changing experience of my now 74 years. One of those speakers is the "7" in my current 7.1 home theater system. What a time it was.....
Clare Torry & "the great gig in the sky" following after "time" had to be one of the most unique & life changing pieces of music in the entire 70's. If u listen to her subtle nuances in that song, she does some light vibrato in the slow parts, it will give u chills. U just have to feel it... At the end of that song her voice sounds, as it fades out, like she is backing away from the mic, as opposed to just singing lighter. That i've always wondered & it is amazing & brilliant.
Met Alan at one of the best shows I've ever seen. It was a small venue in Huntington Long Island (The Paramount). ELO opened for AP and then proceeded to gig with them later in AP's set. Lasers, terrific sound quality, just a great show. OI was always amazed how good they sounded live. The highlight was actually sitting down with Alan in the Founders room downstais in the club and just jawboning about his work on Dark Side and his Edger Allen Poe album. He's really down to earth!! Being exposed to music engineering at such a young age and being allowed to experiment, made Alan what he is today, pure genius!
I first heard this LP when it first came out in 1973. it was super far out back then. People loved it everywhere and it just continued on with a life of it's on forever.
Greatest album ever I seen them preform the album in late 1971 before the album was released what an amazing experience they are the best live band I’ve ever seen and I have seen a lot
Could it have been January 1972 which was when they first played the album live? Maybe they played some of the songs at the end of 1971 but not the whole album.
The very first time I heard "Money", which was the one single off of that album when it was released in 1973, I was eight years old, and I knew my musical tastes had changed forever. I was now invested in the new FM radio sound instead of just Top 40 music, and I began to listen to 70's album rock; not just singles. In the spring of 1974, our family took a vacation to Florida from New Jersey, and my eldest brother bought the cassette of DSOTM and we listened to it over and over and over, all the way there and all of the ride home. That album and "Animals" never gets old for me. DSOTM, for me, is a warm summer day in the summer of 1974. I have loved it all of my life and still do. A masterpiece. Truly.
I have always loved The Alan Parsons Project ! He’s a musical Genius in my book and still has a great voice and a unreal Band ! Dark Side of The Moon 🌚 One of the Biggest Albums ever Recorded! Great job PROFESSOR 🕵️♂️🎶keep your EYE in the SKY!
The 'great voice' tho is not Alan himself but Eric (Woolfson), and a host of other vocalists (Chris Rainbow, Gary Booker, Leny Zakatek, Colin Blunstone, etc.). But one can't deny the sound design and engineering genius of Alan tho. Much of the lyrical and compositional genius is largely Woolfson's (RIP).
@@mel124177 Alan Parsons does sing some of his own songs, especially these days on tour! He's a good singer. Not virtuosic or mind blowing, but perfectly fine.
@@mel124177 I just took "great" to mean that at 70+ years old, he still can sing live and sound "great" along with the band, not that "great" meant his overall vocal talent and impact.
I remember back in the early to mid 70s when I was about five or so years old and my two older brothers, who were teenagers at the time would blast Pink Floyd from their bedroom late at night while I was trying to sleep. The entire upstairs would be pitch dark and the only light would be from cracks around their bedroom door. It would scare the shit out of me every time listening to Pink Floyd... After they moved out and I became a young teenager, I carried on with the late night tradition of blasting Pink Floyd in my bedroom. Drove my parents up the wall... lol.. After I got married and had two sons of my own, they too heard Pink Floyd blasting in the living room while they tried to sleep. Now, my sons are grown, they love and carry on the Pink Floyd tradition... lol Pink Floyd is another one of those all time timeless greats that gets better with age. And thanks to this video, I just sat here and watched ALL of my favorite music videos of The Alan Parsons Project... I wish the industry still had greats like that continuously being created nowadays. We have so much great creative works of art to hold onto and appreciate from them all.
Talking music with friends the topic turned to “if you can only have three albums what would they be?” Parsons had a hand in all three of my choices. Says a lot about his talent.
In 1973, I was an 18 year old freshman at UMass/Amherst. Roger, a resident in the dorm, had an amazing, very expensive, multi-speaker stereo system. As I walked into his room to ask him a question, the clocks of "Time" started ticking. I stood there spellbound for the duration of the song. Very vivid memory.
Alan is absolutely brilliant! I meet him last year in Providence RI before his show and he was very pleasant! Just a humble, classy guy who still appreciates his fans!
I met Alan and his band in 2017. They were all very gracious with their time and so humble. I got their autographs, definitely a night I'll never forget.
Adam you are a superb interviewer. I watch you and you give the artist time to speak, you're not nervous, and you smile. I think they like you because of how you present yourself to them. That being said, way to go with Alan Parsons. He is absolutely one of my top Fivers. I love his work solo, Alan Parsons Project. He is the master of production and engineering . I have lots of albums and CDs. Every single CD and album including Dark Side of the Moon sounds better than anything else I have because it is this Genius of a man . If I was on a desert island, Dark Side of the Moon would be one of my 10 albums to bring. Yes, I want to hear everything that you have on Alan Parsons. Thank you for doing this and boy that must have been fun the trek up that mountain to his home in Santa Barbara. Did you get to see where he holds the master class and his Studio?
Alan Parsons is an extremely talented musician in his own right. Eye in the Sky, Stereotomy, Turn of a Friendly Card, GREAT MUSIC! There are just certain bands that I wish I could have been there to watch the magic be created.. Beatles, Pink Floyd, Queen. ROCK HISTORY
I saw them do it live in 1973 at Vorst National in Brussels 🇧🇪and it still gives me shivers to this day......👍🏻🥂the Quadraphonic effects blew our minds as did the laser lights 👏👏👏
My first exposure to Pink Floyd was from my father. He had a hifi shop and had a wall of speakers that could be connected to a variety of amps. After closing for the day he sat me down in front of the wall and connected ALL of the speakers. I sat on the ground and was blown away as 'Time' played and I was washed away in a torrent of clocks. Been a fan ever since. Thanks for a great video.
I've been watching music videos on TH-cam for years. Not just songs and albums. But also interviews, reviews, analyses, theory...this is the first time this channel was suggested. I subscribed. So, the answer, I think is the TH-cam algorithm. Why had this channel never been suggested to me before?
I bought this as soon as it came out in '73. In 1975 I was lucky enough to see them perform the entire album in concert. The laser light show was awesome.
As a teenager, I was introduced to Pink Floyd in 1977 by my neighbor who was a few years older than me. He talked about how great their live performances were compared to a band like the Eagles who just stood around. Dark Side of the Moon was the album I listened to and it stood apart from every other album I’d heard before. It’s is still a memorable experience whenever I listen to it. Great to hear insights into how it was made by Alan Parsons.
That women's voice gives me goosebumps. As for what my take for the album is; when ever my life goes through terrible times, any one of the songs gives me hope.
Alan is so fascinating to listen to. He has so much interesting behind the scenes information yet is soft spoken and unpretentious. I could just forget all else and lose all sense of time listening to him go on about how this was done or that was recorded etc.
Dark Side and Led Zep IV were the albums that opened my mind to rock and roll and life (thank you Janey Cary!). To later learn of Alan Parson's music and then discover the connection was a life moment. Now I'm hooked on both. Thank you God!
DSOTM awakened me and changed the course of my life and to this day it still has the ability to transform me to a different plane of existence each time I listen to it.
I attended two master classes with Alan at his studio in Santa Barbara over about 3 days total - the first was a mixdown of 3 tracks off Ammonia Avenue, the second were mixdowns of Al Stewart and recording with Dishwalla. I was bummed I missed the David Pack vocal sessions back in March! A few interesting things you might want to know: 1) In "As Lights Fall", that "dock" is actually the back porch of his house, which is up in the mountains above Santa Barbara. The black cat you see at the end of the video was a happy accident and was not a nod to Year Of The Cat. 2) Regarding the Wizard Of Oz, someone asked him that question at the event and his response was priceless - "When people ask me about it now, I just reply that it wasn't Wizard Of Oz. It was Mary Poppins." (with a straight face). 3) The "tick tock" sound on Time is Roger Waters plucking his bass guitar with muted strings.
There is a story that Alan Parsons suspected or knew tge importance of the album and so arranged to be the only engineer working on it. I truly believe Mr Parsons is one of the most underrated people in the music industry by those outside the industry
I was 16 in ‘76 when I was introduced to “Us and Them,” and fell in love. I’m still in-love with the music 45 yrs later, but so are my children and grands. (Grands are 7&4.) It’s just that great! ❤️
I am looking forward to the day when my son will grow up I will buy him a copy of CD/vinyl, give it to him and say: "Son, this is the best music album ever made". I am also a little jealous because I cannot repeat the feeling of finishing listening and thinking "wow, this is so good". 😀
Everyone always says Dark Side of the Moon is “one of the greatest albums of all time”. We’ll- there must be “a greatest album.” There can’t just be a myriad of “one of’s”. In my opinion- when Bach Beethoven and Mozart and Handel, are appreciated for the masters they are- and the industrial age is born, and the dust settles, and the fog clears: What emerges is Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. It’s in a class all it’s own. Unmatched. You don’t “listen” to Dark Side of the Moon: You “experience it.” It never gets old or burned out. In the year 2525- if man is still alive. He will still be listening to this masterpiece.
I remember my older brother (6 years older than me), going down to the basement of the family house with three of his friends, with in hand the last Pink Floyd album, we are in 1973. They put the vinyl on turntable and sat down to listen. For my part, I'm in a corner of the room, building a crane with my Meccano game, and from the start of the album, I definitely fell in love with what I heard. Even today, 48 years later, I still feel that same wonder while listening to this work of art. Without knowing it, it's the most wonderful gift my brother has given me, the discovery of this legendary band. Thank you dear brother.
The older I get, the more I think this album has had the most profound impact on me than any other album my young mind was exposed to... I'm grateful. Another excellent segment, Prof! Thank you.
The only bad thing about hearing Pink Floyd for the first time - is that you can never have that experience again. Both my grandchildren were born to that album playing in the delivery room.
Unofficially, and without authority, I proudly refer to Alan as the Godfather of Progressive Rock. He has contributed so much to music in general as both an art and a science, but also pulled together some outstanding musicians for what became Alan Parsons Project Live. I remember how utterly excited P.J. Olson was about his future with the band when I talked to him after a show I attended back in 2008 in Annapolis MD. Now, I can’t even image an APPL show without him. In this TH-cam video, Alan mentions “Quadrophonic”. Did he ever officially release a Quad album prior to his later DTS 5.1 mixes? Technically, the answer is no. But he did encode on both vinyl and CD the album Stereotomy using UHJ (2 channels/stereo) to get a Ambisonic Surround Sound (4 channel) playback. To decode a UHJ encoded recording into 4 channel Ambisonic content, a decoder is required. The early versions of the decoders came from DAK, Mini-M, and IMF Electronics Ltd. (NOT BUD FRIED!!). Ambisonics provides a near perfect 360 degree sound recording perspective that is unfettered by multiple disparate microphones placed arbitrarily and mixing choices, that while they are seemingly creative, are in fact destructive in terms of an accurate live performance environment experience. “Second Order” Ambisonics requires a single 4-headed microphone that is engineered to capture not only 360 degree sound on a single plane, but can capture the sense of the vertical, or a 3D soundstage. Unfortunately, Ambisonics died commercially along with garden variety of Quadrophonic. What dominated as Quad was nothing more than a set of Front channels with a reverb added for the output of the other two channels called the Rears or Backs. But Alan threw his hat in the Ambisonic ring to see if it offered promise in his future productions. If anyone could have kept it going, it would have been Alan. Too bad he did not mention it in the interview.
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I have been listening to this album for almost 48 years, that is to say almost half a century, and at different stages of life and with different readings. I listen to opera, electronic music, jazz, ethnic folk and this album is my favorite along with the entire Pink Floyd repertoire. It is very well structured, the mixes are remarkable, we must highlight the EXCELLENTE WORK of ALAN PARSONS, WHOM I CALL THE SIXTH FLOYD (the sound engineer who would later develop a brilliant musical career), the choirs, the work with Clare Torry, the guitars, keyboards, the treatment of channel separation, the use of VCS 3, EVERYTHING very well taken care of. Fireproof music over time. Long live this wonderful piece of music on its 50th anniversary. Greetings from Santiago de Chile.
I Love Dark Side. I must have bought it a million times. My record collection always begins with that record. It is a perfect piece of music and engeniering. In every way. From the song writing to the heart beats. Its a tale of Life. Good or bad. Great artwork too. I can never grow tired listen to it. Thank you Alan
I was introduced to Alan Parson’s Project music by only one album available in my university city - Tales of Mystery and Imagination in 1976, to which I listened every day until much later when I got all his music. The greatest in progressive rock, if it can only be labeled that way. The greatest musician ever. The greatest sound in recording. God bless him and all the other musicians he worked with to give us such wonderful music!
What were the others? For me, Savoy Brown- Looking In, Steely Dan-Royal Scam, Frank Zappa-Apostrophe, Stevie Wonder-Innervisions, ZZ Top-Tres Hombres....
@@AnthonyStabler The Beatles - Abbey Road and Rubber Soul, Steely Dan - Aja, ZZ Top - Tejas, Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses, ELO - Out of the Blue, Joe Walsh - But Seriously Folks, Little River Band - Greatest Hits, Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues, Tom Waits - Heart of Saturday Night. I just realized there are a few more so I need to update that number if I write this again.
Let me see if I was ever stranded on an island and was told I could listen to what album it would be dark side of the moon hands down the best of all time
Put me on a desert island with only one album to listen to for the rest of my time it would be dark side of the moon the best there ever was and ever will be
..I am not sure what the phenomena is called, but music, and especially this album, can take your mind to the exact time and place you were when you first heard it. I would give anything to hear it for the first time again.
Alan Parsons is an artistic genius. His influence in the music industry extended well beyond Progressive Rock; and it continues to have an impact on contemporary music. As a young boy I didn't pay much attention to lyrics, or the names of bands or songs. I merely knew what I liked; and was glad when I heard that music playing on the radio. They me, the singer's voice was simply another instrument in the band; and if it was _'played'_ well, I liked it. Even today, it's rare that I listen to lyrics. Alan knew how to compose good music, whether with the sound of clocks, cash registers, synthesizers or vocals; and I genuinely think that the way that I blithely stumbled my way through modern music throughout my lifetime, allowed me to appreciate his gift (and the talents if so many other musicians/artists) on a unique level that I otherwise could never have discovered.
Love Alan Parsons one of the greats not only his studio work, but his own music. Forever a fan.love dark side , start to Finnish a master piece. I have a lifetime worth of memories.
Phenomenal album...takes me back to my 1st quarter in college (summer) actually roomed with my brother in the dorm..he had maybe 4 cassettes...one of them being 'Dark Side of the Moon'...it was always fantastic and magical..Pink Floyd is just one of those bands that can kick your ass in such a wonderful way...Alan Parsons did an incredible job...genius..thanks for a wonderful interview
My first experience with AP was listening to his album I Robot....then I bought "turn of a friendly card"....had no idea about his history with the Beatles or Pink Floyd or the Hollies....
Alan Parsons is without a doubt a magician that contributed to make one of the most important album in rock history besides making great music with his own project 💙
I was picked up as a hitch hiker by Alan Parsons in the about 1984 (a two hour journey), I remember he asked what music I liked and I replied I loved Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here I had only just got into Pink Floyd very recently through a friend (he had one Floyd tape, we were both young and poor), he then pulled Wish You Were Here from the glove box and I was thinking wow what a coincidence he has the album, after finishing that album he then said you should listen to Dark Side if you like Pink Floyd, which he then also pulled from the glove box, it was the first time I had ever heard the album and I was genuinely blown away and totally lost for words which I think he took joy in hearing/watching, when it got to the Clare Torry part, I was like a enthusiastic 5 year old kid at this point and I tried to convey how impressive her voice was but was stuck for words, he then said he was responsible for her being on the album, and I then immediately started to think who is this guy? he never told me, I just thought he was some rich business man has he had an air of calm gravitas about him and a very expensive car a brand new Merc 560 SEL I think (which impressed me when the car stopped to give me a lift). A really nice guy and just like in this video, bizarrely he almost looks the same as in 1984, other than a bit of grey. It was a sunny day and a lovely journey it really stuck in my head, I bought the album a few days later, I can remember it as if it was yesterday.
He was right in the middle of recording Ammonia Avenue in 1984 with the Alan Parsons Project. Or he may have just finished wrapping up the album. That is pretty damn cool that you got a ride from THE Alan Parsons.
So cool! Really glad that you had that experience.
You probably gave him a great memory also. Not every producer gets to see a real fan react to their (Grammy nominated) LP for the first time. What an authentic experience it must have been to get the feedback of the looks on you face. Pretty rad.
Some people are lucky! And you're one of them... Memory of a life Time' 🌠👊
What a great story. Thanks for sharing it. What a nice guy Alan is for picking you up and helping you out.
My son born 1991 borrowed my Dark Side of The Moon when he was 12. I never got it back. I've never been more proud of my boy😊
My kids know they’d get grounded for that.
This album transcends generations like no other.
@@markrigg6623 yes it really does. Timeless. Except for the song Time😊
My kids “borrowed” a few cd,s never got them back. Teach them well, teach them well.
LuminousBean. That reminds me... I left a case of CDs in my daughter’s car.
I could listen to Alan Parsons talk about music all day
Better yet, wouldn't you love to be the one asking him the questions!
We know.
#littlehanz
Such a great talent. And APP had some really innovative ideas in the 70's and 80's.. Sad to see the traditional recording prosess lost to the digital age...
Yeah I didn't plan on watching the whole thing but dam
Alan Parsons needs more recognition for his work. Tales of Mystery and Imagination, I Robot, Eve, The Turn of a Friendly Card, Eye in the Sky, Ammonia Avenue, Vulture Culture and Guadi are incredible albums.
Fully agree. Many of the albums are still on my shelf. Could well be that I switch in my turntable later …
Don't forget: Most of this music was composed by Eric Woolfson.
And Pyramid
No, Kevyn, no, he does not. It has all happened, for decades. He has had a life you can't imagine. Screw the public. They just paid for it.
@@LoveOneAnotherHeSaid Why not? Wth are you talking about after "he does not"? What all happened for decades? He's only just started to get the recognition he deserved (along with Eric Woolfson too) right from their very first album.
And, sadly, it came far too late for Eric.
Dick Parry's contribution is underrated, not many speak of him. Sax tracks were simply majestic.
"Us and Them" is my favourite song on the album!
Agreed
I would call him an unofficial fifth member of the band
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Someone should do a Dick Parry contribution video to dark side, his sax makes so many of the track extraordinary.
This was the first album I ever owned. I think my dad gave me my(his) vinyl copy in 1987 when I was 11. I've still got it.
I first heard the album when I was 8. It was my first real experience with musical experimentation and my first real inspiration as a musician.
I have Autism and didn't have many friends as a young kid. I spent a lot of time home alone (it was the 80's). One afternoon I decided to go through my dad's record collection; mostly to look at the covers. When I got to the one with nothing on the outside but a shaft of light being split by a prism, my curiosity got the better of me. I had to know what it was.
My dad had a big Sansui stereo system with the quadraphonic tower speaker setup. The speakers were of his own design and construction, and I remember that they had foreboding ox-blood burlap grilles over the 15" and 10" main cones that screamed "you're not supposed to mess with us, kid!" And they were right; I was not supposed to go anywhere near them. That stereo system was my dad's other child.
I figured I'd just have a little listen and nobody would be the wiser. It took me a few minutes, but I figured out how to power up the amp, select speakers, select a source, and with a bit more difficulty, how to get the phonograph spinning at 33 and 1/3 rpm.
From the first moments of the heartbeat fading into existence as the album opened, I was lost in the sounds and totally enraptured by the completely foreign nature of the sounds I heard.
When my dad came home, I was sitting cross-legged about a foot from the face of one of the speakers, eyes closed, listening intently. I didn't even notice him; I was somewhere else.
He just sat and watched until the first side ended- and then flipped the disc for me. Years later he told me that he knew something was happening for me just then and didn't want to get in the way.
From that day on, I immersed myself in every and any music I could get my hands on. I studied several instruments and also became a vocalist.
Eventually I spent 20 something years of my life as a working musician. At one point I played over 300 cities a year for three years consecutively and had a gig all 365 nights of the year. I played in blues bands, funk bands, rock bands, metal bands, peanut shells on the dirt floor country bands. I traveled by plane, by helicopter, by train, by boat, by van, you name it; if it floats rolls or flies I've been in one. I've seen 4 continents as a musician and a dang fair slice of every nook and cranny of the U.S.A. I've slept in beautiful hotels, on stages, on couches, in tents and by the side of the road. I got paid, "compensated" to varying degrees of satisfaction or not, just plain screwed over and everything in between. It was an amazing ride that doesn't really exist anymore (at least, for now) and I wouldn't take any of it back for the world.
But I'm pretty sure it all started that day when I heard this album at 8 years old and got my mind blown wide open.
Fascinating story. Thanks for sharing!
Just an awesome moment that was! Often times we punish our kids for “not obeying”, but that way we kill their curiosity and zest for life to a certain extent. It’s important sometimes to just let them experiment and explore the world.
Thank you for sharing that story. :D
This brought a smile to my face. Thanks for sharing!
As the father of an autistic son, I hope he finds the kind of joy and passion you have in your musical journey!
Pink Floyd is my favourite rock band of all time; bar none. True story:
I was working with my Dad (I was about 16), and as we walked back to the truck after finishing a job, he saw a cassette tape sitting in the parking lot. It had been driven over and cracked, and even had some of the tape unwound out of the cassette case, and the tape was broken. At the time, I had a giant ghetto-blaster I listened to the contemporary music of the time on (Elton John, Wings, etc.; pop music of that generation.), and my Dad picked up the cassette and carried it into the truck, handing it to me, and asking if I knew what this was; I read the label, and said I didn't. He didn't either (this is not a "father introducing son" story; my Dad was 62 years old when I was 16, and wasn't listening to Floyd, or any other such music!)
"I'll fix it for you", he said, and we took it home, he spliced the tape, glued the cracked casing, and a day later gave it to me to listen on my player... The tape was, as could have been anticipated by now, "Dark Side of The Moon". I discovered DSoTM by my Dad picking up a broken cassette off the road in 1978. It (naturally) blew me away; I played it for him; he liked it too (or at least, appreciated the production of it), and it was shortly after that time that I bought my first stereo system (it's why I was working at 16!), a Yamaha system... and with the purchase, I looked for a Pink Floyd album to christen my system on.
Ironically, after flipping through the Floyd album selections (not knowing nothing from nothing), the cover of "Wish You Were Here" caught my eye (the iconic man shaking another man's hand, who happens to be completely ablaze!), and I couldn't put it down; THIS was the next Pink Floyd record I would try. I bought it with my new stereo system.
Going home, I unpacked with unmatched expectations my boxes of components, connected all the wiring, double checked everything, sliced open WYWH, placed it gently on the turntable, and lowered the needle onto the spinning vinyl... an organ holding on forever; what is that? French horns? Gilmour plucking ... Dum-dum-dum-duuuuuuuum..... "Shine On...", ending with that saxaphone; then "Welcome to The Machine"... I was shivering! I had my new stereo (it was set up in our basement) BLARING! Next, "Have a Cigar", and "Wow!", and then: BOOM! My BRAND NEW STEREO SYSTEM just blew a gasket! OR SOMETHING... Bam! The music was coming through in scratchy, barely audible whisper! WHAT THE FUCK! I jumped off my back from lying on the floor listening, to turn off the system before any further damage could be done! And just as I was about to switch it off, "Wish You Were Here" started playing ... What I'd been thrown into a near heart attack about was the ending of "Have a Cigar"... The last 10 seconds of the song, which drops out into a distant radio playing mode. "FUCK YOU, Pink Floyd! FUCK YOU! ... Fuck... I love you...", and as my heart beat calmed and I stopped hyperventilating, I lay back down, finished listening to one of the most masterful experiences in my life, and then went out the next weekend to buy my next Floyd album...
Good story. I can imagine the whole scene playing out as "Have a Cigar" draws to a close.
Alan doesn’t get the love he deserves......dark side was just one of the towering home runs he was in on.......hats off sir
Alan Parsons, Mike Oldfield, Brian Eno......all geniuses.
And ofcourse "The Year Of The Cat" LP by Al Stewart
Dark Side was released 4 days before my 5th birthday and it never left the charts until I was 20.
😮❤❤❤❤😂
Great Gig in the Sky is one of the most amazing musical achievements of all time.
I grew up being brainwashed with the Dark Side of The Moon - when I was a young boy in the early 70's me and my lovely Dad went to house party at the neighbours next door, who had bought himself a mega-impressive turntable, amplifier and speakers, and was playing Dark Side of The Moon full blast! Dad was soooo impressed, both with the gear and the album, that the very next week he too bought himself an expensive turntable, amplifier etc., plus the vinyl of this album. Every Saturday afternoon thereafter, week after week (for I don't know how long) he would sit in his armchair listening to the album at maximum volume! Needless to say, I grew up loving the album, and 40-odd years later from those far-off days of the early 70's, I can definitively say this is my MOST FAVORITE ALBUM EVER, bar none!!! Thanks Dad (RIP) for brainwashing me with the most incredible music ever!!!
High five man!!!
Ummagumma was better xd
Vinyl of this album is redundant, lol. Those who know know that an album is a vinyl record, not a cd or other digital form of music!
@@indy_go_blue6048 Stop correcting people on details just to flex about your age
@Kevin Counihan I said that because it's obvious that this guy knows this album was originally a vinyl. He grew in the 70's, so he is totally aware of the evolution of mediums for listening to music. He specified that the album his father bough was a vinyl to share the feeling he had, remembering the readers that the story takes place in the 70s. I don't say to you that we don't want to learn, I'm just saying you don't have to correct people on every little details because you though it was useless or incorrect. It's just highly annoying. One thing you could do if you really have to, is change the way you point it out, being more a friendly guy who mentions it rather than a teacher saying you made a mistake.
Alan's voice sounds almost exactly like Gilmour's.
I was thinking the same thing!!! Very spooky!
Hhh same thing
👍
yeah... absolutely (w)right! ;)
greetings from cologne, germany
arthur
I thought the same thing!
Alans musical abilities are brilliant. Alan also has a fantastic personality, love his laughter.
How is this guy 70+ years old?? He looks 40. (and still a legend)
Hot shit yeah, he dors not look 70
70 is the new 30.
@@YellowWalkman I wish.
Good drugs and genes. 🤣
@@cowanthegreat8966 I hope so!
Alan Parsons is one of my favourite music people ever. His engineering/recording talents are monumental, his project albums are all classics.
He needs R "n" R induction for the "Project" with Eric Woolfson.
Also, a great guy!!! A gent.
Iui y6
Darkside of the moon is nothing short of a masterpiece, Alan Parsons is nothing short of a genius
Q: how do you make a Pink Floyd fan suicidal? A: play Dark Side of the Moon on shuffle.
😂
true that
yup
I’ll be playing Rick Wright’s “Us & Them” and “The Great Gig in the Sky” when I arrive at my death, hopefully late, in love, and a little drunk. (Aside: This will all be following a massive intake of #StevePerry’s singing.) 🎶🎶🎶
@@lizannewhitlow1085 How about time by allan parsons that would be a great addition to your list.
I heard this album the first time in 1973 when I was eight years old. Nothing on earth sounded anything like Dark Side of The Moon. It was crisper, cleaner, clearer, fuller, and more captivating than anything else I had ever heard. A total revolution in sound production, which is probably why it is still discussed today.
The internet says it was released in 1973. Maybe your memory is a little fuzzy because you were so young?
@@josephwright5921 no it's Google type to text It was 1973. If you hadn't commented I never want to seen that.thank you.
💯%
I think what makes DSOTM so special is the extraordinary coincidence of pieces falling into place like Alan Parsons, Claire Tory and many others. An absolute masterpiece that will last as long as there is music.
Claire Torry's incredible vocal improvisation on "The Great Gig In The Sky" was the biggest achievement in my view. She literally made it up as she went along. There was hardly any rehearsal beforehand. The wailing of her voice just happened to make a melodic pattern, which fitted perfectly with the preceding track. How DOES that happen ? It was truly a minor miracle !
@@gribwitch Fully agree with you. Whenever I listen to this masterpiece of modern music I’m eagerly awaiting that very part of it. Seems that Pink Floyd later needed to reward her for this defining contribution which to me is appropriate.
I'm amazed how Alan Parsons looks for his age he looks like 50 yet he's 71 years old.
Does not look 50
He does look great for his age
@@noahschuler6388 He does.
I was thinking the same thing, i was beginning to think when was this taped...looks great.
He looks astonishingly good. Not just dye job and plastic surgery good either.
I absolutely love DSOTM. One of the greatest albums ever. And Alan's work has always been in the mix of it all. But I really wanted to tell Alan, if I were to ever meet him or get a chance to ever interview him, that APP was one of those most amazing bands of my lifetime. I Robot is like DSOTM for me, just an amazing set from start to finish. "Some Other Time" is purely epic. "Breakdown" and "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You" nearly perfect pop records. But also, not to mention the following records. Loved APP back in the day. Still do. They are great to revisit from time to time to get into something more obscure but familiar. Soundscapes and excellent writing and composing. So cheers to Alan for not only his Beatles/Floyd work, but for APP as well.
I agree! APP's "Don't Answer Me" is one of my all time favorite songs, pure genius.
I robot is still on my playlist till this day. Such an amazing and underrated Album.
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I remember my first time hearing I Robot. It was during a very dark, depressing, disturbing time in the mental state that I was in. This album seemed to make me feel like it was a big soundtrack to my life then. I listened to it over and over. But it also made me think deeper and darker. I got even more depressed. This album would drag me into depression many times, and sooth it too, if I already was in a state of depression. The same could be said about Alan's work on the Dark Side of The Moon. I don't know if he worked at all on other Pink Floyd albums, because I get a sense of his work on Wish You Were Here, as well as The Wall. The Wall hit me hard too, but only in the past few years. I had never even seen the movie, let alone listened to the full album. Just didn't happen. I wasn't feeling it for much of my life. But now that I'm older, watched the movie, heard the album in full, over and over, that in any other fashion, could have been my life story. I'm sure that even if Alan Parsons didn't have any direct connection to the other albums, he must have gave the Pink Floyd boys tools to use and ideas to keep using on those albums, knowing that they work well. Kudos to Alan Parsons and Pink Floyd.
@@kennethchartrand4251 Agreed, a story in itself, love it!
How many people remember Alan Parsons Projects "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You?"
Our local PBS station used the opening electric piano chords for bumper music during Station ID time. In fact, they used the entire I Robot LP for bumper music---I think I even heard some songs on a few episodes of NOVA? Very appropriate music for SERIOUS public television--I mean, you would want Oscar the Grouch singing "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" on Sesame Street!
That’s one of my favorite songs to sing at karaoke bars. I rock that shit!
I lost my virginity in the back seat of my Camaro while the local rock station played the entire album circa 1979
Omg yes! I heard that not long ago and quickly fell in love. Great great stuff thanks for the reminder!
I do remember that one from the "I Robot" album but my favorite even to this day is "Day after day" which is a bit sad but so true. BTW "I Robot" is my favorite APP album, I got them all.
The Alan Parsons Project’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination was stunning to me when I first heard it. It redefined for me what an album could be.
One of my favorites since it was released. I was in 10th grade and was a great time for music.
Members of Ambrosia and Pilot helped Alan out too
Everything in the universe came together for the creation of Dark Side, including Alan's incredible contribution.
Claire should have been credited as Great Gig's co-composer. It isn't a mere backing vocal, her vocal is a major part of this song.
She ended up taking Pink Floyd to court over this and I think she got a back payment out of it, she's certainly now credited as co-author of the song so she's getting her share of royalties, and rightly so!
Her vocal IS the song, the band did the backups, any other singer and the song would not be even close to what it is
@mike mars You're nuts. Have you ever heard someone sing this live in concert?
@mike mars It's easily the best track on the album.
I call it The Great Orgasm in the Sky, and I have heard many try to out sing Claire, or even equal her effort, with no success whatsoever. There was a woman I heard this year do it, and she was so good she brought me to my feet, but she was attempting to do Claire note-for-note, and didn’t quite make it. She was very close, though, and it was one of the greatest live music performance thrills of my very long life.
Parsons is a master musician himself!
Yes, he plays guitar, keys, and flute, but he is no 'master' of the traditional instrument - and that is from his own mouth. I saw him back in the 90's at the 'Walk Down Abbey Road' tour. He came on and played the Beatles' 'Blackbird'. Before he started (and it was a solo performance), half jokingly he said something like, 'I honestly don't know what I'm doing up here - I'm just a bloody engineer!' His performance was acceptable, but not 'masterful'.
NOTE: He IS a master at recording technique and his ability to place individual pieces of what make up music into form is unparalleled.
Chuck Hunnefield thank you for the information!
When this album came out I was 13 and my sister and I had just gone in together and bought a pair of Bose 901 speakers, because that was all I could talk about after reading about them in my favorite magazine, Popular Mechanics. It took us a couple months to save up the $250 (quite a bit for the time), but when we finally bought and got the speakers home and setup, we were debating on which music to listen to first and my first suggestion was Mahler's 9th (I was a bit of a musical snob and considered Rock a lot of unnecessary noise) when sis brought out her newest album, Dark Side of the Moon. I started to protest to Rock and Roll to be the first thing to come through them, when she reminded me I had been saying I wanted to expand my musical horizons, so why not give this a try. We sat between those 901s and I wasn't instantly smitten when it began, but by the time On the Run faded, we just looked at each other and were silent (stunned?). We absorbed that album, like the ground soaks up water. When we snapped out of our reverie to change sides, we still didn't say anything, we just started the second side and closed our eyes, ready to be transported back into the music and the myriad of emotions/feelings that wash over you as you listen. A transformative experience for that adolescent. I'm now 60 and still enjoy listening to that album and always in its entirety, never just a track or two.
friend of mine has a pair of 901s from the 80s....still sound awesome!
Hahaha, due to his work as a sound engineer assistant for classical recordings, my dad was kind of a musical snob too. But when I brought in this album he was thrilled and from then on, he accepted this stuff as well as ‚serious music‘ 😄 (and today I enjoy Mahler, Debussy, Stravinsky & Co the same way).
I have another album to recommend which has a similar effect: An album called “Deep Sea” by a Japanese band named Mr.Children.
@@tenminutetokyo2643 I appreciate the recommendation and had a listen, but can't say its my style. Be well.
V.E., you hit too many of my recall buttons...
I was moaping about Thursday, 22 March 1973... and at the last minute went to see PF at the Hampton Roads Coliseum Bought a ticket at the door and had a good stadium seat. Knew of them from record shop employee days but had not heard the DSOTM album yet. Yes, mind-blowing 4 channel surround sound and effects. They set off a gas bomb? that lit up the stage, set off by a triple bass drum beat. It "blew" the audience into a standing ovation.
I recall a RtoR 4 channel tape deck being "one of the instruments" on stage. Wondering if Mr. Parsons (or anyone) knows what parts were being played thru it?
So when the album hit the Langley AFB BX I snapped it up. Went home and cranked up the Bose 901s to the clipping level led diodes on a Bose 500W amp. Sat on the floor in easy pose and practiced yogic breath control till my body dissolved and flowed out my mouth, reassembling in a vision of meditating by a lake, all in shades of pink. Senses went from flowing in, to flowing out, and a feeling of being "complete" brought a tear to my eye...and boom I was "back" With the deepest transcendental life changing experience of my now 74 years. One of those speakers is the "7" in my current 7.1 home theater system.
What a time it was.....
Clare Torry & "the great gig in the sky" following after "time" had to be one of the most unique & life changing pieces of music in the entire 70's. If u listen to her subtle nuances in that song, she does some light vibrato in the slow parts, it will give u chills. U just have to feel it... At the end of that song her voice sounds, as it fades out, like she is backing away from the mic, as opposed to just singing lighter. That i've always wondered & it is amazing & brilliant.
Met Alan at one of the best shows I've ever seen. It was a small venue in Huntington Long Island (The Paramount). ELO opened for AP and then proceeded to gig with them later in AP's set. Lasers, terrific sound quality, just a great show. OI was always amazed how good they sounded live. The highlight was actually sitting down with Alan in the Founders room downstais in the club and just jawboning about his work on Dark Side and his Edger Allen Poe album. He's really down to earth!! Being exposed to music engineering at such a young age and being allowed to experiment, made Alan what he is today, pure genius!
The Professor of Rock interviewing The Master of Rock. Respect to Mr. Alan Parsons.
Alan Parson is a true music genius...his music will live for ever!!!
I first heard this LP when it first came out in 1973. it was super far out back then. People loved it everywhere and it just continued on with a life of it's on forever.
Greatest album ever I seen them preform the album in late 1971 before the album was released what an amazing experience they are the best live band I’ve ever seen and I have seen a lot
Could it have been January 1972 which was when they first played the album live? Maybe they played some of the songs at the end of 1971 but not the whole album.
The very first time I heard "Money", which was the one single off of that album when it was released in 1973, I was eight years old, and I knew my musical tastes had changed forever. I was now invested in the new FM radio sound instead of just Top 40 music, and I began to listen to 70's album rock; not just singles. In the spring of 1974, our family took a vacation to Florida from New Jersey, and my eldest brother bought the cassette of DSOTM and we listened to it over and over and over, all the way there and all of the ride home. That album and "Animals" never gets old for me. DSOTM, for me, is a warm summer day in the summer of 1974. I have loved it all of my life and still do. A masterpiece. Truly.
"Time" changed my life when i heard it for the first time.
times changed too, now money counts only ;-)
I have always loved The Alan Parsons Project ! He’s a musical Genius in my book and still has a great voice and a unreal Band ! Dark Side of The Moon 🌚 One of the Biggest Albums ever Recorded! Great job PROFESSOR 🕵️♂️🎶keep your EYE in the SKY!
The 'great voice' tho is not Alan himself but Eric (Woolfson), and a host of other vocalists (Chris Rainbow, Gary Booker, Leny Zakatek, Colin Blunstone, etc.). But one can't deny the sound design and engineering genius of Alan tho. Much of the lyrical and compositional genius is largely Woolfson's (RIP).
dark side of the moon is still in the charts, around #80
@@mel124177 Alan Parsons does sing some of his own songs, especially these days on tour! He's a good singer. Not virtuosic or mind blowing, but perfectly fine.
@@Margar02 ikr, but the "great voice" is what I was commenting about. Alan's singing is fine but not great.
@@mel124177 I just took "great" to mean that at 70+ years old, he still can sing live and sound "great" along with the band, not that "great" meant his overall vocal talent and impact.
I remember back in the early to mid 70s when I was about five or so years old and my two older brothers, who were teenagers at the time would blast Pink Floyd from their bedroom late at night while I was trying to sleep. The entire upstairs would be pitch dark and the only light would be from cracks around their bedroom door. It would scare the shit out of me every time listening to Pink Floyd... After they moved out and I became a young teenager, I carried on with the late night tradition of blasting Pink Floyd in my bedroom. Drove my parents up the wall... lol.. After I got married and had two sons of my own, they too heard Pink Floyd blasting in the living room while they tried to sleep. Now, my sons are grown, they love and carry on the Pink Floyd tradition... lol
Pink Floyd is another one of those all time timeless greats that gets better with age. And thanks to this video, I just sat here and watched ALL of my favorite music videos of The Alan Parsons Project... I wish the industry still had greats like that continuously being created nowadays. We have so much great creative works of art to hold onto and appreciate from them all.
I had no idea Alan was a sound engineer, I just knew he was an amazing artist on own.
Got his start at Abbey Road studios. Was an assistant engineer on The Beatles Abbey Road album.
Parsons is a recording legend .one of the all tome best ❤
"Eye in the sky". One of my favorite Alan Parsons project tunes. Amazing artist. Very talented.
Sure. If you like pre-digested food.
@@Ndlanding What have you composed/recorded lately? I'm sure it's soooo much better.
@@Ndlanding go pound sand
@@bigblueplanet1968 Is that Japanese?
It was certainly his one big commercial hit.
Dude, 11 minutes isn't NEAR enough! I'll take whatever I can get though.
Talking music with friends the topic turned to “if you can only have three albums what would they be?” Parsons had a hand in all three of my choices. Says a lot about his talent.
I grew up listening to all of the Alan Parsons Project and later discovered Pink Floyd in my teen years. Lots of good memories of times gone by.
In 1973, I was an 18 year old freshman at UMass/Amherst. Roger, a resident in the dorm, had an amazing, very expensive, multi-speaker stereo system. As I walked into his room to ask him a question, the clocks of "Time" started ticking. I stood there spellbound for the duration of the song. Very vivid memory.
Alan Parsons Project was always legendary to me even before “Eye In The Sky” success.
I Robot
@@trentland Tales Of Mystery And Imagination. (The System of) Dr. Tarr And Professor Fether
Eve also......
Never forget "Turn Of A Friendly Card"... "Time" is good but the rest is amazing..
And I forgot to mention "Games People Play" and "Gold Bug"... signs of what was to come
Alan is absolutely brilliant! I meet him last year in Providence RI before his show and he was very pleasant! Just a humble, classy guy who still appreciates his fans!
Great producer. Great band. Timeless, legendary album.
I met Alan and his band in 2017. They were all very gracious with their time and so humble. I got their autographs, definitely a night I'll never forget.
How refreshing to see an actually hip man over 60 not trying to look like a hipster. No ear rings, no tats. Just a guy.
Maybe they just like to look like that. Let people be.
Lol..you ink Boomers and Gen X are copying Hipsters? You think Millenials invented ear rings and tats? The Hubris.
Amen. Anyone considering their first tat should read Dr. Suess' The Sneetches.
@@ice-xv1hi I am 53. I have one tatt and it's of a Labrador Puppy..bc dogs are eternal.
@@lefthook3978 agreed!
The dark side of the moon is absolutely a timeless album...of all time..
Adam you are a superb interviewer. I watch you and you give the artist time to speak, you're not nervous, and you smile. I think they like you because of how you present yourself to them. That being said, way to go with Alan Parsons. He is absolutely one of my top Fivers. I love his work solo, Alan Parsons Project. He is the master of production and engineering . I have lots of albums and CDs. Every single CD and album including Dark Side of the Moon sounds better than anything else I have because it is this Genius of a man . If I was on a desert island, Dark Side of the Moon would be one of my 10 albums to bring. Yes, I want to hear everything that you have on Alan Parsons. Thank you for doing this and boy that must have been fun the trek up that mountain to his home in Santa Barbara. Did you get to see where he holds the master class and his Studio?
Couldn't agree more. Must be a pleasure to be interviewed by someone so calm, cool, and thoroughly engaged.
Yea - everything that guy just said.
Slight correction: Adam is the best interviewer EVER.
Agreed
Alan Parsons is an extremely talented musician in his own right. Eye in the Sky, Stereotomy, Turn of a Friendly Card, GREAT MUSIC!
There are just certain bands that I wish I could have been there to watch the magic be created.. Beatles, Pink Floyd, Queen. ROCK HISTORY
I saw them do it live in 1973 at Vorst National in Brussels 🇧🇪and it still gives me shivers to this day......👍🏻🥂the Quadraphonic effects blew our minds as did the laser lights 👏👏👏
Alan's "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" is still in my all time favourite list and I listen to it regularly. he is just an amazing producer.
My first exposure to Pink Floyd was from my father.
He had a hifi shop and had a wall of speakers that could be connected to a variety of amps.
After closing for the day he sat me down in front of the wall and connected ALL of the speakers.
I sat on the ground and was blown away as 'Time' played and I was washed away in a torrent of clocks.
Been a fan ever since.
Thanks for a great video.
Thanks for sharing!
The intro to Time makes a great ringtone. But whenever it is on the radio I would scramble for my phone. :-)
I don't get why this channel doesn't have 1M + subs. Adam interviews BIG names and always brings good content
Guilherme Rafael BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE WATCH ON SMART TV AND THEY DON'T KNOW HOT TO USE THE REMOTE PROPERLY AND SUBSCRIBE!
I've been watching music videos on TH-cam for years. Not just songs and albums. But also interviews, reviews, analyses, theory...this is the first time this channel was suggested. I subscribed. So, the answer, I think is the TH-cam algorithm. Why had this channel never been suggested to me before?
@@mastersupreme6126 Does your Smart TV not have a Caps Lock button, you twat?
I’m more amazed that Adam lands in person interviews with such big names with less than a million subscribers.
@@danieldaniels7571 Or fewer.
I bought this as soon as it came out in '73.
In 1975 I was lucky enough to see them perform the entire album in concert. The laser light show was awesome.
As a teenager, I was introduced to Pink Floyd in 1977 by my neighbor who was a few years older than me. He talked about how great their live performances were compared to a band like the Eagles who just stood around. Dark Side of the Moon was the album I listened to and it stood apart from every other album I’d heard before. It’s is still a memorable experience whenever I listen to it. Great to hear insights into how it was made by Alan Parsons.
The world needs a lot more people as humble as Mr. Parsons.
I was 16 years old when "The Dark Side of the Moon" was relesed.I was and still is blowned away when I hear this record!!!!!
That women's voice gives me goosebumps. As for what my take for the album is; when ever my life goes through terrible times, any one of the songs gives me hope.
Alan is so fascinating to listen to. He has so much interesting behind the scenes information yet is soft spoken and unpretentious. I could just forget all else and lose all sense of time listening to him go on about how this was done or that was recorded etc.
Dark Side and Led Zep IV were the albums that opened my mind to rock and roll and life (thank you Janey Cary!). To later learn of Alan Parson's music and then discover the connection was a life moment. Now I'm hooked on both. Thank you God!
DSOTM awakened me and changed the course of my life and to this day it still has the ability to transform me to a different plane of existence each time I listen to it.
Alan's latest album is excellent - "As Lights Fall" is an instant classic, and the video is extremely well done.
Great song and meaningful
I attended two master classes with Alan at his studio in Santa Barbara over about 3 days total - the first was a mixdown of 3 tracks off Ammonia Avenue, the second were mixdowns of Al Stewart and recording with Dishwalla. I was bummed I missed the David Pack vocal sessions back in March! A few interesting things you might want to know:
1) In "As Lights Fall", that "dock" is actually the back porch of his house, which is up in the mountains above Santa Barbara. The black cat you see at the end of the video was a happy accident and was not a nod to Year Of The Cat.
2) Regarding the Wizard Of Oz, someone asked him that question at the event and his response was priceless - "When people ask me about it now, I just reply that it wasn't Wizard Of Oz. It was Mary Poppins." (with a straight face).
3) The "tick tock" sound on Time is Roger Waters plucking his bass guitar with muted strings.
THANKS!
@@patrickreadjohnson_moonwatcher Very nice work on the video, Patrick!
Walter White Jr. Patrick is the director of the As Lights Fall video.
A music genius Mr. Parsons is. Enjoy everything he has done both behind the counter and in the studio. And seems like a down to earth guy.
There is a story that Alan Parsons suspected or knew tge importance of the album and so arranged to be the only engineer working on it. I truly believe Mr Parsons is one of the most underrated people in the music industry by those outside the industry
I was 16 in ‘76 when I was introduced to “Us and Them,” and fell in love. I’m still in-love with the music 45 yrs later, but so are my children and grands. (Grands are 7&4.) It’s just that great! ❤️
Masterpiece. Right from the start. I was 21 when it came out in 1973 and it still blows my mind to this day.
I am looking forward to the day when my son will grow up I will buy him a copy of CD/vinyl, give it to him and say: "Son, this is the best music album ever made".
I am also a little jealous because I cannot repeat the feeling of finishing listening and thinking "wow, this is so good". 😀
Everyone always says Dark Side of the Moon is “one of the greatest albums of all time”. We’ll- there must be “a greatest album.” There can’t just be a myriad of “one of’s”.
In my opinion- when Bach Beethoven and Mozart and Handel, are appreciated for the masters they are- and the industrial age is born, and the dust settles, and the fog clears: What emerges is Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. It’s in a class all it’s own. Unmatched. You don’t “listen” to Dark Side of the Moon: You “experience it.” It never gets old or burned out. In the year 2525- if man is still alive. He will still be listening to this masterpiece.
most albums have 1 good song, if your lucky 2 or 3, "dark Side of the Moon" is an entire album of great songs.
It must be such an honor to get an interview with a legend such as Alan Parsons. That's a definite check on a bucket list.
One of the greatest recordings of all genres and times. An absolute masterwork from production to writing to performance to concept.
I remember my older brother (6 years older than me), going down to the basement of the family house with three of his friends, with in hand the last Pink Floyd album, we are in 1973. They put the vinyl on turntable and sat down to listen. For my part, I'm in a corner of the room, building a crane with my Meccano game, and from the start of the album, I definitely fell in love with what I heard. Even today, 48 years later, I still feel that same wonder while listening to this work of art. Without knowing it, it's the most wonderful gift my brother has given me, the discovery of this legendary band. Thank you dear brother.
The older I get, the more I think this album has had the most profound impact on me than any other album my young mind was exposed to... I'm grateful.
Another excellent segment, Prof! Thank you.
This album will never age. Roger Waters has created a timeless masterpiece. We will never see a band like this ever again.
The only bad thing about hearing Pink Floyd for the first time - is that you can never have that experience again. Both my grandchildren were born to that album playing in the delivery room.
The guitar solo on time, is just absolutely amazing!
Unofficially, and without authority, I proudly refer to Alan as the Godfather of Progressive Rock. He has contributed so much to music in general as both an art and a science, but also pulled together some outstanding musicians for what became Alan Parsons Project Live. I remember how utterly excited P.J. Olson was about his future with the band when I talked to him after a show I attended back in 2008 in Annapolis MD. Now, I can’t even image an APPL show without him.
In this TH-cam video, Alan mentions “Quadrophonic”. Did he ever officially release a Quad album prior to his later DTS 5.1 mixes? Technically, the answer is no. But he did encode on both vinyl and CD the album Stereotomy using UHJ (2 channels/stereo) to get a Ambisonic Surround Sound (4 channel) playback. To decode a UHJ encoded recording into 4 channel Ambisonic content, a decoder is required. The early versions of the decoders came from DAK, Mini-M, and IMF Electronics Ltd. (NOT BUD FRIED!!). Ambisonics provides a near perfect 360 degree sound recording perspective that is unfettered by multiple disparate microphones placed arbitrarily and mixing choices, that while they are seemingly creative, are in fact destructive in terms of an accurate live performance environment experience. “Second Order” Ambisonics requires a single 4-headed microphone that is engineered to capture not only 360 degree sound on a single plane, but can capture the sense of the vertical, or a 3D soundstage. Unfortunately, Ambisonics died commercially along with garden variety of Quadrophonic. What dominated as Quad was nothing more than a set of Front channels with a reverb added for the output of the other two channels called the Rears or Backs. But Alan threw his hat in the Ambisonic ring to see if it offered promise in his future productions. If anyone could have kept it going, it would have been Alan. Too bad he did not mention it in the interview.
I have been listening to this album for almost 48 years, that is to say almost half a century, and at different stages of life and with different readings. I listen to opera, electronic music, jazz, ethnic folk and this album is my favorite along with the entire Pink Floyd repertoire. It is very well structured, the mixes are remarkable, we must highlight the EXCELLENTE WORK of ALAN PARSONS, WHOM I CALL THE SIXTH FLOYD (the sound engineer who would later develop a brilliant musical career), the choirs, the work with Clare Torry, the guitars, keyboards, the treatment of channel separation, the use of VCS 3, EVERYTHING very well taken care of. Fireproof music over time. Long live this wonderful piece of music on its 50th anniversary. Greetings from Santiago de Chile.
I Love Dark Side. I must have bought it a million times. My record collection always begins with that record. It is a perfect piece of music and engeniering. In every way. From the song writing to the heart beats. Its a tale of Life. Good or bad. Great artwork too. I can never grow tired listen to it. Thank you Alan
Great interviewer because he doesn't interrupt (literally or with tension) thereby allowing Alan to finish his thoughts!
If I were listening to the audio of this I’d swear this was David Gilmour...his speaking voice is almost a dead-ringer
David is slightly more high pitch and raspier, but its still damn close
Good point, never noticed before.
I was wondering why it sounded so familiar
does sound similar to Davids voice
He sounds like David in the 90s
I was and still am mesmerized by pink floyd and the Alan Parsons project , both were ahead of their time.
I was introduced to Alan Parson’s Project music by only one album available in my university city - Tales of Mystery and Imagination in 1976, to which I listened every day until much later when I got all his music. The greatest in progressive rock, if it can only be labeled that way. The greatest musician ever. The greatest sound in recording. God bless him and all the other musicians he worked with to give us such wonderful music!
There are about eight albums that I've ever bought more than three times. This is one of them.
What were the others? For me, Savoy Brown- Looking In, Steely Dan-Royal Scam, Frank Zappa-Apostrophe, Stevie Wonder-Innervisions, ZZ Top-Tres Hombres....
@@AnthonyStabler The Beatles - Abbey Road and Rubber Soul, Steely Dan - Aja, ZZ Top - Tejas, Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses, ELO - Out of the Blue, Joe Walsh - But Seriously Folks, Little River Band - Greatest Hits, Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues, Tom Waits - Heart of Saturday Night. I just realized there are a few more so I need to update that number if I write this again.
@@AnthonyStabler I should have added that some of those were originally bought on LP, 8 track or cassette. Everything is on CD now.
Let me see if I was ever stranded on an island and was told I could listen to what album it would be dark side of the moon hands down the best of all time
Put me on a desert island with only one album to listen to for the rest of my time it would be dark side of the moon the best there ever was and ever will be
..I am not sure what the phenomena is called, but music, and especially this album, can take your mind to the exact time and place you were when you first heard it. I would give anything to hear it for the first time again.
Alan Parsons!! Pure Genius Wonder, who helped shape a timeless era in music history!!
pink floyd is the greatest band of all time and i love a fair amount of alan parsons solo work as well!!!
Alan Parsons is an artistic genius. His influence in the music industry extended well beyond Progressive Rock; and it continues to have an impact on contemporary music.
As a young boy I didn't pay much attention to lyrics, or the names of bands or songs. I merely knew what I liked; and was glad when I heard that music playing on the radio. They me, the singer's voice was simply another instrument in the band; and if it was _'played'_ well, I liked it. Even today, it's rare that I listen to lyrics.
Alan knew how to compose good music, whether with the sound of clocks, cash registers, synthesizers or vocals; and I genuinely think that the way that I blithely stumbled my way through modern music throughout my lifetime, allowed me to appreciate his gift (and the talents if so many other musicians/artists) on a unique level that I otherwise could never have discovered.
Alan Parsons, thanks for helping Pink Floyd make music which will last to Eternity
"Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way"... one of the great lines
Alan Parsons: Pure musical genius
Yes! That is exactly what I was going to post. I had no idea that Alan produced "Year of the Cat" until I read it in the comments of this video.
I’m obsessed with Alan parsons. I have been listening to him since about 1977. He’s on my Pandora list he’s on my Alexa list. He is just awesome
Love Alan Parsons one of the greats not only his studio work, but his own music. Forever a fan.love dark side , start to Finnish a master piece. I have a lifetime worth of memories.
Phenomenal album...takes me back to my 1st quarter in college (summer) actually roomed with my brother in the dorm..he had maybe 4 cassettes...one of them being 'Dark Side of the Moon'...it was always fantastic and magical..Pink Floyd is just one of those bands that can kick your ass in such a wonderful way...Alan Parsons did an incredible job...genius..thanks for a wonderful interview
Great story, thanks!
My first experience with AP was listening to his album I Robot....then I bought "turn of a friendly card"....had no idea about his history with the Beatles or Pink Floyd or the Hollies....
Alan Parsons is without a doubt a magician that contributed to make one of the most important album in rock history besides making great music with his own project 💙
The humbleness of this man ... I love him . Such a beautiful and brilliant mind...
Coming back to life has to be in my top 5. His voice gives me goose bumps and tears to my eyes