Eye in the Sky (album)

Eye in the Sky
Studio album by The Alan Parsons Project
Released June 1982
Recorded Late 1981 — early 1982
Abbey Road Studios
Genre Progressive rock, art rock, pop rock
Length 42:30
Label Arista
Producer Alan Parsons
The Alan Parsons Project chronology
The Turn of a Friendly Card
(1980)		 Eye in the Sky
(1982)		 Ammonia Avenue
(1984)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Rolling Stone[2]

Eye in the Sky is the sixth studio album by the British rock band The Alan Parsons Project, released in June 1982 by Arista label. It was recorded in London's Abbey Road Studios.

Overview

Songs on this album are in a number of different styles, from cool and funky to lyrical and heavily orchestrated. The Hipgnosis-designed sleeve was green with an image of the Eye of Horus, which was gold-foil stamped for early pressings of the LP. It is variously reported as their best-selling album and was the last platinum record from the band (joining I Robot and The Turn of a Friendly Card).[3]

Vocal performers were Eric Woolfson, David Paton, Chris Rainbow, Lenny Zakatek, Elmer Gantry and Colin Blunstone.

Eye in the Sky contained the Project's biggest hit, the title track with lead vocals by Eric Woolfson. The album itself was a major success, reaching the Top 10 (and sometimes the #1) in numerous countries.[4]

This album was the first of three the Project recorded on analogue equipment and mixed directly to the digital master tape.(a fact not widely known until the liner notes of Vulture Culture, where this trick was revealed).

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson except where noted. 

No. TitleLead vocals Length
1. "Sirius"  Instrumental 1:54
2. "Eye in the Sky"  Eric Woolfson 4:36
3. "Children of the Moon"  David Paton 4:51
4. "Gemini"  Chris Rainbow 2:11
5. "Silence and I"  Eric Woolfson 7:19
6. "You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned"  Lenny Zakatek 4:22
7. "Psychobabble"  Elmer Gantry 4:51
8. "Mammagamma"  Instrumental 3:34
9. "Step by Step"  Lenny Zakatek 3:54
10. "Old and Wise"  Colin Blunstone 4:55
2007 Remaster Bonus Tracks
No. TitleLead vocals Length
11. "Sirius" (Demo)Instrumental 1:56
12. "Old and Wise"  Eric Woolfson 4:43
13. "Any Other Day" (Woolfson) (studio demo)Instrumental 1:42
14. "Silence and I"  Eric Woolfson 7:33
15. "The Naked Eye"  Instrumental 10:49
16. "Eye Pieces" (Classical Naked Eye)Instrumental 7:51

Sirius

The album contains the instrumental piece "Sirius", which has become a staple of many big-time college and professional sporting arenas throughout North America. It is best known for its use by the Chicago Bulls to introduce its starting line-up (including Michael Jordan) during its championship years of the 1990s and continued to the present. It was even the opening number of the documentary Michael Jordan to the Max. It is also used as the soundtrack for the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team tunnel walk before every home game. It was also used by the New Orleans Saints as their entrance music for Super Bowl XLIV. The Kansas City Chiefs also used it during kickoffs during the Marty Schottenheimer era.

During the mid-1980s, it was also used as the ring entrance theme for Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat by the World Wrestling Federation. However, to avoid paying royalties, WWE has edited out Steamboat's entrances with the track or overdubbed them with a homegrown theme from his 1991 run in the WWF.

France's tennis team used the song as their entrance theme for the 2014 Davis Cup final against Switzerland.

"Sirius" is played during the climactic scene of the Godfrey Ho film "American Commando 3: Savage Temptation".

"Sirius" is played in the 8th-season episode of Frasier, Hooping Cranes, during a sequence where Niles Crane shoots and scores from half-way on a basketball court in KeyArena.

"Sirius" segues into "Eye in the Sky". The former is always followed by the latter on airplay, though not always in live performances – at the World Liberty Concert "Sirius" was played as the introduction to "Breakaway" (Try Anything Once) with Candy Dulfer on saxophone.

In recent years, the song has been used on the trailer for Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, at Euro 2012, features on the soundtracks to NBA 2K11 and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, as well as a Nissan Altima TV advertisement.

Personnel

Charts

Year Chart Position
1982 The Billboard 200 7
1982 UK Albums Chart 27
1982 Canada 3
1982 New Zealand 3
1982 Norway 3

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews
  3. ↑ RIAA Searchable database
  4. ↑
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