The Alan Parsons Project - what genre?

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   You've answered your own question, as far as I'm concerned. Bands that do 'pretty much everything' are arguably progressive by definition.

That said, I know what you're driving at. They are a kind of cross over, arty rock band, who didnt want to prog out too extremely, but did want to do something with a bit of depth. Personally, I can take or leave them, although I do like I Robot quite a lot.

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Blacksword Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: June 22 2004 Location: England Status: Offline Points: 16130	Posted: August 02 2010 at 10:15
	You've answered your own question, as far as I'm concerned. Bands that do 'pretty much everything' are arguably progressive by definition. That said, I know what you're driving at. They are a kind of cross over, arty rock band, who didnt want to prog out too extremely, but did want to do something with a bit of depth. Personally, I can take or leave them, although I do like I Robot quite a lot.
	Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy!

scatterplot1 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Groupie Joined: July 16 2010 Location: usa Status: Offline Points: 52	Posted: August 01 2010 at 23:13
	I think APP was half prog/half pop(until a certain point). "Turn of a Freindly Card"(the long song, not the whole album) was prog fer sure. The entire side 1, I did not care for, that was pop. "The Gold Bug" opening side 2 had to be prog. The next LP, Eye in the Sky.......well, it's high-tech pop now. Their instrumentals both prior to "Card" and after.....Some nice, some just plain corny("In the Lap of the Gods")....but cute. I don't equate "Cute" or "Corny" with Prog. The thing about instrumentals like "Los Endos"(Genesis)....There's nothing cute about it. You rock to it, tap yer feet and say "Wow" when it's over. But Alan will never be dismissed, as he was one of the slickest producers in rock history. Let's not forget what he did for Al Stewart. RIP Mr. Woolfson.

Dan Locke Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: August 01 2010 Status: Offline Points: 7	Posted: August 01 2010 at 22:34
	People always classify them as progressive rock, but I'm not seeing it. They had moments where they approached it, but Tales of Mystery and Imagination is the only full album that I can actually call an example of the genre, and that's really only because of "The Fall of the House of Usher" and the overarching concept-album structure. So, what were they? As far as I can tell, they did pretty much everything - heck, I Robot even had disco on it!