The Alan Parsons Project - what genre?

Tales of Mystery and Imagination truly brings back some memories for me. I remember buying the album and having it on my weird playlist for a couple of years. I would often play it in between Songs From the Wood and Going For the One. Tales was the only recording ever ....where I could tolerate Arthur Brown's voice. Not personally being a huge fan of A.B., I think he shines on this one! Also the record was reminiscent of Pink Floyd material.....I think everyone knows that right? It creates an atmosphere by far...for the listener. In that sense, I found it to be a definite prog album. But then again....my experience was based on the reality that Alan Parsons had no other records during  that period in time and so my perception of him as an artist was quite different then.

The first album is one of the works that got me into prog in the first place, so it must have something in common with the genre, no? =)

Of the 2 albums I've heard, I found Tales to be a bit theatrical and I Robot to be a nice, well rounded album that fits nicely between Dark Side of The Moon and Crime of the Century.

The music was created by both Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, the concepts of the album seem to have been thought of by Parsons, but the lyrics by Woolfson. Andrew Powell was the arranger of the orchestrations. Erick Woolfson did sing and play keyboards from time to time. Alan Parsons almost contributed to nothing as far as playing and singing was concerned (from time to time he would sing as part of the chorus, or play som rythm instrument, but nothing particularly important). The project was mainly Parsons and Woolfson, plus to a lesser degree Powell.

Edited by Dellinger - October 15 2013 at 22:17

APP are definitely Prog and to classify them into one specific sub-genre or even genre of music for that matter would be ridiculous. APP are a dynamic fusing of many different Sub Genres of Prog. I look at them as being a combination of crossover Prog, Progressive Electronic and Psyche/Space rock.

Amazing. Beautiful band. I tell you how many times I've listened to the song 'Some other Time' in my life.
Unbelievable.

How about Pink Floyd Lite....?

infocat wrote: To me APP and Supertramp define Crossover Prog.  Prog with pop elements.  Or pop with prog.  There are too many bands in Crossover that should be in a more 'standard' prog genre. Oh well!

One of the most redeeming features about an artist is when you can't label them into one single category of a music genre or sub-genre. APP are just that. They keep you guessing and that is a wonderful unique quality in my opinion.
Certain albums from APP take on different themes and styles, but more importantly Labeling anyone particular album into one genre or sub genre just doesn't fit with APP. Gotta love it.

Same goes for NINE INCH NAILS. They can't be labeled singularly either.

lazland wrote: infocat wrote: To me APP and Supertramp define Crossover Prog.  Prog with pop elements.  Or pop with prog.  There are too many bands in Crossover that should be in a more 'standard' prog genre.Oh well! They do not define crossover prog, for the simple reason that when they started out in the 70's, nobody used the phrase. Both APP and Tramp were merely standouts amongst the general art/prog scene of the time. I do, however, agree with you about your letter point re the number in Crossover, which, to me, has merely been used as a dumping ground for a whole pile of bands where we couldn't decide/be bothered (delete as appropriate).

As a matter of fact, gieven what I have read on this site, I understand many of the prog giants actually started their career (and perhaps even released several of their prog masterpieces) before the term prog came into being. However, when did the term prog actually came to be used?

Svetonio wrote: Prog Related AOR.

That works for me ..or prog lite as I half jokingly mentioned. I always though their lp's were patchy but they managed to have a decent fm radio track now and then.