EYE IN THE SKY

"Eye In The Sky" is the sixth album by Alan Parsons Project and it makes me think two things: 1) It is one of the most beautiful albums I have ever listened to but 2) it is nothing but a great Soft Rock album!

In 1982, Progressive Rock wasn't the most popular and everything that was Progressive in music was read as something that made you say: "Look how good we are!". Yet "Eye In The Sky" is an album that could still be written, recorded and produced today without changing a thing. But it's a typical 80's album. Nothing to say against the songs included here... Some are close, in some parts, to Progressive POP but they are not even remotely similar to Prog. Yet "Eye In The Sky" is an album that is still perfect, as soon as it was released. I honestly prefer it to Asia's albums (which I don't know if they are Prog or AOR). In fact I prefer albums like GTR's (fantastic AOR) or 3's (another fantastic AOR album).

Today describing the songs contained in "Eye In The Sky" makes no sense. Better to discuss the production and the sound. But, after all, Alan Parsons is the man behind the console of a masterpiece like "Dark Side Of The Moon" by Pink Floyd and if that album is considered the perfection of sound why shouldn't "Eye In The Sky" be? From this point of view "Eye In The Sky" is a bit too cold and predictable. And I prefer to listen to Vangelis' albums that are equally well produced or certain AOR albums that demand this level of recording, production and mixing. However, if you look closely, this is part of the game and makes "Eye In The Sky" an immortal album.

Whether you are a fan of Progressive Rock, Progressive POP, Soft Rock or AOR (and of course Progressive Soul) you can't help but love "Eaye In The Sky". Which, however, remains a great Soft Rock album with several connections to Progressive music.