Eye in the Sky provided the Alan Parsons Project with
their first Top Ten hit since 1977’s I Robot, and it’s hard not to
feel that crossover success was one of the driving forces behind this
album. The Project never shied away from hooks, whether it was on the
tense white funk of “I Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You” or the gleaming
pop hooks of “Games People Play,” but Eye in the Sky was soft and
smooth, so smooth that it was easy to ignore that the narrator of the
title track was an ominous omniscient who spied either on his lover or
his populace, depending on how deeply you wanted to delve into the
concepts of this album. And, unlike I Robot or The Turn of a Friendly
Card, it is possible to listen to Eye in the Sky and not dwell on the
larger themes, since they’re used as a foundation, not pushed to center
stage. What does dominate is the lushness of sound, the sweetness of
melody: this is a soft rock album through and through, one that’s about
melodic hooks and texture. In the case of the spacy opening salvo
“Sirius,” later heard on sports talk shows across America, or
“Mammagamma,” it was all texture, as these instrumentals set the trippy
yet warm mood that the pop songs sustained. And the real difference
with Eye in the Sky is that, with the exception of those instrumentals
and the galloping suite “Silence and I,” all the artiness was part of
the idea of this album was pushed into the lyrics, so the album plays
as soft pop album — and a very, very good one at that. Perhaps nothing
is quite as exquisite as the title song, yet “Children of the Moon” has
a sprightly gait (not all that dissimilar from Kenny Loggins’ “Heart
to Heart”), “Psychobabble” has a bright propulsive edge (not all that
dissimilar from 10cc), and “Gemini” is the project at its dreamiest. It
all adds up to arguably the most consistent Alan Parsons Project album
— perhaps not in terms of concept, but in terms of music they never
were as satisfying as they were here.
Eye in the Sky was released in a 35th Anniversary Collector’s Edition box set in 2017, featuring three CDs, one Blu-ray, two vinyl LPs, and a flexidisc. The first CD in the box set features the remastered original album plus six bonus tracks (all previously available on the single-disc expanded edition of the album). Disc Two presents Eric Woolfson’s Songwriting Diaries, with eighteen previously unreleased song sketches from the visionary composer-lyricist-performer. Disc Three offers a further eighteen tracks (fifteen previously unreleased), including demos from Parsons and Woolfson, rough and early versions, and three single versions.
“The songwriting diary disc is a very special element of this package,” comments Sally Woolfson in Legacy’s press release. “This shows Eric’s private moments of creativity captured on tape as songwriting memos to himself. As he didn’t read or write annotated music, this was how he developed the songs he wrote. They give a wonderful fly on the wall insight into the creative process where you can literally hear the song evolve as the ideas come out of his head. These are very precious to the family and it was extremely difficult to pick out the tracks to include in this box set from the hours and hours of material we had for this album alone. We’ve tried to illustrate the creative progression where a number of tracks for the same song have been included. We hope the fans will enjoy this rare insight into the birth of the songs from the Eye in the Sky album.”
Disc 1: Original expanded album
- Sirius
- Eye in the Sky
- Children of the Moon
- Gemini
- Silence and I
- You’re Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned
- Psychobabble
- Mammagamma
- Step By Step
- Old and Wise
- Sirius (Demo)
- Old and Wise (Eric Woolfson Vocal)
- Any Other Day (Studio Demo)
- Silence and I (Eric Woolfson Vocal)
- The Naked Eye
- Eye Pieces (Classical Naked Eye)
Tracks 1-10 released as Arista AL 9599, 1982
Tracks 11-16 released on Arista/Legacy 82876 81527-2, 2007
Disc 2: Eric Woolfson’s songwriting diaries (previously unreleased)
- Eye in the Sky (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 1)
- Eye in the Sky (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 2)
- Eye in the Sky (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 3)
- Eye in the Sky (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 4)
- Children of the Moon (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 1)
- Children of the Moon (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 2)
- Gemini (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 1)
- Gemini (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 2)
- Gemini (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 3)
- Gemini & Silence and I (Eric’s Songwriting Diary)
- Silence and I (Eric’s Songwriting Diary)
- Cooper’s Theme/ Silence and I chord beginnings (Eric’s Songwriting Diary)
- Cooper’s Theme/ Silence and I beginnings (Eric’s Songwriting Diary)
- Silence and I/ Fly Away (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 1)
- Silence and I/ Fly Away (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 2)
- Old and Wise (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 1)
- Old and Wise (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 2)
- Old and Wise (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 3)
Disc 3: Bonus material (previously unreleased) and single edits
- Eye in the Sky (Ian 12-string Acoustic Guitar Out Take)
- Sirius and Eye in the Sky (Early Rough Mix)
- Eye in the Sky (Eric Demo Verses – No Lyrics)
- Children of the Moon (12-string Acoustic Guitar & Marching Band Snare Drum)
- Children of the Moon (Early Rough Mix With Eric Demo Vocal)
- Gemini (Chris Rainbow Vocal Harmonies)
- Silence and I (Orchestral Take With Eric Demo Vocal)
- You’re Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned (Rough Mix Section – Different Guitar Solo)
- You’re Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned (Rough Mix with Alan Demo Vocal – Few Lyrics)
- Psychobabble (Orchestral Take)
- Psychobabble (Rough Mix With Eric Demo Vocal)
- Step By Step (12-string Acoustic Guitars)
- Step By Step (Rough Mix Backing Track – Extended Intro)
- Old and Wise (Chris Rainbow Beach Boys Experiment)
- Old and Wise (Eric Piano Track)
- Eye in the Sky (Single Edit – Arista AS 0696, 1982)
- Old and Wise (Single Edit – Arista AS 1048, 1982)
- Psychobabble (Single Edit – Arista AS 1029, 1982)
