Eye in the Sky (album)
| Eye in the Sky | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 1982[citation needed] | |||
| Recorded | 1981–82 | |||
| Studio | Abbey Road Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Soft rock[1] | |||
| Length | 42:30 | |||
| Label | Arista | |||
| Producer | ||||
| The Alan Parsons Project chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Eye in the Sky | ||||
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Eye in the Sky is the sixth studio album by English rock band The Alan Parsons Project, released in June 1982 by Arista Records. At the 25th Annual Grammy Awards in 1983, Eye in the Sky was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album. In 2019, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
Production
Eye in the Sky is the first of three albums the Project recorded on analogue equipment and mixed directly to the digital master tape.[2]
Release
Eye in the Sky was the last platinum record in the United States from the band.[3]
Eye in the Sky contains the Project's biggest hit[citation needed], the title track with lead vocals by Eric Woolfson. The album itself was a major success, reaching the Top 10 (and sometimes the number 1 slot) in numerous countries.[4]
The album features the instrumental piece "Sirius", which has become a staple of many 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 during its championship years of the 1990s. [5]
On 1 December 2017, a 35th-anniversary-edition box set of the album was released, for which Alan Parsons, along with surround mastering engineers Dave Donnelly and PJ Olsson, won the Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards[6].
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| The Philadelphia Inquirer |  [7] |
From contemporary reviews, Ken Tucker of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the album a one star rating out of five rating, calling it a "hopelessly banal album" with "Paul McCartney-as-manic-depressive melodies and whining vocals would be merely pathetic were it not for Parsons' lyric pretensions".[7]
From retrospective reviews, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album a four and a half star rating, stating that "this is a soft rock album through and through, one that's about melodic hooks and texture." noting 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 [...] it 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."[1]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson
| No. | Title | Lead 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 |
| No. | Title | Lead 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 medley | 10:49 |
| 16. | "Eye Pieces" (Classical Naked Eye) | Instrumental | 7:51 |
Personnel
- Chris Rainbow: main vocal (Track 4)
- Lenny Zakatek: main vocal (Tracks 6 & 9)
- Elmer Gantry: main vocal (Track 7)
- Eric Woolfson: keyboards, main vocal (Tracks 2, 5, 12 & 14)
- Colin Blunstone: main vocal (Track 10)
- The English Chorale: choir vocals
- Alan Parsons: keyboards, Fairlight programming, vocals
- David Paton: acoustic, electric & bass guitars, main vocal (Track 3)
- Ian Bairnson: acoustic & electric guitars
- Mel Collins: saxophone
- Stuart Elliott: drums, percussion
Charts
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | The Billboard 200 | 7 |
| 1982 | UK Albums Chart | 27 |
| 1982 | Canada | 3 |
| 1982 | New Zealand | 3 |
| 1982 | Norway | 3 |
| 1982 | Germany | 1 |
| 1982 | Spain (AFYVE) | 1 |
Certifications and sales
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[8] | 2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
| France (SNEP)[10] | Platinum | 684,800[9] |
| Germany (BVMI)[11] | Gold | 250,000^ |
| Italy (FIMI)[12] | Gold | 25,000‡ |
| Netherlands (NVPI)[13] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[14] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[15] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[16] | Silver | 60,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[17] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
|
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
References
- ^ a b c Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Eye in the Sky - The Alan Parsons Project, Alan Parsons". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "Eye in the Sky - Credits". Woolfsongs Ltd. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ RIAA Searchable database Archived 26 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Eye in the Sky at AustrianCharts.at. Accessed July 11, 2016.
- ^ Cohen, Ben. "The One Record the Warriors Can’t Take From the Bulls: Even as Golden State closes on a historic 73rd win, Chicago’s pre-game music still sets the standard," Wall Street Journal (April 12, 2016).
- ^ "2019 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Nominations List". 7 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
- ^ a b Tucker, Ken (13 June 1982). "Albums". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 14-M. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "Canadian album certifications – The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky". Music Canada. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- ^ https://www.infodisc.fr/Ventes_Albums_Tout_Temps.php?debut=300
- ^ "French album certifications – Alan Parsons – Eye in the sky" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
- ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (The Alan Parsons Project; 'Eye in the Sky')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- ^ "Italian album certifications – The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 18 June 2018. Select "2018" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Type "Eye in the Sky" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Album e Compilation" under "Sezione".
- ^ "Dutch album certifications – The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 10 September 2018. Enter Eye in the Sky in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 1984 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".
- ^ "New Zealand album certifications – The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
- ^ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (PDF) (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. p. 916. ISBN 84-8048-639-2. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- ^ "British album certifications – The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 19 September 2018. Select albums in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Eye in the Sky in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
- ^ "American album certifications – Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the sky". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 27 June 2019.