Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings announced (on July 27) a 35th anniversary deluxe collector’s box set of the Alan Parsons Project‘s 1982 album Eye in the Sky. The worldwide release on Dec. 1 features a trove of rare and unreleased material.
From the announcement: “A multi-layered masterpiece, Eye in the Sky is the Alan Parsons Project’s sixth studio album written by Eric Woolfson (who passed December 2, 2009) and Alan Parsons. A conceptual musical meditation on a variety of belief systems–the album’s title refers to casino surveillance, earth-circling satellites and the all-seeing eye of the Egyptian God Horus–Eye in the Sky has proved both timely and timeless, a remarkably prescient view of art, religion, politics and culture for the 21st century.”
The box set includes 3 CDs (CD1: original album expanded plus bonus tracks; CD2: Eric Woolfson’s songwriting diaries; CD3: previously unreleased bonus material; and Disc 4: 5.1 Surround Sound and stereo HD version of the original album on Blu-ray). Order it here.
Also included are two vinyl LPs ( the original album newly struck at half-speed on four sides at 45rpm at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell), a flexi-disc replica of an original 1982 promo, a 60-page hardback book featuring newly written essays, previously unreleased images recently discovered in Eric Woolfson’s personal archive and new interviews with many of the musicians who recorded the tracks on the album, an Eye in the Sky 1982 replica poster and postcard, a gold-foil Eye of Horus stamp on the front of the box, and more. See the complete list below.
All of the newly discovered bonus material has been painstakingly restored to produce the best possible state-of-the-art listening experience for longtime fans and newcomers to the album.
Though the Alan Parsons Project never had a hit single in the U.K., they enjoyed eight that reached the Top 40 on the U.S. Hot 100, none bigger than the album’s title track which peaked at #3.
Related: Look back at the biggest radio hits of 1982
“The songwriting diary disc is a very special element of this package,” says Woolfson’s daughter, Sally. “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.”
Watch an interview with Parsons about the box set
Eye in the Sky 35th Anniversary Box Set
The Eye in the Sky is looking at you! Rediscover our classic 1982 album with the forthcoming 35th Anniversary Collector’s Box Set. It includes 3CDs (2 bonus discs with previously unreleased material), double vinyl, 5.1 Surround Blu-ray, 60 page book on the making of the album, poster, promo flexidisc and postcard. Available 17th November, pre-order available now: Smarturl.it/eits35.
Posted by The Alan Parsons Project on Thursday, July 27, 2017
Eye in the Sky was originally recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios, where Parsons began working as an engineer in 1967 at age 18.
Parsons adds, “It was a wonderful experience to hear all the multitrack tape tracks again – and for the first time in nearly 35 years, in their raw unmixed form. Hearing the various elements, performances, and moments of magic that were selected for the the final mixes of the songs was an amazing experience. The bonus tracks give an interesting insight into was not used on the final mixes. The original analog stereo master tape was recorded simultaneously alongside the digital mix.”
Eye in the Sky included two of APP’s most durable classic rock songs: the album’s title song, with lead vocals from Woolfson, and the album’s throbbing “Sirius,” a powerful anthem at many major college and professional sporting events throughout North America.
Parsons has a series of concerts scheduled for Israel and the Netherlands this fall. See the complete anniversary edition details below.
CD1 Original Album & Expanded Bonus Tracks (originally released 2007)
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
Bonus Tracks
11. Sirius (Demo)
12. Old And Wise (Eric Woolfson Vocal)
13. Any Other Day (Studio Demo)
14. Silence And I (Eric Woolfson Vocal)
15. The Naked Eye
16. Eye Pieces (Classical Naked Eye)
CD2 – 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)
CD3 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED BONUS MATERIAL & 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 & Wise (Eric Piano Track)
Eye in the Sky (Single Edit)
Old and Wise (Single Edit)
Psychobabble (Single Edit)
DISC 4 (Blu-ray) 5.1 Surround Sound Mix (2017)
Stereo HD version (1982)
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
VINYL (at 45 rpm)
Vinyl 1 Side 1
Sirius
Eye In The Sky
Children Of The Moon
Vinyl 1 Side 2
Gemini
Silence And I
Vinyl 2 Side 1
You’re Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned
Psychobabble
Vinyl 2 Side 2
Mammagamma
Step By Step
Old & Wise
FLEXIDISC
Excerpts from Eye in the Sky:-
Sirius
Eye in the Sky
Psychobabble
Old and Wise
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