Q: What do the Sugarhill Gang and Queen have in common?
A: “Good Times” by CHIC, the rollicking eight-minute disco classic that was sampled for “Rapper’s Delight” and that inspired “Another One Bites the Dust.”
But if you think that that single infectious track is the only thing worthwhile on this disc, you’d be sorely mistaken.
One of my favorite things about music history is that no matter how deep you dig, there’s always another jewel to discover. As much as I love the ethereal, crushing heaviness of bands like Holy Fawn, Spotlights, Palehorse/Palerider, and the throng of other bands often labeled “doomgaze,” I never heard of the apparent pioneers of that sound until last week.
But once I did, their swan song Weighing the Souls with Sand immediately grabbed me with its rich atmospheres and overwhelming heaviness.
Until recently, I had held the narrative that the Alan Parsons Project began as a wonderfully ambitious progressive rock outfit that shifted their sites on middle of the road pop rock as their career went on.
If nothing else, acquiring their entirely discography recently completely demolished that narrative. Chiefly, their tenth and final record Gaudi, which might be one of the most ambitious records of their career.
Read more at ayearofvinyl.com #alanparsonsproject #progressiverock #progrock #poprock #symphonicrock #vinyl
The deeper I get into The Alan Parson’s Project’s later discography, the more I expect each record to disappoint me. For years, the narrative in my head had been that APP peaked hard with The Eye In the Sky and went downhill fast.
When I put Stereotomy onto my turntable, I expected the bouncing metallic synths to finally signal the Project’s downfall into uninspired new wave pastiche. But to my surprise (and delight), what followed was a record that retained the sophistication of the collective’s finest work while adding more electronic elements to their palette.
After The Eye in the Sky, Alan Parsons Project originally intended to release a double album as a follow up. Instead, they split the project into two records: Ammonia Avenue and Vulture Culture, released ten months apart in 1984.
Like its twin, Vulture Culture is another underrated gem, showcasing the Project’s effortless blend of progressive composition and infectious pop hooks.
For the last decade or so, my understanding of the Alan Parsons Project’s discography was that the collective started strong with two prog rock masterpieces, had a couple uninspired albums in the middle, then had a return to form before dropping the magnificent The Eye In the Sky and hanging up the project.
But after a friend acquired several boxes of (mostly sealed) LPs and dropped them on me to take my pick of, I have since learned that they released four records after what I thought was their swan song. Ammonia Avenue, the first record after Eye, hits more than it misses, even if it’s still overshadowed by the record before it.
I’ve been a die hard Alan Parsons Project for years. I Robot was one of the first records I purchased, and remains one of my favorites of that era. But as long as I’ve been collecting, I’ve passed up more copies of this record than I have total records in my collection.
The consistent low ratings I’ve seen in comparison to other records in the APP discography—as well as the album art, which was a rare miss by Hipgnosis—assured me there was nothing to miss.
But listening to it now, I realize that even at their worst, the Alan Parsons Project is still more inventive and infectious than most of their peers.
As difficult as music taxonomy is on its own, metal brings its own challenges. The delineations between the different subgenres get so microscopic that it feels pointless.
For years, I struggled to figure out where exactly sludge metal fits. Many of the bands typically labeled sludge felt more like post metal to me. Others were undeniably doom.
But this record is undeniably sludge: it is thick and heavy, oozing out of the turntable for eighty minutes.
For the last fifteen years, Massachusetts sextet Caspian has explored the vast sonic expanse of post rock. Their palette has included glitching electronics, soft horn sections, gritty metal riffs, and the occasional vocalist.
On Circles, their fifth full length, finds them getting more experimental than ever before, without sacrificing any of their heaviness.
Generally, I could give or take ABBA. But, they’re one of my wife’s absolute favorites, so when their first Greatest Hits compilation appeared (sealed!) in a box of records, I had to keep it for her sake.
It is her birthday, after all.