I was 10 going on 11 when this album came out and we were living in Fort Morgan, CO at the time. I can remember being in my bedroom listening to the radio waiting for this song to play so I could record it to a cassette tape. This also would have been the summer before my sixth grade year and halfway through sixth grade is when my family moved back to Saint Francis, KS.
If you were to ask me what my earliest musical memory was, it would be the Eye in the Sky album by The Alan Parsons Project. I actually still have this album, but much like a statistic I recently read, I don't actually own a record player.
This song and Old and Wise are my two favorites and if you know me personally, that really tracks with my personality.
As I sit and really think about this song and this album, it's hard not to believe that my musical path later in life wasn't directly influenced by my early experience with good 'ol Alan Parsons.
For clarity - unlike Pink Floyd, there really is a guy named Alan Parsons behind the project. And what a guy...
Here's a sampling of his resume where he was an engineer or producer for other bands: The Beatles; Pink Floyd; Wings; The Hollies; Al Stewart and sort of Yes.
Consider this: he was the engineer on Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. An album released in 1973 which currently sits as the fourth highest selling album of all time at 45+ million copies. Without Alan Parsons, this album would not be the success it became.
Another curious nuance about this album which on one hand I hate, but on the other hand I have to give it props, is the song Sirius. If you grew up in the 80's and followed the Chicago Bulls, or any time later and went to a sporting event - you know this song. I guarantee it. It has been played into the ground.
But this song specifically? It would have come into my life when I was 11 or 12 and there was no way my idiot mind could decipher what the hell any of this meant. But I was drawn to the music and the challenge of trying to understand the song. And that's probably why I love it so much - I had to work to understand it and it wasn't "bubblegum pop" music. There are so many layers that draw me in, it is literally like a new listening experience every time I listen to it.
Ghost of a Chance 