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The eye in the sky is still looking at you…

On November 17, Legacy Recordings will issue a 35th anniversary box set celebrating The Alan Parsons Project’s 1982 Eye in the Sky.  The album, which yielded the APP’s biggest hit single with its title track as well as the classic instrumental “Sirius,” will be enhanced for this expansive 3-CD/1-BD/2-LP/1-Flexidisc release with rare and previously unreleased material.

Perhaps the pinnacle of the collaboration between Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, the Alan Parsons Project’s sixth album (and fifth on Arista Records) employed a variety of musical styles within an accessible soft-rock framework to address lofty and still relevant themes.  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 fourth disc, a Blu-ray Audio disc, boasts a high-resolution stereo version of the album alongside a new 5.1 surround mix.  Two vinyl LPs present the original album newly-struck at half-speed on four sides at 45 RPM by Miles Showell at Abbey Road.  Finally, a special bonus is a flexidisc replica of a 1982 promotional release.  A 60-page hardcover book contains essays, new interviews, and previously unreleased images from the late Woolfson’s archive.  A 1982 replica poster and postcard round out the set.

“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.”

Alan Parsons notes in the press release, “It was a wonderful experience to hear all the multitrack tape tracks from Eye In The Sky 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. Of course not everything we recorded back then is heard on the final mixes, but the included bonus tracks in the box set give an interesting insight into was not used on the final mixes. Audiophiles will be pleased to know that there is a brand new 5.1 Surround Sound mix, which I am extremely pleased with incidentally, and also a Hi Def stereo version taken from the original analog stereo master tape which was recorded simultaneously alongside the digital mix.”

The lavish 35th Anniversary Edition of the enduring Eye in the Sky is available now for pre-order at the links below.  Look for it from Arista Records and Legacy Recordings on November 17!

The Alan Parsons Project, Eye in the Sky: 35th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (Arista/Legacy, 2017) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada TBD)

Disc 1: Original expanded album

1. Sirius
2. Eye in the Sky
3. Children of the Moon
4. Gemini
5. Silence and I
6. You’re Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned
7. Psychobabble
8. Mammagamma
9. Step By Step
10. Old and Wise
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)

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)

1. Eye in the Sky (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 1)
2. Eye in the Sky (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 2)
3. Eye in the Sky (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 3)
4. Eye in the Sky (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 4)
5. Children of the Moon (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 1)
6. Children of the Moon (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 2)
7. Gemini (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 1)
8. Gemini (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 2)
9. Gemini (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 3)
10. Gemini & Silence and I (Eric’s Songwriting Diary)
11. Silence and I (Eric’s Songwriting Diary)
12. Cooper’s Theme/ Silence and I chord beginnings (Eric’s Songwriting Diary)
13. Cooper’s Theme/ Silence and I beginnings (Eric’s Songwriting Diary)
14. Silence and I/ Fly Away  (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 1)
15. Silence and I/ Fly Away (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 2)
16. Old and Wise (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 1)
17. Old and Wise (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 2)
18. Old and Wise (Eric’s Songwriting Diary 3)

Disc 3: Bonus material (previously unreleased) and single edits

1. Eye in the Sky (Ian 12-string Acoustic Guitar Out Take)
2. Sirius and Eye in the Sky (Early Rough Mix)
3. Eye in the Sky (Eric Demo Verses – No Lyrics)
4. Children of the Moon (12-string Acoustic Guitar & Marching Band Snare Drum)
5. Children of the Moon (Early Rough Mix With Eric Demo Vocal)
6. Gemini (Chris Rainbow Vocal Harmonies)
7. Silence and I (Orchestral Take With Eric Demo Vocal)
8. You’re Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned (Rough Mix Section – Different Guitar Solo)
9. You’re Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned (Rough Mix with Alan Demo Vocal – Few Lyrics)
10. Psychobabble (Orchestral Take)
11. Psychobabble (Rough Mix With Eric Demo Vocal)
12. Step By Step (12-string Acoustic Guitars)
13. Step By Step (Rough Mix Backing Track – Extended Intro)
14. Old and Wise (Chris Rainbow Beach Boys Experiment)
15. Old and Wise (Eric Piano Track)
16. Eye in the Sky (Single Edit – Arista AS 0696, 1982)
17. Old and Wise (Single Edit – Arista AS 1048, 1982)
18. Psychobabble (Single Edit – Arista AS 1029, 1982)

Blu-ray: 5.1 surround mix and Stereo HD version of original album

LP 1-2: Original album at 45 RPM

Flexidisc: Excerpts from Eye in the Sky (originally released as Arista FLX 251 (U.K.), 1981)

1. Sirius
2. Eye in the Sky
3. Psychobabble
4. Old and Wise