Unlimited Streaming
Listen to this album in high quality now on our apps
Start my trial period and start listening to this albumEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
SubscribeEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
Digital Download
Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.
Alan Parsons delivered a detailed blueprint for his Project on their 1975 debut, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, but it was on its 1977 follow-up, I Robot, that the outfit reached its true potential. Borrowing not just its title but concept from Isaac Asimov's classic sci-fi Robot trilogy, this album explores many of the philosophies regarding artificial intelligence -- will it overtake man, what does it mean to be man, what responsibilities do mechanical beings have to their creators, and so on and so forth -- with enough knotty intelligence to make it a seminal text of late-'70s geeks, and while it is also true that appreciating I Robot does require a love of either sci-fi or art rock, it is also true that sci-fi art rock never came any better than this. Compare it to Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, released just a year after this and demonstrating some clear influence from Parsons: that flirts voraciously with camp, but this, for all of its pomp and circumstance, for all of its overblown arrangements, this is music that's played deadly serious. Even when the vocal choirs pile up at the end of "Breakdown" or when the Project delves into some tight, glossy white funk on "The Voice," complete with punctuations from robotic voices and whining slide guitars, there isn't much sense of fun, but there is a sense of mystery and a sense of drama that can be very absorbing if you're prepared to give yourself over to it. The most fascinating thing about the album is that the music is restless, shifting from mood to mood within the course of a song, but unlike some art pop there is attention paid to hooks -- most notably, of course, on the hit "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You," a tense, paranoid neo-disco rocker that was the APP's breakthrough. It's also the closest thing to a concise pop song here -- other tunes have plenty of hooks, but they change their tempo and feel quickly, which is what makes this an art rock album instead of a pop album. And while that may not snare in listeners who love the hit (they should turn to Eye in the Sky instead, the Project's one true pop album), that sense of melody when married to the artistic restlessness and geeky sensibility makes for a unique, compelling album and the one record that truly captures mind and spirit of the Alan Parsons Project.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
You are currently listening to samples.
Listen to over 100 million songs with an unlimited streaming plan.
Listen to this playlist and more than 100 million songs with our unlimited streaming plans.
From £10.83/month
Not Applicable, Composer, Lyricist, Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 1977 Woolfsongs Ltd
Chris Blair, Assistant Engineer - Alan Parsons, Composer, Producer, Engineer - Eric Woolfson, Composer, Executive Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Patrick Stapley, Assistant Engineer
(P) 1977 Woolfsongs Ltd
Chris Blair, Assistant Engineer - Alan Parsons, Composer, Producer, Engineer - Eric Woolfson, Composer, Executive Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Hilary Western, Vocal - Patrick Stapley, Assistant Engineer
(P) 1977 Woolfsongs Ltd
Not Applicable, Composer, Lyricist, Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 1979 Woolfsongs Ltd
Not Applicable, Composer, Lyricist, Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 1979 Woolfsongs Ltd
Alan Parsons, Composer, Lyricist, Producer, Engineer - Eric Woolfson, Composer, Lyricist, Executive Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 1977 Woolfsongs Ltd
Alan Parsons, Composer, Lyricist, Producer, Engineer - Eric Woolfson, Composer, Lyricist, Executive Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Jaki Whitren, Vocal
(P) 1977 Woolfsongs Ltd
Alan Parsons, Composer, Lyricist, Producer, Engineer - Eric Woolfson, Composer, Lyricist, Executive Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 1977 Woolfsongs Ltd
Not Applicable, Composer, Lyricist, Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 1979 Woolfsongs Ltd
Alan Parsons, Composer, Lyricist, Producer, Engineer - Eric Woolfson, Composer, Lyricist, Executive Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 1977 Woolfsongs Ltd
Alan Parsons, Composer, Lyricist, Producer, Engineer - Eric Woolfson, Composer, Lyricist, Executive Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 1977 Woolfsongs Ltd
Alan Parsons, Composer, Lyricist, Producer, Engineer - Eric Woolfson, Composer, Lyricist, Executive Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 1977 Woolfsongs Ltd
Alan Parsons, Composer, Lyricist, Producer, Engineer - Eric Woolfson, Composer, Lyricist, Executive Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 1977 Woolfsongs Ltd
Alan Parsons, Composer, Lyricist, Producer, Engineer - Eric Woolfson, Composer, Lyricist, Executive Producer - The Alan Parsons Project, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 1977 Woolfsongs Ltd
Album review
Alan Parsons delivered a detailed blueprint for his Project on their 1975 debut, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, but it was on its 1977 follow-up, I Robot, that the outfit reached its true potential. Borrowing not just its title but concept from Isaac Asimov's classic sci-fi Robot trilogy, this album explores many of the philosophies regarding artificial intelligence -- will it overtake man, what does it mean to be man, what responsibilities do mechanical beings have to their creators, and so on and so forth -- with enough knotty intelligence to make it a seminal text of late-'70s geeks, and while it is also true that appreciating I Robot does require a love of either sci-fi or art rock, it is also true that sci-fi art rock never came any better than this. Compare it to Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, released just a year after this and demonstrating some clear influence from Parsons: that flirts voraciously with camp, but this, for all of its pomp and circumstance, for all of its overblown arrangements, this is music that's played deadly serious. Even when the vocal choirs pile up at the end of "Breakdown" or when the Project delves into some tight, glossy white funk on "The Voice," complete with punctuations from robotic voices and whining slide guitars, there isn't much sense of fun, but there is a sense of mystery and a sense of drama that can be very absorbing if you're prepared to give yourself over to it. The most fascinating thing about the album is that the music is restless, shifting from mood to mood within the course of a song, but unlike some art pop there is attention paid to hooks -- most notably, of course, on the hit "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You," a tense, paranoid neo-disco rocker that was the APP's breakthrough. It's also the closest thing to a concise pop song here -- other tunes have plenty of hooks, but they change their tempo and feel quickly, which is what makes this an art rock album instead of a pop album. And while that may not snare in listeners who love the hit (they should turn to Eye in the Sky instead, the Project's one true pop album), that sense of melody when married to the artistic restlessness and geeky sensibility makes for a unique, compelling album and the one record that truly captures mind and spirit of the Alan Parsons Project.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 14 track(s)
- Total length: 00:37:58
- Main artists: The Alan Parsons Project
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Arista - Legacy
- Genre: Pop/Rock Rock
(P) 2024 Woolfsongs Ltd., under exclusive license to Sony Music Entertainment
Improve album informationWhy buy on Qobuz...
-
Stream or download your music
Buy an album or an individual track. Or listen to our entire catalogue with our high-quality unlimited streaming subscriptions.
-
Zero DRM
The downloaded files belong to you, without any usage limit. You can download them as many times as you like.
-
Choose the format best suited for you
Download your purchases in a wide variety of formats (FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF...) depending on your needs.
-
Listen to your purchases on our apps
Download the Qobuz apps for smartphones, tablets and computers, and listen to your purchases wherever you go.