Eye in the Sky (album)


Eye in the Sky is the sixth studio album by English rock band The Alan Parsons Project, released in June 1982 by Arista Records. At the 25th Annual Grammy Awards in 1983, Eye in the Sky was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album. In 2019, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.

Eye in the Sky
Studio album by
The Alan Parsons Project
ReleasedJune 1982
Recorded1981–82
StudioAbbey Road Studios, London
GenreSoft rock[1]
Length42:30
LabelArista
Producer
The Alan Parsons Project chronology
The Turn of a Friendly Card
(1980)		 Eye in the Sky
(1982)		 Ammonia Avenue
(1983)
Singles from Eye in the Sky
  1. "Old and Wise"
    Released: 1982
  2. "Sirius" / "Eye in the Sky" / "Mammagamma"
    Released: August 1982

Production

Eye in the Sky is the first of three albums the Project recorded on analogue equipment and mixed directly to the digital master tape.[2]

Release

Eye in the Sky was the last platinum record in the United States from the band.[3]

Eye in the Sky contains the Project's biggest hit, the title track with lead vocals by Eric Woolfson. The album itself was a major success, reaching the Top 10 (and sometimes the number 1 slot) in numerous countries.[4]


The album features the instrumental piece "Sirius", which has become a staple of many college and professional sporting arenas throughout North America. It is best known for its use by the Chicago Bulls to introduce its starting line-up during its championship years of the 1990s. [5]

On 1 December 2017, a 35th-anniversary-edition box set of the album was released, for which Alan Parsons, along with surround mastering engineers Dave Donnelly and PJ Olsson, won the Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards[6].

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Philadelphia Inquirer[7]

From contemporary reviews, Ken Tucker of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the album a one star rating out of five rating, calling it a "hopelessly banal album" with "Paul McCartney-as-manic-depressive melodies and whining vocals would be merely pathetic were it not for Parsons' lyric pretensions".[7]

From retrospective reviews, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album a four and a half star rating, stating that "this is a soft rock album through and through, one that's about melodic hooks and texture." noting that "with the exception of those instrumentals and the galloping suite "Silence and I," all the artiness was part of the idea of this album was pushed into the lyrics, so the album plays as soft pop album -- and a very, very good one at that [...] it adds up to arguably the most consistent Alan Parsons Project album -- perhaps not in terms of concept, but in terms of music they never were as satisfying as they were here."[1]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson.

No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Sirius"Instrumental1:54
2."Eye in the Sky"Eric Woolfson4:36
3."Children of the Moon"David Paton4:51
4."Gemini"Chris Rainbow2:11
5."Silence and I"Eric Woolfson7:19
6."You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned"Lenny Zakatek4:22
7."Psychobabble"Elmer Gantry4:51
8."Mammagamma"Instrumental3:34
9."Step by Step"Lenny Zakatek3:54
10."Old and Wise"Colin Blunstone4:55
2007 Remaster Bonus Tracks
No.TitleLead vocalsLength
11."Sirius" (Demo)Instrumental1:56
12."Old and Wise"Eric Woolfson4:43
13."Any Other Day" (Woolfson) (studio demo)Instrumental1:42
14."Silence and I"Eric Woolfson7:33
15."The Naked Eye"Instrumental medley10:49
16."Eye Pieces" (Classical Naked Eye)Instrumental7:51

Personnel

Charts
Year Chart Position
1982 The Billboard 200 7
1982 UK Albums Chart 27
1982 Canada 3
1982 New Zealand 3
1982 Norway 3
1982 Germany 1
1982 Spain (AFYVE) 1

Certifications and sales
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[8] 2× Platinum 200,000^
France (SNEP)[9] Platinum 684,800[10]
Germany (BVMI)[11] Gold 250,000^
Italy (FIMI)[12] Gold 25,000*
Netherlands (NVPI)[13] Gold 50,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[14] Platinum 15,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[15] Platinum 100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[16] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[17] Platinum 1,000,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

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References
  1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Eye in the Sky - The Alan Parsons Project, Alan Parsons". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  2. "Eye in the Sky - Credits". Woolfsongs Ltd. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  3. RIAA Searchable database Archived 26 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Eye in the Sky at AustrianCharts.at. Accessed July 11, 2016.
  5. Cohen, Ben. "The One Record the Warriors Can’t Take From the Bulls: Even as Golden State closes on a historic 73rd win, Chicago’s pre-game music still sets the standard," Wall Street Journal (April 12, 2016).
  6. "2019 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Nominations List". 7 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  7. Tucker, Ken (13 June 1982). "Albums". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 14-M. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  8. "Canadian album certifications – The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky". Music Canada. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  9. "French album certifications – Alan Parsons – Eye in the sky" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  10. https://www.infodisc.fr/Ventes_Albums_Tout_Temps.php?debut=300
  11. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (The Alan Parsons Project; 'Eye in the Sky')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  12. "Italian album certifications – The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 18 June 2018. Select "2018" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "Eye in the Sky" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Album e Compilation" under "Sezione".
  13. "Dutch album certifications – The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 10 September 2018. Enter Eye in the Sky in the "Artiest of titel" box.
  14. "New Zealand album certifications – The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  15. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (PDF) (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. p. 916. ISBN 84-8048-639-2. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  16. "British album certifications – The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 19 September 2018. Select albums in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Eye in the Sky in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  17. "American album certifications – Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the sky". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 27 June 2019. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
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