You know, it has to just be a real downer to have your critical
\nbenchmark come on your second release.<\/p>\n
In 1977, The Alan Parsons Project released
\nI, Robot<\/i>; and it’s probably not too hyperbole-laced to say
\nthat progressive rock was never quite the same. A stark and
\nthoughtful tale of man versus machine, the vision of
\nI, Robo<\/i>t was a world where man attempts to create in his own
\nimage, and thusly falls from his pinnacle. (And this, folks, was
\nyears before Terminator.) Big topic, big risk, big vision — and
\nquite often, visions this big fail because they’re too big.
\nThankfully, Parsons managed to avoid this trap, and turned in what
\nis certainly one of the highlights of his long career.<\/p>\n
\nI, Robot<\/i> is a study in contrasts. The album’s vocals are,
\nfor the most part, lush and melodic — but the instrumentation is
\nalternately stately and serious (with liberal use of Andrew
\nPowell’s orchestral arranging skills) or electronic and impersonal.
\nThis develops a powerful dynamic of the organic versus the
\nmechanical that contributes to the vaguely unsettling nature of the
\nCD.
\nI, Robot<\/i> is not casual listening; it rather demands you pay
\nattention to it. Thankfully, Parsons’ flawless production and
\nengineering, along with Eric Woolfson’s stellar songwriting, makes
\nthat attention a pleasant thing to pay.<\/p>\n
There are a couple of AOR radio staples on
\nI, Robot<\/i>, and they’re both quite acceptable — the
\nguitar-driven, almost funky “I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You” and
\nthe driving, intense “Breakdown,” with its triumphant choral
\nending. But the real gems are the tracks you probably haven’t
\nheard. “Some Other Time” is elegant, breathtaking, a massive rise
\nand fall of sheer energy. The instrumentals are excellent,
\nespecially the almost trance of “Genesis Ch.1 V.32.” My favorite,
\nhowever, is the simple, heartfelt, and beautiful “Day After Day
\n(The Show Must Go On)” — the best song on the topic of just moving
\non with your life until Queen’s song of the same name. There are a
\ncouple of slight miscues on the CD — I admit to never quite
\nwarming to “The Voice,” and I think its vocoder-laden vocals sound
\ndated as hell — but overall, this is the first sign of true
\nbrilliance from Parsons and Woolfson, and it is — or should be —
\nrequired listening for anyone who is at all interested in
\nprogressive rock. Far from being the latest Will Smith movie,
\nI, Robot<\/i> is much, much more complex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5840],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-38050","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-alan-parsons-project","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38050"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}