14.01.2008.
Alan Parsons Project - I Robot (1977) (@256)
(Review from progarchives.com)
After the huge, somewhat unexpected success of the “Tales of Mystery and Imagination” album; the duo went for another concept, based on Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot", a somber perspective of the conflictive relationship between humans and robots, with the former divided between their roles as masters and dominated, and the latter gaining some kind of self-awareness that motivates them to toy with the idea of becoming autonomous once and for all.
"I Robot" is a synth-heavy album. Many of you are familiar with "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" and "Breakdown" which radio stations still continue to play to this day, but there's some other great stuff as well. Like the title cut, which tends to be heavily electronic, with lots of great synths, as well as a cimbalom (Hungarian dulcimer) and kantele (Finnish zither) being used, courtesy of John Leach.
This album also premiers the vocals of Lenny Zakatek, as demonstrated on "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You". The largely acoustic "Some Other Time" is truly amazing, and definately overlooked, especially by radio programmers. "The Voice" has that nice repetitive bass line, great string synths, and a great funky solo in the middle. Then there's the ambient experiment "Nucleus" which then segues in to "Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)", a great ballad. Then it segues in to "Total Eclipse", which is orchestra's turn to shine. This piece is downright creepy, complete with sinister voices and equally sinister strings. Then the album closes with "Genesis Ch. 1 V.32", it's another heavily electronic instrumental cut that's very similar to the title track.
Line-up :
- Alan Parsons / acoustic guitar, keyboards, projectron and vocoder, additional vocals
- Eric Woolfson / keyboards, projectron and vocoder, additional vocals
with
- David Paton / bass, acoustic guitar, additional vocals
- Stuart Tosh / drums and percussion, additional vocals
- Ian Bairnson / electric & acoustic guitar, additional vocals
- Duncan Mackay / keyboards
- B.J. Cole / steel guitar
- John Leach / cimbalom and kantele
and
- Allan Clarke, Steve Harley, Jack Harris, Peter Straker and Jaki Whitren, Dave Townsend, Lenny Zakatek / vocals
- Hilary Western, Smokey Parsons, Tony Rivers, John Perry, Stuart Calver, The English Chorale and the New Philharmonia Chorus / additional vocals
Track List :
01. I Robot
02. I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You
03. Some Other Time
04. Breakdown
05. Don't Let It Show
06. The Voice
07. Nucleus
08. Day After Day (Show Must Go On)
09. Total Eclipse
10. Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32
11. Boules (Bonus I Robot Experiment)
12. Breakdown (Bonus Demo)
13. I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You (Bonus Rough Mix)
14. Day After Day (Bonus Rough Mix)
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Original Post Date : 4 Sep 2007 | 3:09 PM
