Alan Parsons Project – I Robot (1977), A Great Prog Rock Album

I Robot is the title of the second studio album released in 1977 by the British progressive rock duo the Alan Parsons Project which consisted of well-experienced sound engineer and multi-instrumentalist Alan Parsons (who previously worked as an assistant engineer with The Beatles and as chief recording engineer with Pink Floyd) and keyboardist Eric Woolfson. The LP (i.e. long play) is a great introspective concept studio album revolving around complex life themes such as keeping on, e.g. through the songs Don’t Let It Show or Day After Day (The Show Must Go On), science (i.e. through the song Nucleus which has a bit of an eerie feeling to it if you’d ask me, something more out of an early Fallout video game of the 1990s), personal crisis (i.e. through the song Breakdown), hope (i.e. through the song Some Other Time), personal conflict and struggle (i.e. through the lyrics of the song I Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You) and, as the title of the studio album pretty much says it all, science-fiction and artificial intelligence (through the opener song I Robot).

The studio album was evidently inspired by the eponymous book of short stories written by Isaac Asimov, renowned sci-fi author and professor of biochemistry at the Boston University (the book was published in 1950). It was released through Arista Records and was recorded between December 1976 and March 1977 at the legendary Abbey Road studio in London, England. It has a total length of 41 minutes and 5 seconds and a tracklist consisting of 10 songs and 2 sides (5 songs on each side of the LP).

The tracklist of the album is as follows:

1. I Robot
2. I Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You
3. Some Other Time
4. Breakdown
5. Don’t Let It Show
6. The Voice
7. Nucleus
8. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)
9. Total Eclipse
10. Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32

The album proved to an impressive commercial and critical success, with AllMusic giving it 4.5 stars out of 5 and selling over 1.5 million of copies worldwide, most of which in the United States of America and Germany. Below you can listen to two short interviews with the late great keyboardist Eric Woolfson on the story of the song Nucleus and I Robot in general, the second studio album by the Alan Parsons Project:

Moral of the story: you can enjoy great progressive rock music without resorting to drugs (and that’s the way you should really do it, that’s what I honestly and firmly believe as well, all the more that you have everything that you need within you, especially in your soul, mind, and brain; think also about the spirit molecule while we are at it). If you want to, you can take a Bayer aspirine beforehand only if you have a migraine… in that case, it will certainly make your listening experience better and more enjoyable!

Bonus videos: here’s another interesting short interview with Eric Woolfson from the official YouTube channel of the Alan Parsons Project in which he explains the inspiration behind the song breakdown (long story short and spoiler alert here: it’s about humans and robots which both… break down). Aside from this one, you can also watch other short interviews with Eric Woolfson on other songs from the album and the making of the album in general below.

Last but not least, below you can listen to my most favourites songs from this amazing progressive rock concept studio album which provides a lot of food for thought (and many complex feelings as well):

I truly hope you liked listening to this great progressive rock concept studio album by the British progressive rock duo the Alan Parsons Project. Thank you very much for your time, attention, and readership! It means a lot to me! Prog on!

Documentation sources and external links:

• The eponymous book of short stories by Isaac Asimov on www.wikipedia.org (in English)
• The Wikipedia page of the album on www.wikipedia.org (in English)