Alan Parsons Project

Alan Parsons came to light as the man to have in the studio in the late '60s/early '70s (he worked on Abbey Road and Dark Side of the Moon). Typical of the studio indulgences of the '70s, the Alan Parsons Project involved themselves in dense fluff with notions of classicism. In 1975, Tales of Mystery and Imagination spelled out their highbrow ambitions on a concept album dedicated to the work of Edgar Allan Poe. Eye in the Sky (and its title track) brought the band their widest success in '82, as well as the indefatigable chorus "I can read your mind" and a record cover that would fool a generation of Siouxsie and the Banshees fans into buying their first soft-rock LP. Ammonia Avenue, released in 1984, balanced classic rock with the electronic inclinations of contemporaries like Hall & Oates. In 1987, the group indulged its most grandiose urges with Gaudi, an audio portrait of the visionary Catalan architect.