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While the remainder of the band's line-up changed constantly, some members became essentially permanent parts of the band. These include arranger Andrew Powell (who conducted and arranged all of the orchestral work), guitarist Ian Bairnson (who contributed all of the band's lead guitar work), bassist and backing vocalist David Paton (who played on every album except the last, played extra guitar parts and even sang lead vocals on a few songs), and drummer Stuart Elliott (who played on all albums except the first two). And although the project used a wide range of vocalists, Chris Rainbow and Lenny Zakatek appeared most often out of them all (asides from Woolfson and Paton). Over time, the band became more pop-influenced, and in the mid-1980s, synthesizers started to replace their orchestra, reaching their zenith on ''Stereotomy'', an album that is almost entirely SynthPop. During the last four albums, saxophonist/keyboardist Richard Cottle was featured as the designated synthesist, and his brother Laurence was the bassist on the last album they did.

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While the remainder of the band's line-up changed constantly, some members became essentially permanent parts of the band. These include arranger Andrew Powell (who conducted and arranged all of the orchestral work), guitarist Ian Bairnson (who contributed all of the band's lead guitar work), bassist and backing vocalist David Paton (who played on every album except the last, played extra guitar parts and even sang lead vocals on a few songs), and drummer Stuart Elliott (who played on all albums except the first two).starting with ''Pyramid''). And although the project used a wide range of vocalists, Chris Rainbow and Lenny Zakatek appeared most often out of them all (asides from Woolfson and Paton). Over time, the band became more pop-influenced, and in the mid-1980s, synthesizers started to replace their orchestra, reaching their zenith on ''Stereotomy'', an album that is almost entirely SynthPop. During the last four albums, saxophonist/keyboardist Richard Cottle was featured as the designated synthesist, and his brother Laurence was the bassist on the last album they did.



* ''Eve'' (1979) - About misogyny and feminism. (Notable Songs: "Lucifer", "Damned if I Do", "If I Could Change Your Mind")

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* ''Eve'' (1979) - About misogyny and feminism. (Notable Songs: "Lucifer", "Damned if If I Do", "If I Could Change Your Mind")



* BookEnds:

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* BookEnds:{{Bookends}}:



* CallBack: The chorus of "One More River" is echoed in the bridge section of "Can't Take It with You."

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* CallBack: The chorus of "One More River" is echoed in the bridge section of "Can't Take It with You."You".



* DigitalDestruction: CD releases of ''The Turn of a Friendly Card'' were mastered with the master tape played at the wrong speed by mistake, resulting in the entire album being slower and lower-pitched than the original LP release. This was eventually corrected for the 2015 deluxe edition.

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* DigitalDestruction: CD releases of ''The Turn of a Friendly Card'' were mistakenly mastered with the master tape played playing at the wrong speed by mistake, speed, resulting in the entire album being slower and lower-pitched than the original LP release. This was eventually corrected for the 2015 deluxe edition.



* FacelessEye: The cover of the album ''Eye in the Sky'' depicts the {{Eye Of Horus|MeansEgypt}}. The title track, one of the Alan Parsons Project's best known songs, is a person telling their significant other (in a very creepy and vindictive fashion) that he/she knows the other has been cheating and is tired of pretending to be ignorant of it.

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* FacelessEye: The cover of the album ''Eye in the Sky'' depicts the {{Eye Of of Horus|MeansEgypt}}. The title track, one of the Alan Parsons Project's best known songs, is a person telling their significant other (in a very creepy and vindictive fashion) that he/she knows the other has been cheating and is tired of pretending to be ignorant of it.



** Also "Children of the Moon" -> "Gemini" from "Eye In The Sky".
** "The Fall Of The House Of Usher" Suite into "To One In Paradise".
** A special award goes to Side 2 of ''I Robot:'' "The Voice" -> "Nucleus" -> "Day After Day" -> "Total Eclipse" -> "Genesis Ch.1 v.32"

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** Also "Children of the Moon" -> "Gemini" from "Eye In The Sky".
''Eye in the Sky''.
** "The Fall Of The of the House Of of Usher" Suite into "To One In in Paradise".
** A special award goes to Side 2 of ''I Robot:'' Robot'': "The Voice" -> "Nucleus" -> "Day After Day" -> "Total Eclipse" -> "Genesis Ch.1 v.32"



* GrandFinale: ''The Turn Of A Friendly Card'' suite, "Old and Wise," and "To One in Paradise" all qualify, as do the endings to many of their other albums.
* TheGrimReaper: The narrator in "Can't Take It With You".

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* GrandFinale: ''The Turn Of A of a Friendly Card'' suite, "Old and Wise," Wise", and "To One in Paradise" all qualify, as do the endings to many of their other albums.
* TheGrimReaper: The narrator in "Can't Take It With with You".



* MusicBoxIntervals: "Eye in the Sky", "Don't Answer Me", the main theme of "The Turn Of A Friendly Card" suite.

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* MusicBoxIntervals: "Eye in the Sky", "Don't Answer Me", the main theme of "The Turn Of A of a Friendly Card" suite.



** "I'd Rather Be A Man" includes the line "I'd rather be a man 'cause I wouldn't wanna be like you.", a reference to their previous song "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You".

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** "I'd Rather Be A a Man" includes the line "I'd rather be a man 'cause I wouldn't wanna be like you.", a reference to their previous song "I Wouldn't Want To to Be Like You".



* {{Pastiche}}: According to Word Of God, "Don't Answer Me" was an attempt to emulate Music/PhilSpector's Wall of Sound effect.

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* {{Pastiche}}: According to Word Of God, WordOfGod[[invoked]], "Don't Answer Me" was an attempt to emulate Music/PhilSpector's Wall of Sound effect.



-->"The light in your eyes\\

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-->"The light sun in your eyes\\



* SelfBackingVocalist: Guest vocalist Chris Rainbow elevated this to an art form, both with lead harmonies and veritable walls of backing vocals. He was credited in a couple of Alan Parsons Project albums as a "One-Man [[Music/TheBeachBoys Beach Boys]] Choir". Some of the re-released albums feature bonus tracks consisting of Chris Rainbow's backing vocals and harmonies isolated, he's that good.

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* SelfBackingVocalist: Guest vocalist Chris Rainbow elevated this to an art form, both with lead harmonies and veritable walls of backing vocals. He was credited in a couple of Alan Parsons Project albums as a "One-Man [[Music/TheBeachBoys Beach Boys]] Choir". Some of the re-released albums feature bonus tracks consisting of Chris Rainbow's his backing vocals and harmonies isolated, he's that good.



* SopranoAndGravel: Chris Rainbow ("The Turn Of A Friendly Card") and Eric Woolfson ("Eye in the Sky"), as opposed to Lenny Zakatek ("I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You") and David Paton ("What Goes Up...")

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* SopranoAndGravel: Chris Rainbow ("The Turn Of A of a Friendly Card") and Eric Woolfson ("Eye in the Sky"), as opposed to Lenny Zakatek ("I Wouldn't Want To to Be Like You") and David Paton ("What Goes Up...")



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* AlternateAlbumCover:
** ''Tales of Mystery and Imagination'': There are three versions of the album's artwork. The most common is of a man wrapped in tape casting a long shadow within a thin image. A altered version of this artwork adds an image a man's face wrapped in tape with a drawing of a mummified man in the background. A third image features an image of the top half of Alan Parsons wrapped in tape.
** ''Stereotomy'': The original LP release included a transparent sleeve with blue plastic on one side and red on the other. The artwork inside featured red and blue text and a Rorschach inkblot in the center. Later releases would simplify the artwork with just a blue inkblot with the album title in red text and the band name in light blue due to the high costs that replicating the original packaging on any format would entail.
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-->--'''Homer''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

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-->--'''Homer''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
-->--'''Homer Simpson''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "Homerpalooza"

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Sub-troping is not allowed, and Keep Circulating The Tapes is a trivia trope.


* DigitalDestruction: CD releases of ''The Turn of a Friendly Card'' were mastered with the master tape played at the wrong speed by mistake, resulting in the entire album being slower and lower-pitched than the original LP release. This was eventually corrected for the 2015 deluxe edition.



** KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The only way to hear the original version is to search online, find a copy of Mobile Fidelity's Original Master Recording version of the album, or the 2007 release with both mixes.[[invoked]]
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** "I Robot" and "Genesis Chapter 1 Verse 32" fade in with the same synth drone, at the beginning and ending of the album respectively.

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** "I Robot" and "Genesis Chapter 1 Verse 32" fade in FadeIn with the same synth drone, at the beginning and ending of the album respectively.
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** "I Robot" and "Genesis Ch1 V32" fade in with the same synth drone, at the beginning and ending of the album respectively.

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** "I Robot" and "Genesis Ch1 V32" Chapter 1 Verse 32" fade in with the same synth drone, at the beginning and ending of the album respectively.
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**"I Robot" and "Genesis Ch1 V32" fade in with the same synth drone, at the beginning and ending of the album respectively.
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* ''The Sicilian Defence'' (2014) - Instrumental album recorded in 1979 as an AshcanCopy album before being belatedly released on the BoxedSet ''The Complete Albums Collection''.

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* ''The Sicilian Defence'' (2014) - Instrumental album recorded in 1979 as an AshcanCopy album before being belatedly released on the BoxedSet ''The Complete Albums Collection''.
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* ''The Sicilian Defence'' (2014) - Instrumental album recorded in 1979 as an AshcanCopy album before being belatedly released on the BoxedSet ''The Complete Albums Collection''.

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** "[[EpicInstrumentalOpener Voyager]]" --> "[[StockPhrases What Goes Up...]]" --> "[[NotChristianRock The Eagle Will Rise Again]]"

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** "[[EpicInstrumentalOpener Voyager]]" --> "[[StockPhrases What Goes Up...]]" --> "[[NotChristianRock The "The Eagle Will Rise Again]]" Again"



* NotChristianRock: "The Eagle Will Rise Again"
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* SingerNameDrop: Following the band's name being coopted by ''Film/AustinPowers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'', Parsons made sure to include the ShoutOut, along with other Dr. Evil dialogue, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzaholsV1Vk in a remix of "The Time Machine"]].

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** "The Gold Bug" from ''The Turn of a Friendly Card'' is likely a Call Back to ''Tales of Mystery and Imagination''.

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** "The Gold Bug" from ''The Turn of a Friendly Card'' is likely a Call Back to ''Tales of Mystery and Imagination''.Imagination'', being the title of another Poe work. It also calls back on its own album, as the song begins with a whistled version of the intro to "May Be a Price to Pay", the opening song on the album (whereas "The Gold Bug" opens side two).


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* UncommonTime: Not as prevalent as other prog-rock acts, but "The Ace of Swords" is a rather sufficient example in its own right, with sections alternating 5/4 and 6/4, alternating 8/4 and 6/4, alternating 8/4 and 7/4, and steady 7/4.
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* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Anywhere from a 1 ("Time," "Old and Wise") to a 3 ("You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned," "La Sagrada Familia"), but on the whole, pretty soft even for a prog-rock band.
** Occasionally, they would get up to a 4 ("Snake Eyes", "The Raven"). Their hardest song, "The Tell-Tale Heart", is a low 5.
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** In Eric Woolfson's musical "Poe", an abridged reading of "The Raven" is performed by one of the characters. As the titular raven of the story appears, a soft bass riff begins playing, building up the tension for the rest of the reading. Project fans might recognize it as the same riff that opens and carries on throughout the Project song "Breakdown", the title of which nicely foreshadows the ending of "The Raven".

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** In Eric Woolfson's musical "Poe", an abridged reading of "The Raven" is performed by one of the characters. As the titular raven of the story appears, a soft bass riff begins playing, building up the tension for the rest of the reading. Project fans might recognize it as the same riff that opens and carries on throughout the Project song "Breakdown", the title of which nicely foreshadows the ending of "The Raven". Parsons has nodded to this in reverse order, often using an excerpt of the Project's setting of "The Raven" as a coda to "Breakdown" in concert.
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Youtube link of concert is now invalid due to copyright claim.


Despite their reluctance to perform live, the Project in its original incarnation performed at a Night on the Proms concert in 1990. Zakatek, Bairnson, Paton, Elliott, and the Cottle brothers performed as the Project while Parsons mixed the concert and Powell conducted the orchestra. You can find the concert [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q8OsDuNovo here]].

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Despite their reluctance to perform live, the Project in its original incarnation performed at a Night on the Proms concert in 1990. Zakatek, Bairnson, Paton, Elliott, and the Cottle brothers performed as the Project while Parsons mixed the concert and Powell conducted the orchestra. You can find the concert [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q8OsDuNovo here]].\n
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* ''Eye in the Sky'' (1982) - About belief systems - both religious and political. (Notable Songs: "Sirius", "Eye in the Sky", "Psychobabble", "Old and Wise")

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* ''Eye in the Sky'' (1982) - About belief systems - both religious and political. (Notable Songs: "Sirius", "Eye in the Sky", "Children of the Moon", "Psychobabble", "Old and Wise")

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** "Literature/TheFallOfTheHouseOfUsher" is in several parts, but is about sixteen minutes in total.

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** "Literature/TheFallOfTheHouseOfUsher" is in several parts, but is about sixteen minutes in total. Similarly, "The Turn of a Friendly Card" is technically five separate parts, but it is listed as a single suite, over 16 minutes in length.



** In general, they did this more rarely compared to other progressive rock bands, but they do have some examples. Other songs by them over 6 minutes in length include "I Robot" (6:02), "Silence and I" (7:19), "Ammonia Avenue" (6:30), "Stereotomy" (7:18), "Where's the Walrus?" (7:31), "Light of the World" (6:19), and "Inside Looking Out" (6:22).



* TheGamblingAddict: The "The Turn Of A Friendly Card" suite. Also "I Don't Wanna Go Home" from the same album.

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* TheGamblingAddict: The "The Turn Of A "Turn of a Friendly Card" suite. Also "I Don't Wanna Go Home" from the same album.
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* SiameseTwinSongs: Although "Eye in the Sky" ''can'' stand on its own, its instrumental lead-in "Sirius" just doesn't sound right when it just ends. Also "Nucleus" and "Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)"; those two were included in that fashion in the "Laseruim" show.

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* SiameseTwinSongs: Although "Eye in the Sky" ''can'' stand on its own, its instrumental lead-in "Sirius" just doesn't sound right when it just ends.ends (outside of a basketball context, where "Sirius" alone has been used as a theme song for the Chicago Bulls for over 30 years). Also "Nucleus" and "Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)"; those two were included in that fashion in the "Laseruim" show.
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* ''Tales of Mystery and Imagination'' (1976) - inspired by the works of Creator/EdgarAllanPoe (Notable Songs: "The Raven", "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Fall of the House of Usher" Suite)
* ''Music/IRobot'' (1977) - Loosely inspired by the works of Creator/IsaacAsimov (Notable Songs: "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You", "Breakdown", "Don't Let It Show")

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* ''Tales of Mystery and Imagination'' (1976) - inspired by the works of Creator/EdgarAllanPoe (Notable Songs: "The Raven", "The Cask of Amontillado", "(The System of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether", "The Fall of the House of Usher" Suite)
* ''Music/IRobot'' (1977) - Loosely inspired by the works of Creator/IsaacAsimov (Notable Songs: "I Wouldn't Want To to Be Like You", "Breakdown", "Don't Let It Show")



* ''The Turn of a Friendly Card'' (1980) - About gambling and midlife crisis. (Notable Songs: "Games People Play" and "The Turn of a Friendly Card Suite".)

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* ''The Turn of a Friendly Card'' (1980) - About gambling and midlife crisis. (Notable Songs: "Games People Play" and Play", "Time", "The Turn of a Friendly Card Suite".Card" Suite.)



* ''Vulture Culture'' (1984) - About the selfishness and dishonesty of modern culture. (Notable Songs: "Let's Talk About Me", "Days Are Numbers (The Traveler)", "Hawkeye")

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* ''Vulture Culture'' (1984) - About the selfishness and dishonesty of modern culture. (Notable Songs: "Let's Talk About Me", "Days Are Numbers (The Traveler)", Traveller)", "Hawkeye")
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Corrected the song title. Also "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" wasn't the band's first hit. The previous year "(The System of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether" had made the top 40.


* ''Music/IRobot'' (1977) - Loosely inspired by the works of Creator/IsaacAsimov (Notable Songs: "I Wouldn't Wanna Be Like You", "Breakdown", "Don't Let It Show")

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* ''Music/IRobot'' (1977) - Loosely inspired by the works of Creator/IsaacAsimov (Notable Songs: "I Wouldn't Wanna Want To Be Like You", "Breakdown", "Don't Let It Show")



** "I'd Rather Be A Man" includes the line "I'd rather be a man 'cause I wouldn't wanna be like you." "I Wouldn't Wanna Be Like You" was the band's first hit single.

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** "I'd Rather Be A Man" includes the line "I'd rather be a man 'cause I wouldn't wanna be like you." ", a reference to their previous song "I Wouldn't Wanna Want To Be Like You" was the band's first hit single.You".



* SopranoAndGravel: Chris Rainbow ("The Turn Of A Friendly Card") and Eric Woolfson ("Eye in the Sky"), as opposed to Lenny Zakatek ("I Wouldn't Wanna Be Like You") and David Paton ("What Goes Up...")

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* SopranoAndGravel: Chris Rainbow ("The Turn Of A Friendly Card") and Eric Woolfson ("Eye in the Sky"), as opposed to Lenny Zakatek ("I Wouldn't Wanna Want To Be Like You") and David Paton ("What Goes Up...")
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* LargeHam: Guest vocalist Music/ArthurBrown on "The Tell-Tale Heart". According to Parsons, Brown sang normally in rehearsals, but when they went for a take he went into full-blown Crazy World mode.

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