Alan Parsons's career spans decades, but the man who gave us such top-twenty hits with The Alan Parsons Project as "Games People Play," "Time," and "Eye in the Sky," isn't about to sit on his laurels. His newest album is called A Valid Path and features such heavyweights of the electronica age as The Crystal Method, with some help from old friends like Pink Floyd guitar god David Gilmour.
There are still a few tricks up the sleeve of the man who got his first taste in the music world with The Beatles and went on to engineer Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, and Al Stewart. And he is happy to share them with Mr. Skin. The day before his big show in Los Angeles, Parsons sat down with us to discuss his love of '60s skin, being a Trekkie, and the hope for the development of a robotic sex slave.
For more information on The Alan Parsons Project, A Valid Path, and a tour itinerary log on to: Alanparsonsmusic.com
Are you familiar with Mr. Skin?
I'm not.
Well, Mr. Skin is familiar with you and your work.
It's a website? I'm sitting in front of a computer now I'll type it in. Would it be good for me to look at it while we're talking?
If you don't find it too distracting.
It says, "Nude celebrity movie reviews." [Laughs]
Yes, but we're expanding to do features and interviews with people like yourself, who to my knowledge have never been nude on camera.
Nudity and audio is acceptable.
You started working as an engineer for The Beatles. Tell me what kind of wild times those were.
I was an assistant in those days, just in training, and part of training is being a tape operator and assistant engineer. It has to be said they were slightly unhappy times, I think, for the band. They were on the brink of splitting up.
I worked on two albums. The first one was Let It Be, although it was the last to be released it was the first to be recorded. Things at that time were particularly bad because they were trying to make a live record work in a studio environment. I think John and George weren't that keen on the idea; it was very largely driven by Paul. In the end it came out fine, especially "Get Back," I think that was the song of the moment. You probably saw the book that came with the album. There were a lot of long faces.
Yes, everybody looked unshaven and unhappy.
Abbey Road was a little bit better because they were back to doing it the way they got used to.
What did you think of the Phil Spector-less version of Let It Be: Naked that was recently released?
It was good to hear it again. That was actually how I remember it, just the band and Billy Preston jamming and playing songs over and over again. I didn't really agree with what Phil Spector did with it. No disrespect to Spector himself, whose records I absolutely adore, but I don't think he was a good choice for getting his hands on those tapes. They did go downhill, especially on "Long and Winding Road," which I totally detest. [Laughs] It was good to hear the naked version of that.
You engineered one of rock's greatest mind-blowing albums, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. So, was it intended to be the secret soundtrack for The Wizard of Oz?
Standard answer is, no, it was The Sound of Music. And you have to start the album when Julie Andrews just comes over the mountaintop.
On to your music career as The Alan Parsons Project; your first album is called Tales of Mystery and Imagination and puts Edgar Allen Poe's stories to music. Are you a big horror fan?
Not particularly. I used to enjoy the '60s horrors, the Hammer movies. I quite enjoyed them.
Do you have any favorites?
Not particularly. They're all the same, aren't they [laughs], all teeth and poor acting. I used to go to all-night horror-movie sessions at a local cinema in London, which was fun, watching horror movies all night long. The Vampire Lovers is one that sticks in my mind (Picture: - - - ). I just reminded myself of a '60s James Bond movie, Goldfinger, which was a big turn on at school. She was a hot babe, though we wouldn't have used those words in those days--groovy bird, maybe.
You put out another record as The Alan Parsons Project called I, Robot based on the famous collection of stories by Issac Asimov. Are you a sci-fi geek?
Very much so. I certainly thought 2001 was a masterpiece. I was a Trekkie. I think I was one of the originals. I just read in the paper today they're putting it all on DVD.
Do you watch all the new permutations on the Star Trek universe?
I like the original team. That's where it all started. It just got a little bit serious.
Did you see the movie version of I, Robot?
Not yet, no. I was kind of disappointed that we didn't get a single phone call on it. We tried to make an approach to see if there was any kind of synergy between what I did and what they wanted to do. But it seemed that was not the case. Did Will Smith put his own music in the movie?
I didn't see the movie--no nudity. But I think they just took the title and slapped it onto an existing sci-fi script that had been floating around.
In other words, pretty much exactly what we did [laughs], just in a different direction. I think at least they took the laws of robotics, which was the basis for the stories. In a way, we did that too, although we didn't state them on the record. Our philosophy was that mankind would ultimately destroy itself by creating machines in our own image that would dominate us.
Do you still hold to that dystopian vision?
Given the rate technology advances, it's perfectly feasible. It might take as long as two or three hundred years, I don't know, but we're going to have walking talking machines before long.
Do you look forward to a world full of robots?
I think every man on earth is looking forward to a robotic sex machine. [Laughs]
Let's hope the scientists get working on that pretty quick, which actually leads into my next question. Do you remember the first sex scene you saw in a mainstream movie?
Oh my God. The earliest memory of any kind of nudity in movies--and I think she probably never did strip off--was Brigitte Bardot (Picture: ). Bardot movies were all the rage when I was in school. That was the period when the interest was there to go and see movies and hope that someone was going to take their clothes off. [Laughs] There were one or two sex scenes, but they were pretty tame in the '60s, I got to say. I remember kids would come back from the movies and say, "Well, this movie has one tit and this movie has two tits."
They were proto-Mr. Skins.
Do your archives go back that far?
You can look up Bardot
Did she ever take off?
She did! There are some pretty hot scenes. Look it up. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
We'll definitely take a look at your website. My wife is now doing email, so she didn't think it was that important. [Laughs] Did you hear that? She said, "If you see one tit you've seen them all."
Mr. Skin is trying to see them all and find out if she's right. Now I wanted to ask about your connection to Star Wars. You did the soundtrack to a film titled 5-25-77.
It's an upcoming movie. It's directed by an old friend of mine, Patrick Johnson, whose claim to fame is a movie called Baby's Day Out. But he grew up. Did his training with Douglas Trumbull, the special-effects guy, and he was there as a young aspiring film-technician guy right then when it happened. I think the movie is to a certain extent autobiographical. And it's the very time that I, Robot came out, which was one of the reasons he approached me to do it. Because I, Robot and Star Wars were totally simultaneous releases.
The title is the date for the release of Star Wars. Was that the only soundtrack work you've done?
I did a movie called Ladyhawke, which was Michelle Pfeiffer (Picture: - - ), Rutger Hauer. I don't think Michelle Pfeiffer has ever been nude.
Look her up on the site. You'll be surprised!
I seem to remember a heaving cleavage, but that's all.
Get your wife off that email and find out. I did want to ask, since you've worked with Pink Floyd you must have seen The Wall. Is that an accurate representation of rock stardom?
I think it's accurate in the case of certain people. I'm not sure that any of the Floyd got dosed up with drugs to represent the [Bob] Geldof character really. But that is a period when Roger [Waters] was very aware of the rock-star psyche. Dark Side of the Moon has a great deal to do with being in a rock band as well.
The backstage stuff...
What, the groupies and stuff? Yes, that's reasonably accurate. At least it was in the early '70s. I don't think it's quite the same now.
Your new album, A Valid Path, is a departure, being almost entirely an electronic production. Is that a natural progression from your progressive-rock past?
I think it was always something that was a part of me, electronica. I just chose to delay any collaboration with people who were doing well with it in this day and age.
Does you background as an engineer make you more accepting to this genre?
Without a doubt, with the studio upbringing you're very aware of what can be achieved, not only with synthesizers and such, but you're brought up to use the studio equipment as an extension of the musical instruments you're playing with. You can make a record in a studio without any instruments whatsoever. In fact, that might be an interesting idea. It was something that the Floyd tired to do. Right after Dark Side of the Moon we were going to make an album with household objects. We actually made a start of it, but it was like six weeks into it and we only had two and a half minutes of music, so everybody just said life's too short for this.
Finally, what do you think of being the inspiration for Dr. Evil's death ray in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me?
I was certainly amused by the reference and rather flattered.
There are still a few tricks up the sleeve of the man who got his first taste in the music world with The Beatles and went on to engineer Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, and Al Stewart. And he is happy to share them with Mr. Skin. The day before his big show in Los Angeles, Parsons sat down with us to discuss his love of '60s skin, being a Trekkie, and the hope for the development of a robotic sex slave.
For more information on The Alan Parsons Project, A Valid Path, and a tour itinerary log on to: Alanparsonsmusic.com
Are you familiar with Mr. Skin?
I'm not.
Well, Mr. Skin is familiar with you and your work.
It's a website? I'm sitting in front of a computer now I'll type it in. Would it be good for me to look at it while we're talking?
If you don't find it too distracting.
It says, "Nude celebrity movie reviews." [Laughs]
Yes, but we're expanding to do features and interviews with people like yourself, who to my knowledge have never been nude on camera.
Nudity and audio is acceptable.
You started working as an engineer for The Beatles. Tell me what kind of wild times those were.
I was an assistant in those days, just in training, and part of training is being a tape operator and assistant engineer. It has to be said they were slightly unhappy times, I think, for the band. They were on the brink of splitting up.
I worked on two albums. The first one was Let It Be, although it was the last to be released it was the first to be recorded. Things at that time were particularly bad because they were trying to make a live record work in a studio environment. I think John and George weren't that keen on the idea; it was very largely driven by Paul. In the end it came out fine, especially "Get Back," I think that was the song of the moment. You probably saw the book that came with the album. There were a lot of long faces.
Yes, everybody looked unshaven and unhappy.
Abbey Road was a little bit better because they were back to doing it the way they got used to.
What did you think of the Phil Spector-less version of Let It Be: Naked that was recently released?
It was good to hear it again. That was actually how I remember it, just the band and Billy Preston jamming and playing songs over and over again. I didn't really agree with what Phil Spector did with it. No disrespect to Spector himself, whose records I absolutely adore, but I don't think he was a good choice for getting his hands on those tapes. They did go downhill, especially on "Long and Winding Road," which I totally detest. [Laughs] It was good to hear the naked version of that.
You engineered one of rock's greatest mind-blowing albums, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. So, was it intended to be the secret soundtrack for The Wizard of Oz?
Standard answer is, no, it was The Sound of Music. And you have to start the album when Julie Andrews just comes over the mountaintop.
On to your music career as The Alan Parsons Project; your first album is called Tales of Mystery and Imagination and puts Edgar Allen Poe's stories to music. Are you a big horror fan?
Not particularly. I used to enjoy the '60s horrors, the Hammer movies. I quite enjoyed them.
Do you have any favorites?
Not particularly. They're all the same, aren't they [laughs], all teeth and poor acting. I used to go to all-night horror-movie sessions at a local cinema in London, which was fun, watching horror movies all night long. The Vampire Lovers is one that sticks in my mind (Picture: - - - ). I just reminded myself of a '60s James Bond movie, Goldfinger, which was a big turn on at school. She was a hot babe, though we wouldn't have used those words in those days--groovy bird, maybe.
You put out another record as The Alan Parsons Project called I, Robot based on the famous collection of stories by Issac Asimov. Are you a sci-fi geek?
Very much so. I certainly thought 2001 was a masterpiece. I was a Trekkie. I think I was one of the originals. I just read in the paper today they're putting it all on DVD.
Do you watch all the new permutations on the Star Trek universe?
I like the original team. That's where it all started. It just got a little bit serious.
Did you see the movie version of I, Robot?
Not yet, no. I was kind of disappointed that we didn't get a single phone call on it. We tried to make an approach to see if there was any kind of synergy between what I did and what they wanted to do. But it seemed that was not the case. Did Will Smith put his own music in the movie?
I didn't see the movie--no nudity. But I think they just took the title and slapped it onto an existing sci-fi script that had been floating around.
In other words, pretty much exactly what we did [laughs], just in a different direction. I think at least they took the laws of robotics, which was the basis for the stories. In a way, we did that too, although we didn't state them on the record. Our philosophy was that mankind would ultimately destroy itself by creating machines in our own image that would dominate us.
Do you still hold to that dystopian vision?
Given the rate technology advances, it's perfectly feasible. It might take as long as two or three hundred years, I don't know, but we're going to have walking talking machines before long.
Do you look forward to a world full of robots?
I think every man on earth is looking forward to a robotic sex machine. [Laughs]
Let's hope the scientists get working on that pretty quick, which actually leads into my next question. Do you remember the first sex scene you saw in a mainstream movie?
Oh my God. The earliest memory of any kind of nudity in movies--and I think she probably never did strip off--was Brigitte Bardot (Picture: ). Bardot movies were all the rage when I was in school. That was the period when the interest was there to go and see movies and hope that someone was going to take their clothes off. [Laughs] There were one or two sex scenes, but they were pretty tame in the '60s, I got to say. I remember kids would come back from the movies and say, "Well, this movie has one tit and this movie has two tits."
They were proto-Mr. Skins.
Do your archives go back that far?
You can look up Bardot
Did she ever take off?
She did! There are some pretty hot scenes. Look it up. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
We'll definitely take a look at your website. My wife is now doing email, so she didn't think it was that important. [Laughs] Did you hear that? She said, "If you see one tit you've seen them all."
Mr. Skin is trying to see them all and find out if she's right. Now I wanted to ask about your connection to Star Wars. You did the soundtrack to a film titled 5-25-77.
It's an upcoming movie. It's directed by an old friend of mine, Patrick Johnson, whose claim to fame is a movie called Baby's Day Out. But he grew up. Did his training with Douglas Trumbull, the special-effects guy, and he was there as a young aspiring film-technician guy right then when it happened. I think the movie is to a certain extent autobiographical. And it's the very time that I, Robot came out, which was one of the reasons he approached me to do it. Because I, Robot and Star Wars were totally simultaneous releases.
The title is the date for the release of Star Wars. Was that the only soundtrack work you've done?
I did a movie called Ladyhawke, which was Michelle Pfeiffer (Picture: - - ), Rutger Hauer. I don't think Michelle Pfeiffer has ever been nude.
Look her up on the site. You'll be surprised!
I seem to remember a heaving cleavage, but that's all.
Get your wife off that email and find out. I did want to ask, since you've worked with Pink Floyd you must have seen The Wall. Is that an accurate representation of rock stardom?
I think it's accurate in the case of certain people. I'm not sure that any of the Floyd got dosed up with drugs to represent the [Bob] Geldof character really. But that is a period when Roger [Waters] was very aware of the rock-star psyche. Dark Side of the Moon has a great deal to do with being in a rock band as well.
The backstage stuff...
What, the groupies and stuff? Yes, that's reasonably accurate. At least it was in the early '70s. I don't think it's quite the same now.
Your new album, A Valid Path, is a departure, being almost entirely an electronic production. Is that a natural progression from your progressive-rock past?
I think it was always something that was a part of me, electronica. I just chose to delay any collaboration with people who were doing well with it in this day and age.
Does you background as an engineer make you more accepting to this genre?
Without a doubt, with the studio upbringing you're very aware of what can be achieved, not only with synthesizers and such, but you're brought up to use the studio equipment as an extension of the musical instruments you're playing with. You can make a record in a studio without any instruments whatsoever. In fact, that might be an interesting idea. It was something that the Floyd tired to do. Right after Dark Side of the Moon we were going to make an album with household objects. We actually made a start of it, but it was like six weeks into it and we only had two and a half minutes of music, so everybody just said life's too short for this.
Finally, what do you think of being the inspiration for Dr. Evil's death ray in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me?
I was certainly amused by the reference and rather flattered.
