In LCD Soundsystem’s notorious first single “Losing My Edge,” vocalist James Murphy spins a tongue-in-cheek yarn about the ultimate music hipster. Claiming “I was there,” the song’s narrator claims to have been present at such important sonic moments as “the first Can show in Cologne,” “the Paradise Garage DJ booth with Larry Levan,” and being the “first guy to play Daft Punk to the rock kids”.
While precious few can claim such musical intuition, legendary producer Alan Parsons can boast actually being present at many of modern music’s most important moments, starting with his first job as a teen working at a tape duplicating plant in West London, where he handled the actual master tapes to the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
His career trajectory progressed at a steady if dizzying pace from then on. Landing an apprenticeship at Abbey Road Studios, Parsons went on to work on such timeless albums as the Beatles Let it Be and Pink Floyd’s classic Dark Side of the Moon.
Going on to produce massive FM radio hits of the ‘70s with acts like Pilot, Ambrosia and Al Stewart, Parsons started the Alan Parsons Project, a meticulous combination of pop hooks and grandiose concepts that would go on to sell millions of albums and songs that endure to this very day. Even indie DJs have gotten the Parsons bug, with dance acts like the Twelves remixing Project hit “I Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You” for the blog-house set.
Despite having been thrown from a horse on his Santa Barbara farm only a few days prior (“he got spooked by another horse he wasn’t used to riding with”), Parsons took the time to answer questions about his incredible career, the Chicago Bulls and being a punch line in the first Austin Powers movie.
How are the two Los Angeles-area Alan Parsons Live project shows you’re playing tied to the 2008 NAMM music trade show?
We’re promoting a three-DVD series I’m working on called The Art and Science of Sound Recording. It’s going to be recording from the perspective of people who’ve been successful in music. It’s partly instructional, but also engaging for fans of the music.
When you were working on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, did you have any idea that it was going to such an enduring record?
Roger Waters said in interviews since that he knew it was going to be huge, but I dispute that (laughs). No one could have predicted that it would become such a classic. I think everybody recognized that it was the best Pink Floyd record to date.
It’s interesting that you went from such heavy progressive rock to producing pop hits for acts like Pilot and Ambrosia.
It’s odd, isn’t it? The pop stuff was just an attempt for me to get on the map of producers at the time.
Would you say that pop experience influenced the Alan Parsons Project, where you always managed to make catchy hooks amidst really complex progressive rock?
The connection goes beyond that, as Pilot was the rhythm section on the first Project album. I felt a lot more at home doing the progressive stuff, although progressive has become a dirty word these days.
How did the instrumental “Sirius” become the ultimate “jock jam” as the Chicago Bulls’ entrance music during their NBA dynasty?
That was the strangest sort of accident. I have no idea why it got picked up as a sports theme. It certainly wasn’t the intention. But obviously I’m delighted. People usually want to know how much money I’ve made from it, which is very little actually. When it’s used in public setting like that, there are no royalties involved.
Did you know ahead of time that the Alan Parsons Project was going to be the name of Dr. Evil’s death-ray in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me?
No, it was a complete surprise. Someone told me to just go see the movie, and that I’d understand soon enough. I was in the theater like, “Oh, my God.”
See the Alan Parsons Live Project at the Grove in Anaheim on January 15 and the House of Blues Sunset on January 17
