Eye in the Sky (album)

Eye in the Sky is the first of three albums the Project recorded on analogue equipment and mixed directly to the digital master tape.{{cite web |title=Eye in the Sky – Credits |url=https://www.the-alan-parsons-project.com/eye-in-the-sky#credits |publisher=Woolfsongs Ltd. |access-date=30 April 2019}}

Eye in the Sky was the last platinum record in the United States from the band.[https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH RIAA Searchable database] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626000000/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH |date=26 June 2007 }}

Eye in the Sky contains the title track, the Alan Parsons Project's biggest hit,{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/the-alan-parsons-project |title = The Alan Parsons Project| magazine=Billboard }} with lead vocals by Eric Woolfson. The album itself was a major success, reaching the top 10 (and sometimes the number one slot) in numerous countries.[http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Alan+Parsons+Project&titel=Eye+In+The+Sky&cat=a Eye in the Sky] at AustrianCharts.at. access-date 11 July 2016.

The album features the instrumental piece "Sirius", which has become a staple of many college and professional sporting arenas throughout North America. It is best known for its use by the Chicago Bulls to introduce its starting line-up during its championship years of the 1990s and is still used today.Cohen, Ben. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-one-record-the-warriors-cant-take-from-the-bulls-1460498500 "The One Record the Warriors Can’t Take From the Bulls: Even as Golden State closes on a historic 73rd win, Chicago’s pre-game music still sets the standard,"] Wall Street Journal (12 April 2016).

Another instrumental, "Mammagamma", was used separately by TVNZ in New Zealand and BBC Wales in the mid-1980s for their snooker coverage,{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ldE3aL3S0Y&t=917s |title = Snooker Themes and Titles|via=YouTube|access-date=24 August 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gZ2aXrpUi8 |title = New Zealand Winfield Masters Final 1984 Kirk Stevens v Jimmy White (Best of 9)|via=YouTube|access-date=24 August 2022}} and as a bed for the "My Favourite Five" feature on Tony Fenton's late-night 2FM show in Ireland across 1989 and 1990. The instrumental also saw use in an industrial video for Iveco in Italy.{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvRYTiKNq5o |title=Daily/Grinta vincono |author=Centro Storico Fiat |via=YouTube }}

On 1 December 2017, a 35th-anniversary-edition box set of the album was released, for which Alan Parsons, along with surround mastering engineers Dave Donnelly and PJ Olsson, won the Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.{{cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/2019-grammy-awards-complete-nominations-list|title=2019 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Nominations List|date=7 December 2018|access-date=29 December 2018}}

{{Album ratings

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/eye-in-the-sky-mw0000195219|publisher=AllMusic|title=Eye in the Sky – The Alan Parsons Project, Alan Parsons|first=Stephen Thomas|last=Erlewine|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|access-date=26 May 2020}}

|rev2 = The Philadelphia Inquirer

|rev2score = {{rating|1|5}}{{cite news|newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer|title=Albums|date=13 June 1982|page=14-M|last=Tucker|first=Ken|author-link=Ken Tucker|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52155168/the-philadelphia-inquirer/|access-date=26 May 2020}}

}}

From contemporary reviews, Ken Tucker of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the album a one star rating out of five rating, calling it a "hopelessly banal album" with "Paul McCartney-as-manic-depressive melodies and whining vocals would be merely pathetic were it not for Parsons' lyric pretensions".

From retrospective reviews, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stated that "this is a soft rock album through and through, one that's about melodic hooks and texture," noting that "with the exception of those instrumentals and the galloping suite "Silence and I," all the artiness was part of the idea of this album was pushed into the lyrics, so the album plays as soft pop album—and a very, very good one at that [...] it adds up to arguably the most consistent Alan Parsons Project album—perhaps not in terms of concept, but in terms of music they never were as satisfying as they were here."

All songs written and composed by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson.

{{Track listing

| headline = Side one

| extra_column = Lead vocals

| total_length =

| title1 = Sirius

| extra1 = None

| length1 = 1:54

| title2 = Eye in the Sky

| extra2 = Eric Woolfson

| length2 = 4:36

| title3 = Children of the Moon

| extra3 = David Paton

| length3 = 4:51

| title4 = Gemini

| extra4 = Chris Rainbow

| length4 = 2:11

| title5 = Silence and I

| extra5 = Woolfson

| length5 = 7:19

}}{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| extra_column = Lead vocals

| total_length =

| title6 = You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned

| extra6 = Lenny Zakatek

| length6 = 4:22

| title7 = Psychobabble

| extra7 = Elmer Gantry

| length7 = 4:51

| title8 = Mammagamma

| extra8 = None

| length8 = 3:34

| title9 = Step by Step

| extra9 = Zakatek

| length9 = 3:54

| title10 = Old and Wise

| extra10 = Colin Blunstone

| length10 = 4:55

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = 2007 remaster bonus tracks

| extra_column = Lead vocals

| total_length =

| title11 = Sirius

| note11 = Demo

| extra11 = None

| length11 = 1:56

| title12 = Old and Wise

| extra12 = Woolfson

| length12 = 4:43

| title13 = Any Other Day

| note13 = Woolfson) (studio demo

| extra13 = None

| length13 = 1:42

| title14 = Silence and I

| note14 =

| extra14 = Woolfson

| length14 = 7:33

| title15 = The Naked Eye

| extra15 = Instrumental medley

| length15 = 10:49

| title16 = Eye Pieces

| note16 = Classical Naked Eye

| extra16 = None

| length16 = 7:51

}}

{{anchor|Sirius}}

• Alan Parsons – keyboards, Fairlight programming
• Eric Woolfson – keyboards, vocals
• Chris Rainbow – vocals
• Lenny Zakatek – vocals
• Elmer Gantry – vocals
• Colin Blunstone – vocals
• The English Chorale – vocals
• Bob Howes – chorus master
• Andrew Powell – orchestral and choir arrangements, conductor
• David Paton – bass, vocals
• Ian Bairnson – acoustic & electric guitars
• Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion
• Mel Collins – saxophone

{{col-start}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-end}}

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|title=Eye in the Sky|artist=Alan Parsons|type=album|award=Platinum|certyear=1982|relyear=1982|certref={{cite web|url=https://i.imgur.com/aNf84lX.jpg|title=Kent Music Report No 453 – 28 February 1983 > Platinum Albums 1982 (Continued)|publisher=Kent Music Report|via=Imgur.com|access-date=13 November 2021}}}}

{{Certification Table Entry|title=Eye in the Sky|type=album|artist=The Alan Parsons Project|relyear=1982|certyear=1982|number=2|region=Canada|award=Platinum|access-date=19 September 2018}}

{{Certification Table Entry|title=Eye in the sky|type=album|artist=Alan Parsons|relyear=1982|region=France|award=Platinum|certyear=1984}}

{{Certification Table Entry|title=Eye in the Sky|type=album|artist=The Alan Parsons Project|relyear=1982|certyear=1982|region=Germany|award=Gold|access-date=19 September 2018}}

{{Certification Table Entry|title=Eye in the Sky|type=album|artist=The Alan Parsons Project|relyear=1982|certyear=2018|region=Italy|award=Gold|access-date=18 June 2018}}

{{Certification Table Entry|title=Eye in the Sky|type=album|artist=The Alan Parsons Project|relyear=1982|certyear=1984|region=Netherlands|award=Gold|access-date=10 September 2018}}

{{Certification Table Entry|title=Eye in the Sky|type=album|artist=The Alan Parsons Project|relyear=1982|id=1983-01-28|source=newchart|access-date=2024-11-20|region=New Zealand|award=Platinum}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Spain|type=album|title=Eye in the Sky|artist=The Alan Parsons Project|award=Platinum|relyear=1982|certref={{cite book |last=Salaverri |first=Fernando |date=September 2005 |url=http://www.mediafire.com/view/x263f6daopkswo8/Spanish+certifications+for+1979-1990.pdf |title=Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 |language=es |edition=1st |location=Madrid |publisher=Fundación Autor/SGAE |page=916 |isbn=84-8048-639-2 |access-date=27 June 2019}}}}

{{Certification Table Entry|title=Eye in the Sky|type=album|artist=The Alan Parsons Project|relyear=1982|certyear=1983|region=United Kingdom|award=Silver|access-date=19 September 2018|id=2178-3691-2}}

{{Certification Table Entry|title=Eye in the sky|type=album|artist=Alan Parsons Project|relyear=1982|region=United States|award=Platinum|certyear=1983|access-date=27 June 2019}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|streaming=true}}

{{Reflist}}

{{The Alan Parsons Project}}

{{Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:The Alan Parsons Project albums

Category:1980s concept albums

Category:1982 albums

Category:Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis

Category:Albums produced by Alan Parsons

Category:Arista Records albums

Category:Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album