Photographs by Lee-Ann Richer.
Alan Parsons; where do we go from here?
I can’t answer that but I can tell you where it started. In October 1967, at the age of 18 just prior to the White Album release, Alan Parsons worked at Abbey Road Studios as an assistant engineer. He worked on the Beatles last two albums, “Abbey Road” and “Let It Be”. The also worked on Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon” and from that he received his first Grammy Award nomination. He was invited by Pink Floyd to work on “Wish You Were Here” but he had other plans. Those plans were “The Alan Parsons Project”.
In 1974 he met Eric Woolfson at Abbey Road Studios who became his manager, performing and songwriting partner. Hence the Alan Parsons Project was born. Their debut album, “Tales Of Mystery And Imagination” based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, started the ball rolling for the series of albums to follow. Parsons and Woolfson worked together for 10 albums achieving worldwide album sales exceeding 50 million. They worked in a theatre in Vienna for a year on a musical. Woolfson remained working in theatre and Alan Parsons continued with Alan Parsons Project, without Woolfson.
Well here we are up to date and Mr. Parsons is bringing that music to us in two sold out shows at The Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts. The first show held on Friday March 13th and there was nothing bad luck about that night! The lobby was filled with patrons talking about how excited they were to be seeing this show. This venue doesn’t have a bad seat in the house! Last time we attended a show we were in the back row at the side and the seats were amazing. Great view, great staff and the sound was top notch, check them out at http://www.oakvillecentre.ca.
After the warning tone for the audience to take their seats, the room went dark and the smoke filled stage emitted the electronic sounds for “I Robot” to start. The band approached their positions, and then Parsons took his spot elevated on centre stage. Surrounded by seven of the most astounding musicians, the evening began. “Damned If I Do” and “Don’t Answer Me” followed. It was nice to be at the back of the theatre seeing the show from that vantage point while my wife was photographing the opening songs for LiL. We took our seats near the front for the ever popular “Breakdown/Raven”. Like I said no bad seats! The vocals in “Breakdown” ran chills down up and down my spine they were that good!
Hearing the mastermind works of Alan Parsons performed by these musicians was stellar. Imagine the sound with eight vocalists of which five sang lead. That was astonishing in its own right. Now add the keys and all those guitarists! It was an orchestra’s worth of sound. Full and satisfying! No matter which superlatives I use, it still doesn’t do this concert justice. You have to see the “Alan Parsons Live Project”, LIVE!
This band from left to right in the stage photo is comprised of Danny Thompson (Drums/Backing Vocals), Dan Tracy (Guitar/Vocals), Guy Erez (Bass/Vocals), P.J. Olsson (Vocals/Guitar), Alastair Greene (Lead Guitar/Vocals), Manny Focrarazzo (Keyboards/Vocals), and Todd Cooper (Saxophone/Guitar/Percussion/Vocals and Gord Downie – from the Tragically Hip – look alike!!). This chariot of musicians was run by Alan Parsons at the reigns. He played keys while having a guitar strapped on him. Sometimes doing both almost at the same time! He also covered vocals and commentated during the show.
“Time” precluded “I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You” and you could see everyone singing and dancing and bopping in their seats. Greene sang this song as they traded off lead vocals during the evening. There was a bass solo which everyone ate up. I noticed there wasn’t a drum solo, but that might have been out of place for this type of a show. Greene performed a number of guitar solos that had you going “when is the next one?” Great sound, great tone and perfectly timed.
Parsons mentioned they received a bit of sad news. Chris Rainbow, singer for the Alan Parsons Project and an integral part to their past had passed away two weeks ago. He dedicated the next song “Days Are Numbers (The Traveler)” to him.
Parsons mentioned back in the day some listened to Punk and Disco and he was listening to Classic Rock. This was back in the day of “Concept Albums”. To many of us, his concept segment was a highlight of the evening. They played almost the full side B of “Turn of a Friendly Card”. They played “a. TOFC Part 1/ b. Snake Eyes/ c. The Ace Of Swords/ d. Nothing Left To Lose/ e. TOFC Part 2”. This set earned the band the first of many standing ovations. Amidst the clapping and cheering it was a perfect close for the first set. Parsons announced the intermission by saying “let’s everyone go for a drink”.
=====Intermission =====
Ok we are back!
After listening to everyone rant and rave about what they just experienced, it was time for round two. The second set started with “La Sagrada Familia” to which Parsons announced that they are releasing the next song “Do You Live At All?” April 6th on vinyl. He explained, for the younger people in the audience, “Albums are those big black CDs”. The demographic being mostly baby boomers with the guys outnumbering the gals by a bit, everyone got the joke.
Parsons gave a brief mention about the late Eric Woolfson, his original writing partner, bringing him the lyrics to the next song “Limelight”. Parsons asked him, “these lyrics are about you aren’t they?” To which Woolfson replied “no, no they are just words”. Parsons said to the audience, “I will let you decide”.
Other pieces that were performed throughout the evening were “In The Real World”, “Old and Wise”, “What Goes Up”, “Prime Time” and “Sirius”. The evening closed off with the mega hit “Eye In The Sky”. The band returned to the stage to encore with two more hits “Dr. Tarr and Prof Fether” and “Games People Play”.
We were standing in the lobby waiting to get my wife’s camera gear from security and we were able to listen to the conversations from the fans leaving the venue. Everyone was talking excitedly about what they just experienced. This was the same kind of excitement you see from kids getting off a rollercoaster at the CNE. Our thoughts were the same. This is one of the top concerts we have seen.
Thank you to Alan Parsons and the Alan Parsons Live Project for a spectacular evening. Also we would like to thank Ronnie Brown and all the staff at The Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts for being gracious, friendly and helpful!
