Rob Masters

Now we are counting down to the second anniversary, at 104.  This time it is back to the 80s again, and the final Woolfson/Parsons collaboration. For the video, we have a warning not to get too into your art - especially if you are a video editor. Look out for the easter eggs throughout of other APP works. All-in-all a great example of what you can do with minimal effects and a solid concept. So, from "Gaudi" (1987), here is The Alan Parsons Project's "Standing on Higher Ground".

Back to the early 80s now. This time we get to enjoy BBC class effects, and a story-line that Dr Who would be proud of. Deeply disturbing on several levels, and, as is best with this sort of thing, raising far more questions than it answers. So here is "Prime Time", by the inimitable Alan Parsons Project from 1983's Ammonia Avenue.  

What can I say about the musical powerhouse that is Muse? Not a lot that others have not already said. So let's focus on this wonderfully over-the-top music video.  We've got a post-apocalyptic SF western, with a bonus unicorn. And all presented in the very best style of Sergio Leone, the granddaddy of spaghetti westerns. With a bit for everyone, you might think that you'd end up with something homogeneous and bland - instead we get something so original, it deserves to be turned into a full movie.   Enjoy the ride from the 2006 album "Black Holes and Revalations" that is "Knights of Cydonia". 

Ok, time for a big jump back through time. The year is 1977, and Star Wars has just come out. Around the same time, a sound engineer's collaboration with a songwriter had just released their second album. Their first album explored the dark writings of a gothic writer and essayist. This one looked at the likelihood of robots and AIs ultimately subjugating and/or replacing us as the dominant life-form.  Originally inspired by the works of Asimov, they could not get the rights to one of his most famous stories, and so they were freed from the Three Laws and their essential optimism. To solve the lack of rights, a simple punctuation change was employed. They deleted a comma. I am talking about the second album by The Alan Parsons Project, 'I Robot'. APP's first commercial success at the time (Tales of Mystery and Imagination did not sell well until some years after release), it went platinum, and effectively launched the project's on-going success. This video is ... lo...