World United Music: Alan Parsons

Showing posts with label Alan Parsons. Show all posts

Monday, June 3, 2019

The Minstral Show – (Episode 073)

Welcome to the Minstral Show, the podcast that spotlights the very best music from around the world, made exclusively in the 21^st century.

On today’s spotlight we have 11 great tunes in a variety of genres, from retro pop to progressive rock and everything in between.

A showcase that is very much like a time machine that takes your spirit back to the sounds of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s by songs that were made today, including new music by Alan Parsons, Ian Alexander, Where We Sleep, JC Roy, Calexico, Farfisa, P.P. Arnold, and Marty Willson Piper…also included are dynomite songs by Some Velvet Morning, Broken Anchor and JD McPherson.

A variety of great music by eleven excellent and creative artists of the 21^st century, a wave and echo of time not to miss, on the Minstral Show.

The Minstral Show Episode 73

Link to Episode 73 on Breaker

SONGS:

SET 01

Some Velvet Morning – Let the Good Times Come My Way

Broken Anchor – Never Leave Me Alone

Where We Sleep – Into the Light

Calexico – Another Space

SET 02

Ian Alexander – The Planet Fountain / Birdsong

J.C. Roy - Le Pâle Écho De La Création Des Mondes

Farfisa – Seven Suns

SET 03

P.P. Arnold – Baby Blue

JD McPherson – Hunting for Sugar

Marty Wilson Piper – Sanctuary

Alan Parsons – As Lights Fall

ALSO:

Be sure to support the artists by going to their official websites, buying their music and joining their email platforms. (See Artist Links below.)

ARTIST LINKS:

Some Velvet Morning

Broken Anchor

Where We Sleep

Calexico

Ian Alexander

J.C. Roy

Farfisa

P.P. Arnold

JD McPherson

Marty Willson-Piper

Alan Parsons

Special thanks to: Southbound Snake Charmers & John Palmer for their music contribution to this program.

Program Intro Song:

Southbound Snake Charmers - Cut My Time

3^rd set Intro

John Palmer - Nyx

The World United Music Podcast was carried on 11 different platforms including Anchor FM, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Castbox, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, PodBean and of course on our World United Music Blog. You can still find the show on Breaker & PodBean linked below. Hey, “Catch the Wave!”

Breaker

PodBean

...and of course here on the World United Music Blog. :)

Catch the Wave!

Sunday, April 1, 2018

The Minstral Show – (Episode 038)

WELCOME!

World United Music presents Episode 38 of The Minstral Show now streaming on Anchor FM, Apple Podcasts and Pocket Casts. This weeks show features a stellar lineup with music by: CHICO, Portrayal, Slowdive, Fink, Lunatic Soul, Tiger Moth Tales, Alan Parsons, Rick Miller and Agnes Obel. Click start and catch the Wave!

SET: 01

Nashville Tennessee Psychedelic Garage, Prog-rock group “Chico” open the set with a great driving rock tune called “Twilight Ravine” taken from their 2017 two song EP SPLIT. Band members Carson Mays, Ryan Quarles, Grayson Schweers, and Austin Seegers are the CHICO band dittos, and are ready to rock your socks off.

Next up is Shrewsbury UK duo, Rob Tranter and Joe Crook from “Portrayal” with their Nov 2017 single “Lost Souls”. An electronic retro 80’s new wave tune that is certainly not out of place with songs by INXS, Flock of Seagulls, Simple Minds or many other 80’s new wave bands who’s music continues to grace the radio waves around the world today. “Lost Souls is an excellent song worthy of more attention.

and, from Reading, Berkshire, England, “Slowdive” Featuring, Neil Halstead, Christian Savill, Nick Chaplin, Rachel Goswell and Simon Scott with their 2017 New Wave smash hit “Star Roving” to anchor the first set on this weeks episode of the Minstral Show.

Now, get ready because “In the Twilight Ravine, Lost Souls are Star Roving” on The Minstral Show.

SET: 02

Our next set of music combines the experimental psychedelic blues of UK artist “Fink” with the Progressive rock of Marius Duda’s Lunatic Soul and the riveting riffs and first lament of Peter Jones & Tiger Moth Tales for a special soulful evening mood.

Opening this second set is “Fink” with “Black Stetson” featuring Colin Stetson on sax. The song is taken from the Sunday Night Blues Dubs EP which released May 2017.

The 5 song EP has been one of my favorites over the past year and weaves its content throughout the World United Blues Playlist on the 2minstral YouTube channel.

I can listen to music like this all night long because it feels so multi dimensional. …In my opinion, “Fink” has been putting out some of his best material these past few years and so I eagerly wait for all his new releases. And When an artist is in the zone…an artist is in the zone….and Fink is certainly there.

Following Fink, is Marius Duda’s “Lunatic Soul” with “Crumbling Teeth and the Owl Eyes” from his 2017 album “Fractured”. A haunting progressive rock tune of a man surrounded by darkness struggling to hold onto his sanity…the only thing keeping his mind together is the love he has for his daughter.

“Lunatic Soul” is the progressive rock side-project by Riverside vocalist and bass guitarist Mariusz Duda.

He also has a new Lunatic Soul EP slated for release in the spring of 2018 so we’re certainly looking forward to that.

Closing out the 2^nd set is “Tiger Moth Tales” with “The First Lament” taken from Peter Jones EP “Live at Summers End” (The Official Bootleg album)

The guitar work in “The First Lament” stunned me as only a Roy Buchanan and David Gilmour lead could…Truly, this is a great track and performance by the entire band.

Tiger Moth Tales is the brainchild of multi Instrumentalist and singer Peter Jones and Joining Peter are Mick & Andy Wilson, Gary Marsh and Paul Comerie. Together they put out some excellent music not to be missed.

SET: 03

The final set of this show is powerfully emotive through its poetically reflective lyrics, soft harmonic vocals and beautifully vibrant tones…THIS…this is the magic of Alan Parsons, Rick Miller and Agnes Obel.

Alan Parson starts the set off with his 2014 single “Fragile”; a song that is.. as captivating, and emotionally expressive as Alan’s previous work on iconic songs such as “Old and Wise” and “Don’t Let it Show”. One could say that “Fragile” is our initial state of being in these times of awakening…truly we are very fragile in the larger sense of the world…a singers song and a very emotive one as well…

Following Alan Parsons is Rick Miller with “The Final Journey” taken from his March 2018 album “Delusional”.

“The final Journey” is a beautiful harmonic melancholy tune about a dying man and his final thoughts before he passes to the afterlife…the music, strings and vocal harmonies blend so beautifully its hard not to listen to the song more than once, as the poetic ambiance lingers as if speaking to ones soul…another classic song by Ontario Canada’s Rick Miller.

The final song of the set is by Agnes Obel called “Mary” taken from her October 2016 album “Citizen of Glass” a fitting song in many ways to end the set as it empathically connects the last two songs and the listener by the first gentle notes of the piano, and then through the soft angelic tones of Agnes Obal’s voice, which slowly echoes into the distance as the song ends. The ambiance cast is like moving away from a moment in time that stands in illuminating twilight and memory. The entire album is an empathic journey that absorbs ones essence; a must have album.

Be sure to visit the artists websites, buying their music and joining their email platforms, details are in the episode description.

And that will do it for episode 38 of the Minstral Show…have a great week and see you next Sunday at 7:00 PM eastern. Happy Easter and Passover everyone and enjoy the music.

The Minstral Show - (Episode 38)

Link toPodcast on Breaker

SONGS:

SET 01

CHICO – Twilight Ravine

Portrayal – Lost Souls

Slowdive – Star Roving

SET 02

Fink – Black Stetson

Lunatic Soul – Crumbling Teeth and the Owl Eyes

Tiger Moth Tales – The First Lament

SET 03

Alan Parsons – Fragile

Rick Miller – The Final Journey

Agnes Obel – Mary

Be sure to visit the artists websites and join their email platforms to find out what they are up to (See Links Below).

Artist LINKS:

CHICO

Portrayal

Slowdive

Fink

Lunatic Soul

Tiger Moth Tales

Alan Parsons

Rick Miller

Agnes Obel

Breaker

PodBean

Monday, December 8, 2014

Legends of Rock: Alan Parsons

About: Alan Parsons

Alan Parsons was born into a family with an impressive history in entertainment. His great grandfather was the celebrated actor/manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. His mother was an actress, professional folk singer and harpist and his father, Denys Parsons, an accomplished pianist and flautist as well as the author of many books. The late Oliver Reed, film actor was a cousin. His uncle, David Tree was also a film and stage actor.

Alan had dabbled with live performance in his late teens as a folk/blues acoustic player and as a lead guitarist with a blues band in the late sixties in his hometown of London. But as soon as he landed a job at the famous Abbey Road Studios at the age of 19, it became clear that the world of sound recording was to dominate his career.

He was fortunate enough to work as assistant engineer on the last two albums by The Beatles and after he qualified as a fully-fledged recording engineer, he went on to work with Paul McCartney and The Hollies among many others. But it was his contribution as engineer on Pink Floyd's classic Dark Side OF The Moon that really got him world attention. That soon led to striking successes as a producer - notably with Pilot's Magic, John Miles' Highfly and Music and Steve Harley's (Come Up And See Me) Make Me Smile. He also produced the hugely successful Year Of The Cat album with Al Stewart and two albums with American progressive rock band Ambrosia.

In 1975 he met Eric Woolfson who not only became his manager, but joined forces with Alan as a songwriting and performing partner for what became known as The Alan Parsons Project. The APP's debut album, Tales Of Mystery And Imagination based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe paved the way for a signing to Clive Davis' newly launched Arista label and a string of hit albums, namely I Robot (1977), Pyramid (1978), The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980), Eye in the Sky (1982), Ammonia Avenue (1984), Vulture Culture (1985), Stereotomy (1986) and Gaudi (1987).

A brief venture into musical theatre resulted in Freudiana in 1990.The show ran for over a year in the historic Theater An Der Wien in Vienna. Eric and Alan then went separate ways. Eric devoted his career to the musical theatre while Parsons felt the need to bring his music to the live concert stage and to continue to record ambitious symphonic rock music.

With his long-standing previous APP collaborators, guitarist Ian Bairnson, drummer Stuart Elliott and orchestral arranger Andrew Powell, Alan dropped the "Project" identity for Alan Parsons - Try Anything Once in 1994. The partnership continued for On Air in 1996 and The Time Machine in 1999. During this time the first incarnation of "Alan Parsons Live Project" toured to sell-out audiences throughout the globe. Following Alan's relocation to California, a new Live Project band was formed in 2003. Another band reshuffle happened in 2010. The current live band consists of Alan on acoustic guitar, keyboards and vocals, P.J. Olsson on vocals, Manny Foccarazzo on keyboards, Guy Erez on bass, Alastair Greene on guitar, Danny Thompson on Drums, and Todd Cooper on sax, percussion and vocals.

The album A Valid Path, Alan's foray into electronica was released in 2004 and featured Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, The Crystal Method, Shpongle, Uberzone, PJ Olsson and Alan's son, Jeremy. 2008 saw the reissue of all the Alan Parsons Project albums in expanded form, containing never-before-heard bonus material and a 2-CD compilation called The Essential Collection. One of the most familiar Project tracks is Sirius, perhaps best known as the Chicago Bulls theme. It was also used as the walk-on music for The New Orleans Saints at their triumphant Superbowl game in 2010 and at the 2012 European Cup soccer matches. Sirius has also been featured at countless other sporting events and in the movies Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and Beerfest.

In 2010, Alan felt the need to share his extensive knowledge and expertise with the rest of the music industry. With the help of fellow Brit Julian Colbeck, Alan wrote and produced a comprehensive instructional video series about recording called The Art & Science Of Sound Recording (ASSR). It features contributions from a myriad of celebrity artists, engineers and producers and is narrated by Billy Bob Thornton. It is available as a 3-DVD set and as downloads. See www.artandscienceofsound.com. All Our Yesterdays, a song written especially for the series, features some of LA's finest musicians and a rare performance by Alan on lead vocals. Alan has been supporting ASSR with a series of lectures and Masterclass Training Sessions (MCTS) all over the world. It has been a great opportunity for the attendees to witness Alan at work in the studio and to participate actively in the making of a possible future hit.

Since the beginning of 2012, as well as performing live shows, Alan has been busy in the studio doing vocals for German Electronica outfit, Lichtmond, on a CD and video called Precious Life. Other vocal performances with YES stars Billy Sherwood and Chris Squire as The Prog Collective have been released on Cleopatra Records. Another collaboration has been with Mexican superstar ALEKS SYNTEK. Alan and Aleks have written a song called "The Direction Of Time" and have shared the lead vocal duties which are in both English and Spanish - release is expected in late 2014.

Alan has come full circle and is back in his role as producer and engineer both at his own Santa Barbara studio and other studios internationally. Alan produced an album called Grand Ukulele with JAKE SHIMABUKORO, the virtuoso ukulele player, whose YouTube video of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" has received over ten million hits! The album contains a number of orchestral arrangements by Winger frontman, Kip Winger. A collaboration with Steven Wilson as engineer and associate producer resulted in major success including a Top 5 album in Germany in 2013. Another album is in the cards for the autumn of 2014.

A CD box set of all the Alan Parsons Projects was released in March 2014 and included a controversial never previously released CD from 1979 entitled The Sicilian Defence.

Alan has received a large number of awards including eleven Grammy nominations, The Les Paul Award in 1995 and The Diva Hall Of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award in Munich, Germany in June 2012. He is in demand as public speaker and was keynote speaker at the 1998 Audio Engineering Society Convention in San Francisco and was the opening speaker at the TEDx Conejo conference in California in April 2012.

Alan has two sons, Jeremy and Daniel, from his first marriage - both living in the UK. Alan now lives on an organic avocado ranch in Santa Barbara, California with his wife Lisa and her two daughters, Tabitha and Brittni, three dogs, several cats, chickens, and an 18-hand Clydesdale called Dante.

CONTACT: http://www.alanparsonsmusic.com/contact.html