I Robot

This is one of the Alan Parsons Project's strongest efforts, with its wise blend of keyboard-dominated instrumentals partnered with warm vocals. Features the wonderful instrumental title track and I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You. I Robot was produced and engineered by Alan at Abbey Road Studios and is an audiophile's dream recording.

The second of former Beatles/Pink Floyd engineer Parsons' long string of prog-rock concept albums was also his commercial breakthrough, spawning an unlikely but catchy hit in "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You." In addition to that tune are other Project faves such as "Breakdown," "Don't Let It Show," and "Day After Day (The Show Must Go On." The ambitiously elaborate 1977 album--according to the liner notes, a meditation on "the rise of the machine and the decline of man"--boasts the sonic wizardry and immaculate musicianship that would become the Project's trademark through the '80s, and features an array of guest vocalists, including Hollies frontman Allan Clarke and Cockney Rebel leader Steve Harley. --Scott Schinder