The Alan Parsons Project Album: “On Air”

This is a tough album to rate. You think one thing with the stereo version and another with the DTS mix. For starters, the stereo version is less "Project-sounding" than Alan's first "solo" album, Try Anything Once. On the other hand, the theme is tight and very well done. People who pine away for the days of Woolfson's thematic contributions to the Project are apt to be dissapointed because the lyrical constructs are different. However, the thematic element contained in On Air is equal to most material from the Project days, it's simply different.

Musically, it's very understated and almost low-key to a fault in places. Until one listens to the DTS mix. Then you're suddenly thrown back 20 years to the entire premise of the Project and studio engineering as an extension of musical instruments. In this case, the DTS version allowed Alan to do so much more and you'll "hear" things that make you wish something like I Robot were mixed in DTS as well. No kidding, even the low key songs (So Far Away for example) are sparkling clear and take on an entire new complexion with surround sound. Alan crammed so much more into the DTS mix that you'll never go back to the stereo version again. The instrumental Apollo, in DTS, rivals anything instrumental from any other AP/P album. It will just blow you away.

And there are some rocking pieces on the album that are up there with the best of the Project or other post-Project work (Fall Free and Can't Look Down). And the end of the album, Blue Blue Sky II, is argueably the best ending to an AP/P album ever. And that puts it in some mighty impressive company.

So, if you have a DTS system (and they're awfully affordable now), get this album. If you're mired in a stereo world, the album is still worth having although if you're expecting something similar to either Try Anything Once or The Time Machine, you'll not get it and probably won't like it nearly as much. At worst, this album compares well to Project efforts like Gaudi, Vulture Culture, and Ammonia Avenue and in many spots, surpasses those albums both in music and lyrical content.

I used to be a great fan of the Alan Parsons Project in the eighties, enjoying albums like 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination' and 'I, Robot'. But somewhere along the way I lost track of this great band. I rediscovered them as I was looking to enter the brave new world of DTS sound, and am I glad I did!

The music on this cd is dynamic and melodic. It is a concept album (a lost art) written on the theme of flight and aviation. And the music is enhanced even more by the use of DTS surround sound. The surround mix makes full use of the possibilities of DTS surround. If you are looking for a cd to introduce you to the pleasures of DTS surround sound, I highly reccomend this disc.

Check out the line-up of musicians on this album. You already have great potential. Although this album was released in 1997 when DTS was fairly new, it still manages to have captured all of the qualities that DTS is famous for. Most of the songs have some kind of DTS 'trick', such as a fighter plane flying through the speakers or the sounds of a forest 'clicking and chirping' away before and during an acoustic song ("Blue Blue Sky"). The bass is not overpowering on this set, but the range and dynamics of the sound separation are wonderful and the mood is serene throughout. This album was made intentionally for DTS, unlike the newer albums that are recoded, which makes for a fantastic experience. If you have the DTS system, there are not too many choices (yet) of famous albums, but ones I can recommend are, "Moody Blues; Days of Future Passes", "Eric Clapton; 461 Ocean Blvd" and any film or rock concert after 2000 that was recording in DTS.

Since I bought the home theater music center that provide the DTS decoder,I have always looked forward to find a good audio material to test my system. Finally,I got the Alan Parson's On Air DTS CD Album,I am very glad to enjoy it often from then on , and I am moved every time when I listened to it.

Although this is only a DTS CD not like the most resent released DVD-Audio DVDs that provide high resolution 24bits/96kHZ audio,but it still give the 5.1 channel a clear-cut definition. All the 5.1 channel are performed so propriately,and you can feel you are just surronded by them through the full album. Not only that,but also Alan Parsons have done their fine job in this album,the vocal is so pure and the music is so splendid.

To be a Alan Parsons Fan, I deeply recommend this to anyone who also likes Alan Pasons,or anyone who is eager to find a good DTS audio disc.

1996's "On Air" is one of Alan Parsons' most adventurous albums. With it's songs all having to do with the theme of flight, "On Air" is a genuine masterpiece. Although Parsons co-wrote four of the tracks, the chief songwriter here is Parsons' longtime guitarist Ian Bairnson, who had a hand in writing or co-writing all but one song. The material is simply fantastic, such as the simple-but-beautiful "Blue Blue Sky" (which opens AND closes the album), the dreamy "Too Close To The Sun," the rockin' "Can't Look Down" (a song about fear of flying), the awesome instrumentals "Cloudbreak" and "Apollo" (featuring a spoken-word cameo by President Kennedy), and the heartfelt "Brother Up In Heaven" (which Bairnson wrote in memory of a late relative) and "So Far Away." The musicianship and production is outstanding, and the lead vocal performances by Eric Stewart, Neil Lockwood, Steve Overland, Graham Dye, and the one-and-only Christopher Cross are marvelous. Not only that, but "On Air" also comes with an excellent bonus CD-ROM, filled with lots of goodies about Alan Parsons, the making of the "On Air" album, the history of flight, trivia, and games. "On Air" is without question one of Alan Parsons' very best releases. Please take flight with this album---you'll love it!