Release date: September 28, 1999
Label: Miramar
Production: Alan Parsons
Length: 51:50
Rating: 8.5/10
»The Time Machine« was the third solo album from famed English musician, producer and sound engineer Alan Parsons, who wowed audiences in the late seventies and throughout the eighties with the art-rock sensation The Alan Parsons Project. On »The Time Machine«, Mr. Parsons carried on with his more-or-less successful attempt to revive the old The Alan Parsons Project magic, since it was yet another concept project, one fed by the sci-fi favorite of time travel. Alan first got the idea for a concept album about time travel back in 1977, when he was cooking up what became the second The Alan Parsons Project album, »I Robot«, with the late Scottish singer Eric Woolfson. Woolfson talked him into going with a fully futuristic concept about the threat of artificial intelligence and the rise of the robots instead.
On »The Time Machine«, most of the lyrics wrestled with time travel and the general concept of time, and the album cover alone showed off a few cult time machines from assorted sci-fi movies and TV series: the Tardis from ‘Doctor Who’, the DeLorean DMC-12 from ‘Back to the Future’ and the Enterprise from ‘Star Trek’. »The Time Machine« also featured a few guest female vocalists, which was mostly a rarity on Alan’s projects. Irish singer Marie Brennan of Clannad shone on the folk heart-tugger »The Call of the Wild«, which features Scottish bagpipes among other things, while Beverly Craven sparkled on the somewhat syrupy pop ballad »The Very Last Time«. Once again, there was no shortage of prestigious guest singers whose vocal contributions gave individual tracks a totally distinct atmosphere. Among the old The Alan Parsons Project collaborators, guitar wizard Ian Bairnson and drummer Stuart Elliott were on board for »Time Machine«.
The album opened with the title track, a futuristic, ambient-soaked instrumental that kept up Alan’s long tradition of instrumental openers. You could feel the influence of nineties electronic music in it, as besides symphonic arrangements it packed sampled electronic rhythm patterns, which were hugely popular back then. Alan pushed these electronic experiments even further on his next studio project, »A Valid Path« (2004). »Temporalia« was a short instrumental with narration by Professor Frank Close and an intro to the excellent »Out of the Blue«, which featured a standout vocal turn from Spandau Ballet singer Tony Hadley, with Alan’s occasional vocal collaborator Chris Rainbow (ex-Camel) keeping him company on backing vocals in the chorus. On »Call Up«, which was unusually bluesy thanks to its guitar passages and whose lyrics name-drop a whole host of famous figures from human history, well-known occasional singer Neil Lockwood did a superb job on vocals.
The gorgeous ballad »Ignorance Is Bliss«, one of the highlights of »The Time Machine«, put another prestigious vocal name behind the mic, Colin Blunstone, whose melancholy timbre turned out to be an excellent stand-in for Eric Woolfson. Had this brilliant ballad come out some twenty years earlier, it would have been a hit, no question. »Rubber Universe« was a fun instrumental with outstanding interplay between Bairnson, who played guitar, bass, mandolin, keyboards and saxophone here, and Elliott’s drums. The melodic rocker »No Future in the Past«, with Lockwood back on lead vocals, had a lovely, classic AOR chorus that suited the song’s melancholy nature perfectly. »Press Rewind«, with a slightly ‘Lennon-esque’ Graham Dye in the lead vocal role, was one of the few less interesting moments on »The Time Machine«, though it wasn’t without its charms. The mysteriously atmospheric »Far Ago And Long Away« was a solid instrumental with varied, refreshing world-music touches.
»The Time Machine« was one of the better moments of Alan’s solo career and a worthy part of the legendary The Alan Parsons Project legacy, even if it had a few less dazzling moments too. The famed musician, producer and sound engineer made pretty good use of the time travel concept, though as a whole the album wasn’t as ambitiously conceived as most TAPP achievements.
author: Peter Podbrežnik
tracklist:
1. The Time Machine (Part 1)
2. Temporalia
3. Out of the Blue
4. Call Up
5. Ignorance Is Bliss
6. Rubber Universe
7. The Call of the Wild
8. No Future in the Past
9. Press Rewind
10. The Very Last Time
11. Far Ago And Long Away
12. The Time Machine (Part 2)
musicians:
Alan Parsons – acoustic guitar, keyboards, organ, songwriter, sound engineer, producer
Ian Bairnson – guitar, keyboards, mandolin, saxophone, songwriter
Stuart Elliott – drums, drum programming, keyboards, programmed keyboards, percussion, orchestral arrangement, backing vocals, songwriter
Richard Cottle – keyboards
Andrew Powell – orchestral arrangement
John Giblin – bass guitar
Robyn Smith – keyboards, piano
Kathryn Tickell – Scottish bagpipes, whistles
Julian Sutton – melodeon
Claire Orsler – viola
Jackie Norrie – violin
Julia Singleton – violin
The Philharmonia Orchestra – orchestra
Clio Gould – orchestra leader
Tony Hadley – vocals
Neil Lockwood – vocals
Colin Blunstone- vocals
Moya Brennan – vocals
Beverley Craven – vocals
Graham Dye – vocals
Chris Rainbow – vocals, backing vocals
Prof. Frank Close – spoken word on “Temporalia”
