The Sicilian Defence (found The Alan Parsons Project album; 1979)

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The Alan Parsons Project are a British Progressive Rock band that have been around for over 40 years, enjoying moderate success throughout the mid to late 70s. In 1979, the band was exhausted from constant touring and studio work and wanted a break. Their label, Arista Records, however, heavily disagreed and decided to set due dates for the band's 3rd and 4th albums. Wanting to get everything over and done with, the band decided to record both albums at once.

The first of the two albums, Eve, was released as scheduled. The second, titled The Sicilian Defence (named after a move in chess) was a different story altogether. Every track was produced rather lazily and poorly written on purpose as to figuritively raise the middle finger to Arista. The music was allegedly atonal, inaccessible, and virtually unlistenable. Arista Records were so horrified by the results that they stashed it away in their vaults, never to be released.

The Sicilian Defence was officially made available as a part of The Complete Albums Collection, an Alan Parsons Project boxset, as released on the 31st of March; said album has since (inevitably) found its way to YouTube. Alan Parsons himself has stated on several occasions that the album was created with very little effort or enthusiasm, as the result of a contractual dispute between the band and Arista Records, (resulting in the album being shelved in the first place), so don't expect too much from this. Having said that, it's certainly a fascinating listen given its history and the fact that it has not been heard by the general public in the 30+ years since its initial recording.

Thanks and respect to The Alan Parsons Project for finally releasing the controversial and mysterious album (despite the circumstances surrounding it)! The 40-minute album can listened to in its entirety via the below video.