The Sicilian Defence (found The Alan Parsons Project album; 1979): Difference between revisions

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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.
{{InfoboxFound
|title=<center>The Sicilian Defense</center>
|image=AlanParsonsSicilianDefence-CoverArt.PNG
|imagecaption=The album’s cover.
|status=<span style="color:green;">'''Found'''</span>
|datefound=31 Mar 2014
|foundby=[https://twitter.com/alanparsons Alan Parsons]
}}
The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive rock band between 1975 and 1990. The band consisted of producer Alan Parsons and songwriter Eric Woolfson along with various session musicians, such as guitarist Ian Bairnson and drummer Stuart Elliot.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091212053638/http://www.alanparsonsmusic.com/bio.php Alan Parsons FAQ/Biography.] Retrieved 06 May '18</ref>


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.
In 1981, during contract renegotiations with their label, Arista Records, the group gave them an album titled '''''The Sicilian Defence''''' (named after an aggressive opening chess move). The record deemed the album "unmarketable" and ended up suing the group $45 million US dollars for breaching their contract and deliberately making a bad album to renegotiate sooner. In the end, they renegotiated and made another album, ''The Turn of a Friendly Card'', in place of ''The Sicilian Defence'', which went unreleased. When asked about the scrapped album, Parsons made it clear that the album would never be released if it were up to him.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928225514/http://www.roadkill.com/~ajy/scrapbook/001.html Roadkill article on the lawsuit.] Retrieved 06 May '18</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120118030234/http://www.alanparsonsmusic.com/interviews.php Alan Parsons interview referencing ''The Sicilian Defence''.] Retrieved 06 May '18</ref>


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.
==Availability==
In 2009, before his death, Woolfson had plans to release one of the tracks from the album and eventually did in the CD re-release of ''Eve''.


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.
After relocating the original tapes, Parsons had evidently changed his mind on releasing the album, as ''The Sicilian Defence'' was officially included in ''The Complete Albums Collection'' box set released on March 31st, 2014.  


<br/>
==Gallery==
{{Video|perrow  =1
|service1    =youtube
|id1          =Mmft_YU3j08
|description1 =The album.
}}
==References==
{{reflist}}


{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmft_YU3j08|640x480|center||frame}}
[[Category:Found media|Sicilian Defence]]
 
[[Category:Found music|Sicilian Defence]]
[[Category: Found media|Alan Parsons Project 'The Sicilian Defence' (found album; 1979)]]

Latest revision as of 19:21, 15 May 2023

AlanParsonsSicilianDefence-CoverArt.PNG

The album’s cover.

Status: Found

Date found: 31 Mar 2014

Found by: Alan Parsons

The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive rock band between 1975 and 1990. The band consisted of producer Alan Parsons and songwriter Eric Woolfson along with various session musicians, such as guitarist Ian Bairnson and drummer Stuart Elliot.[1]

In 1981, during contract renegotiations with their label, Arista Records, the group gave them an album titled The Sicilian Defence (named after an aggressive opening chess move). The record deemed the album "unmarketable" and ended up suing the group $45 million US dollars for breaching their contract and deliberately making a bad album to renegotiate sooner. In the end, they renegotiated and made another album, The Turn of a Friendly Card, in place of The Sicilian Defence, which went unreleased. When asked about the scrapped album, Parsons made it clear that the album would never be released if it were up to him.[2][3]

Availability

In 2009, before his death, Woolfson had plans to release one of the tracks from the album and eventually did in the CD re-release of Eve.

After relocating the original tapes, Parsons had evidently changed his mind on releasing the album, as The Sicilian Defence was officially included in The Complete Albums Collection box set released on March 31st, 2014.

Gallery

The album.

References

  1. ↑ Alan Parsons FAQ/Biography. Retrieved 06 May '18
  2. ↑ Roadkill article on the lawsuit. Retrieved 06 May '18
  3. ↑ Alan Parsons interview referencing The Sicilian Defence. Retrieved 06 May '18
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