Alan Parsons returning to Newton

NEWTON — Alan Parsons Live Project returns to The Newton Theatre on Thursday, July 14, at 8 p.m.
Alan Parsons’ contributions to music — from his beginnings with The Beatles and other megastars to his groundbreaking recording techniques on Dark Side of the Moon and multi-platinum albums by The Alan Parsons Project — have made him a true Renaissance Man. On this tour, he’ll perform his greatest hits including Sirius, Eye in the Sky, Time, Damned If I Do, Don’t Answer Me, Games People Play, Dr. Tarr & Professor Fether and much more.
Alan Parsons was born into a family with an impressive history in entertainment. His great-grandfather was the celebrated actor/manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. His mother was an actress, professional folk singer and harpist and his father, Denys Parsons, an accomplished pianist and flautist as well as the author of many books. The late Oliver Reed, film actor, was a cousin and his uncle, David Tree was also a film and stage actor.
Alan had dabbled with live performance in his late teens as a folk/blues acoustic player and, in the late sixties, as lead guitarist with a blues band in his hometown of London. But as soon as he landed a job at the famous Abbey Road Studios at the age of 19, it became clear that the world of sound recording was to dominate his career.
He was fortunate enough to work as assistant engineer on the last two albums by The Beatles and after he qualified as a fully-fledged recording engineer, he went on to work with Paul McCartney and The Hollies among many others. But it was his contribution as engineer on Pink Floyd's classic Dark Side of The Moon that really got him world attention. That soon led to striking successes as a producer, including the hugely successful Year Of The Cat album with Al Stewart and two albums with American progressive rock band Ambrosia.
In 1975, he met Eric Woolfson who not only became his manager, but joined Alan as a songwriting and performing partner for what became known as The Alan Parsons Project. The APP's debut album, Tales Of Mystery And Imagination based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe paved the way for a signing to Clive Davis' newly launched Arista label and a string of hit albums, namely I Robot (1977), Pyramid (1978), The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980), Eye in the Sky (1982), Ammonia Avenue (1984), Vulture Culture (1985), Stereotomy (1986) and Gaudi (1987). When Eric and Alan went their separate ways, Parsons felt the need to bring his music to the live concert stage and to continue to record ambitious symphonic rock music.
With his long-standing previous APP collaborators, guitarist Ian Bairnson, drummer Stuart Elliott and orchestral arranger Andrew Powell, Alan dropped the "Project" identity in 1994. Their partnership continued through the 90s. During this time the first incarnation of "Alan Parsons Live Project" toured to sell-out audiences throughout the globe. The current live band consists of Alan on acoustic guitar, keyboards and vocals, P.J. Olsson on vocals, Manny Foccarazzo on keyboards, Guy Erez on bass, Alastair Greene on guitar, Danny Thompson on Drums, and Todd Cooper on sax, percussion and vocals.
One of the most familiar Project tracks is Sirius, perhaps best known as the Chicago Bulls theme. It was also used as the walk-on music for The New Orleans Saints at their triumphant Super Bowl game in 2010 and at the 2012 European Cup soccer matches. Sirius has also been featured at countless other sporting events and in the movies Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and Beerfest.
Tickets for Alan Parsons Live Project range from $64 to $79. Purchase tickets by visiting www.thenewtontheatre.com or contact the Box Office at 973-383-3700.