Alan Parsons-On Air (1996)

Three years after his first solo work away from his well-known "Project", Alan Parsons returned to the scene with a new album titled "On Air", this time, as he had done with The Alan Parsons Project, crafted as a concept album. The theme this time is dedicated to the history of aviation, from hot air balloons to space travel. For the recording of the album, Alan Parsons enlisted a large group of musicians, including 10cc singer Eric Stewart, Steve Overland (singer of the British band FM), renowned American musician Christopher Cross, and other frequent APP collaborators such as Stuart Elliott (drums), Ian Bairnson (guitars), and Andrew Powell as conductor and arranger of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. The music presented here is generally more oriented towards soft rock, moving away from the grandiose and epic sounds typical of APP, although his unmistakable melodies are still present. Tracks like "Cloudbreak" and the instrumental "Apollo" evoke the sound of Pink Floyd in the 1980s, with David Gilmour's evocative guitar work standing out. Other pieces, such as the captivating "Blown By The Wind" and "Blue Blue Sky", showcase Eric Stewart's exceptional vocal range, while Neil Lockwood delivers equally impressive vocals on the beautiful ballad "Brother Up In Heaven" and the brilliant "I Can't Look Down". The latter is particularly noteworthy for its paranoid lyrics about the fear of flying, making it less than ideal to listen to before boarding a flight. Interestingly, the album included a CD-ROM containing additional information about the recording process and a brief history of aviation, but its unintuitive interface proved rather cumbersome.