Customer Reviews

On Air (Dts)

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"On Air" rates as one of Alan Parsons finest works to date. This is an album of pure bliss for anyone who who calls themselves a melodic rock fan. It also stands as an excellent entry into the world of "concept albums", something that music fans like myself need more of! This time the concept is the history of flight, and Parsons pumps plenty of emotion into his subject matter with bold musical themes, and lyrical references to aviation, the Challenger space mission, and an especially intense (almost paranoid) ode to the fear of flying titled "Can't Look Down". Like previous Alan Parsons releases, "On Air" covers a wide variety of musical moods and styles, and this time you can expect much of the same. "Too Close To the Sun" has a dreamy atmospheric quality, with lyrics about the fall of Icarus. "Brother Up In Heaven" is a lush piano-based ballad, with a fine vocal from former ELO Part 2 singer Neil Lockwood, the song also makes nice use of a sparse orchestral arrangement. "Fall Free" is a rocker with a powerful chorus, and an equally powerful vocal performance by Steve Overland. Another guest vocalist, Eric Stewart of 10cc, adds greatly to "Blue Blue Sky", a gentle acoustic piece which is reprised at the end of the album. "Cloudbreak" is an exhilarating instrumental with great guitar licks from long-time Parsons cohort Ian Bainson, another instrumental, "Apollo", is a throbbing burst of synths and electronic percussion, interspersed with quotes about the Apollo Mission from John F. Kennedy. All in all, if you are a fan of Alan Parsons, or just quality melodic rock in general, then "On Air" should NOT be missed! Also, this is an album that sounds absolutely stunning through a good pair of headphones! Parsons has constructed a mix which takes full advantage of stereo panning, background arrangements, clever sound effects (which always have something to do with the song), and even snatches of conversations! (A bit reminicent of his production work on Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon") So if you don't have headphones, you may want to order a set to go with this CD! : )

This is a tough album to rate. You think one thing with the stereo version and another with the DTS mix. For starters, the stereo version is less "Project-sounding" than Alan's first "solo" album, Try Anything Once. On the other hand, the theme is tight and very well done. People who pine away for the days of Woolfson's thematic contributions to the Project are apt to be dissapointed because the lyrical constructs are different. However, the thematic element contained in On Air is equal to most material from the Project days, it's simply different.

Musically, it's very understated and almost low-key to a fault in places. Until one listens to the DTS mix. Then you're suddenly thrown back 20 years to the entire premise of the Project and studio engineering as an extension of musical instruments. In this case, the DTS version allowed Alan to do so much more and you'll "hear" things that make you wish something like I Robot were mixed in DTS as well. No kidding, even the low key songs (So Far Away for example) are sparkling clear and take on an entire new complexion with surround sound. Alan crammed so much more into the DTS mix that you'll never go back to the stereo version again. The instrumental Apollo, in DTS, rivals anything instrumental from any other AP/P album. It will just blow you away.

And there are some rocking pieces on the album that are up there with the best of the Project or other post-Project work (Fall Free and Can't Look Down). And the end of the album, Blue Blue Sky II, is argueably the best ending to an AP/P album ever. And that puts it in some mighty impressive company.

So, if you have a DTS system (and they're awfully affordable now), get this album. If you're mired in a stereo world, the album is still worth having although if you're expecting something similar to either Try Anything Once or The Time Machine, you'll not get it and probably won't like it nearly as much. At worst, this album compares well to Project efforts like Gaudi, Vulture Culture, and Ammonia Avenue and in many spots, surpasses those albums both in music and lyrical content.

Check out the line-up of musicians on this album. You already have great potential. Although this album was released in 1997 when DTS was fairly new, it still manages to have captured all of the qualities that DTS is famous for. Most of the songs have some kind of DTS 'trick', such as a fighter plane flying through the speakers or the sounds of a forest 'clicking and chirping' away before and during an acoustic song ("Blue Blue Sky"). The bass is not overpowering on this set, but the range and dynamics of the sound separation are wonderful and the mood is serene throughout. This album was made intentionally for DTS, unlike the newer albums that are recoded, which makes for a fantastic experience. If you have the DTS system, there are not too many choices (yet) of famous albums, but ones I can recommend are, "Moody Blues; Days of Future Passes", "Eric Clapton; 461 Ocean Blvd" and any film or rock concert after 2000 that was recording in DTS.

Since I bought the home theater music center that provide the DTS decoder,I have always looked forward to find a good audio material to test my system. Finally,I got the Alan Parson's On Air DTS CD Album,I am very glad to enjoy it often from then on , and I am moved every time when I listened to it.
Although this is only a DTS CD not like the most resent released DVD-Audio DVDs that provide high resolution 24bits/96kHZ audio,but it still give the 5.1 channel a clear-cut definition. All the 5.1 channel are performed so propriately,and you can feel you are just surronded by them through the full album. Not only that,but also Alan Parsons have done their fine job in this album,the vocal is so pure and the music is so splendid.
To be a Alan Parsons Fan, I deeply recommend this to anyone who also likes Alan Pasons,or anyone who is eager to find a good DTS audio disc.

Alan Parsons (note : No "Project") DTS release of the "On Air" CD was heralded as the first of many releases where the 5.1-channel DTS version would appear at the same time as the regular CD. That was not to be, but the results are still enjoyable.

All the songs on the CD are about flying in one manner or another. The songs include tributes to hot air balloons, powered flight, Apollo missions to the moon and the Space Shuttle. The album makes excellent use of the six channels. At times a little too much use of the six channels.

As with mid-60s stereo, much of the sound is mixed completely to one of the 5 main channels. A little more blending would have helped this DTS CD. However, it is interesting to hear a vocal pan around a room once or twice. To be fair, the "gimicky" use of the surround channels only occurs a few times.

It isn't hard to believe that the music on this DTS CD was created with 5.1-channel sound in mind. The music would sound much less "natural" in any stereo format. While maybe not quite a "must have", it is good enough to recommend for any DTS CD collection.

I used to be a great fan of the Alan Parsons Project in the eighties, enjoying albums like 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination' and 'I, Robot'. But somewhere along the way I lost track of this great band. I rediscovered them as I was looking to enter the brave new world of DTS sound, and am I glad I did!

The music on this cd is dynamic and melodic. It is a concept album (a lost art) written on the theme of flight and aviation. And the music is enhanced even more by the use of DTS surround sound. The surround mix makes full use of the possibilities of DTS surround. If you are looking for a cd to introduce you to the pleasures of DTS surround sound, I highly reccomend this disc.

Having the original "Tales" and "Pyramid" on LP, and then collecting AP's works on cd, I have been intrested in his music for a long time. Having recently gotten a DTS decoder, I have obtained "On Air" in the DTS format. Allready having the stereo version on cd, all I can say is WOW! I have allways liked how complex AP's music is, and in High Definition Surround there is even more to hear. I have to agree with another review posted in that: 1, This is a MUST HAVE, and 2, I can only hope Alan Parsons remasters the rest of the albums as I will buy them all over again. Once you experience High Def you'll be hooked. you won't want to go back to stereo!

What was once lost is now found could be the best way to describe Alan Parson's "On Air". After losing his writing partner, Eric Woolfson, Alan seemed a bit displaced, as evidenced by "Try Anything Once". But "On Air", with it's woven tales of flights of fancy and reality, has recaptured the sound he has been so delightfully putting out for years. With the influences of such artists as guitarist Ian Bairson (who's "Brother Up In Heaven" tells the real life story of Bairnson's brother, a helicopter pilot shot down over the "no-fly" zone in Irag by friendly fire), Parson's gives us another trip through the imagination of man's dreams of flight, from the minstrel in the meadow singing about his fantasy of the "Blue, Blue sky", to Icarus' fall from Heaven in "Too Close To The Sun", from real life sucesses and disasters, this album runs the range.

If it is still available, the album has also been packaged with a hybrid (Windows/Mac) CD-ROM, featuring interactive lyrics, scenes and videos, including a tribute to a fallen skyboarder, killed filming a commercial. It makes a nice addition to the sound we love so well.

I have seen him perform tracks from "On Air" in concert and have never been more pleased with Alan's talent for musical story-telling. This rates among his best work ever. How unfortunate that it has slipped through the cracks of radio play lists.

Alsn Parsons is a musician's musician. As as classical, conservatory trained musician, I offer that perspective, because his albums are innovative, they blend orchestral and popular music, and they have a great sound.

I was introduced to this album in an APP concert a couple of years ago and I was blown away with Bairnson's contributions. He must stayed in the shadow of Woolfson, but clearly stepped into the light when Eric left the group. Bairnson's tunes are great on this album.

There are some absolutely incredible cuts on the album. My favorite is "Blown by the Wind" which has a very mellow guitar solo (Bairnson) great words, and terrific vocal harmonies. What a sound when you crank it up!

"One Day to Fly" and "Can't Look Down" are other good ones, as is "Brother Up In Heaven." It was somewhat risky to bring in Christopher Cross as a soloist, and he doesn't seem really to fit the Parsons sound. The instrumental cuts didn't seem to be quite up to the standard of most of the other ones from previous albums.

All in all, quite a good album. The cuts I like are great! There are a few that might have been better, but I recommend the album nonetheless.

Both are at, if not the top of their form, very near it. The negative comments I see in other reviews ("elevator music" and suchlike) are unfounded and these reviewers seem to miss the point. The history of flight itself, which this album so elegantly comments upon, is an odd mix of soaring triumphs, desperate tragedies, and insatiable desire to fly. As an aviation buff, I find the music stirring and moving, the lyrics beautiful in craft and content. True APP through and through. (Even in the playfully paranoid "I Can't Look Down", the emotions connected with flight -- even the emotions of people who don't LIKE to fly -- are addressed.)

Alan Parsons is a fabulous show live, but he rarely plays the cuts on this album unless he's the headliner. Just because none of the songs on this album got as much airplay as some work from earlier efforts, it isn't an indicator that they don't deserve it. Anyone who likes The Project owes it to him- or her-self to give this disc a fair listen. You might find it, as did I, one of the albums you discover yourself repeatedly returning to. Ad Astra!