Pyramid

Alan Parsons Project

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: June 1978
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Arista
• ASIN: B000002VCT
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #121,447 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Japanese-only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) paper sleeve pressing of this album. SHM-CDs can be played on any audio player and delivers unbelievably high-quality sound. You won't believe it's the same CD! Includes the same bonus tracks that appear on the EU/US expanded editions. Sony/BMG 2009. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars " If all things must fall ...why build a Pryamid at all ? ", December 6, 2002

By	ADK (Royal Oak, Mi. United States) - See all my reviews

Pyramid is nothing short of a masterpiece.
But the Egyptian overtones and pyramid motif is just a surface, a tangible stage set, if you will. What this album really seems to be about, lyricaly and intellectualy, is man and his quest for eternal life and coming to grips (or not) with one's own inevitable mortality. Just look at the song titles... "In the lap of the Gods", "Can't take it with you", "The Eagle will rise again" "One more river" you get the idea.
Hammer dulcimers, timpanis, Egyptian flutes, a heavy choir, and other exotic instruments blend with rock instrumentation and the result is one of the greatest recording projects ever captured on tape. Recorded at Alan's home away from home, EMI Abbey Road studios London, it sounds like is was recorded in and around the pyramids with echo, atmosphere and grandiosity.
Colin Blunstone's sole vocal contribution on "Eagle will rise" is beautiful, un forced and sorrowful beyond description. One of the greatest vocal performances ever, to my ears.
The instrumental "In the lap of the Gods" is bold, dynamic, exotic, powerful and damn near overwhelming...Wow! turn up and test your audio system's abilities with that one my friend.
Pyramid is a complete (theme) album and I prefer to listen to it it's entirety from start to finish when possible.

Pyramid is like buried, forgotten (Egyptian) treasure. I bought the original vinyl album on a gamble as a curious teenager on it's first release back in 1978. Good move. I've never come across Pyramid in anyone else's record/cd collection since then(?)
Most people are duly impressed and curious when I slyly slip it into the car/home stereo. Personaly I never tire of hearing Pryamid and never will.
Even the un-remastered CD sounds incredible.
One of the greatest recordings of all time. A desert island disc without question.

"If all things must pass even a Pyramid won't last"

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner from Alan Parsons!, September 23, 2000

By	Jeffery K. Matheus (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Alan Parsons Project's "Pyramid" is one of those magical albums that just keeps finding its way back into my CD player! I have had this CD since 1987, and still get the "craving" to hear it on a regular basis. This is just one of those albums with a perfect "flow", where every track just blends together to create a complete musical picture of the artist. But the songs on "Pyramid" will also stand up well on their own. Tracks like "What Goes Up", "Shadow of a Lonely Man", "Can't Take it With You", and "One More River" will stick with you long after the album has finished playing. "The Eagle Will Rise Again" - with its lush production and light airy vocals from The Zombies' Colin Blunstone - is certainly one of Parsons finest moments ever. I would rate "Pyramid" right alongside Parsons finest works, such as "Gaudi", "Eye In the Sky", "Try Anything Once" and "On Air". There are not as many straight-out "rock-n-roll" songs here as you would find on most other Parsons albums, the music on "Pyramid" is definitely a bit more on the "orchestral rock" side, with its occassional string inturledes, and subtle-symphonic accompanyment. I think that this album would have a great appeal to fans of British "art rock" bands like The Moody Blues and Barclay James Harvest, it certainly has many of the same musical strong points. As you would expect from one of rocks most important record producers, this album is sonically (as well as musically) excellent, and the CD format only enhances its clarity. It sounds like Parsons had a grip a that clean "90's" production sound all the way back in 1979! Also, in the same way that Parsons incorperated some influences of Spanish-music into 1987's "Gaudi", here he plays on the influence of Eastern music on a handful of tracks. This is an album not to be missed! Take the "voyage", discover the genius of Alan Parsons!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good British symphonic pop that is heading in a poppier direction, May 6, 2006

By	Jeffrey J.Park (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Released in 1978, the Pyramid album more or less follows the formula of the very good I Robot album (1977), although it does not seem quite as inspired - to me at any rate. There are however, some very nice and heavily orchestrated pop songs and atmospheric synthesizer pieces that make this a very listenable and enjoyable album. Conceptually, the album (and I quote from the liner notes) "seeks to amplify the haunting echoes of the past and explore the unsolved mysteries of the present" - hence, the Pyramid theme. The musicians on Pyramid include Alan Parsons (acoustic guitar); David Paton (bass guitar and acoustic guitar); Stuart Elliott (drums); Ian Bairnson (electric and acoustic guitars); and Eric Woolfson (synthesizers and additional vocals). The vocalists (and there are several, including Colin Blunstone) are pretty good and their voices work well with the track they were selected for. With respect to the orchestration, string and brass parts are scattered across the album, in addition to passages that feature a choir. Both the orchestra and the choir were directed by Andrew Powell. Finally, although there are saxophone parts on the album, they are not credited. The nine tracks on the album are in the 2-6 minute range and alternate atmospheric and interesting instrumentals (Voyager, Hyper Gamma Spaces, and In the Lap of the Gods), with some very well-written and heavily orchestrated pop songs. Of the nine tracks, Pyramania is the weakest (it is "quirky" in a contrived new-wave manner) and contributes absolutely nothing to the recording, although it does not reduce the overall quality. Alan Parsons not only produced this album, but engineered extremely well-recorded albums including two by Pink Floyd (Atom Heart Mother (1970) and Dark Side of the Moon (1973)) and as such, the recording quality of this album is very high. All in all, this is a good album of British symphonic pop and is recommended along with Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976) and I Robot (1977). This trilogy of albums comprises the most interesting music the entire late 1970's British symphonic pop genre had to offer.