On Air
Encyclopedia
On Air is the second solo release by Alan Parsons
following the split of The Alan Parsons Project
, however the album's chief creative force was the Project's long-time guitarist, Ian Bairnson
. Its concept
revolves around the history of airborne exploration.
, Parsons and Bairnson decided early on that this release would be a work of art from start to finish where neither vision nor integrity would be subverted by commercial sensibility.
The album follows the history of airborne exploration, from the mythological flight of Daedalus
and Icarus
to escape the labyrinth of the Minotaur in "Too Close To The Sun", through Leonardo da Vinci
's search to design a flying machine, or ornithopter
, in long-time Project drummer Stuart Elliott's "One Day To Fly", until finally mankind's aspirations for space exploration
placed on the shoulders of a single astronaut
in "So Far Away" and the subsequent superpower
race to put a man on the moon
in "Apollo", a track backed by John F. Kennedy
's famous speech of May 25, 1961.
While the ode
to hot air balloon
ing "Blown By The Wind" and following instrumental
"Cloudbreak" are arguably the finest guitar work Bairnson has ever recorded, the creative catalyst for this album is the beautiful, albeit melancholy, ballad "Brother Up In Heaven". The song's lyrics remember Ian's deceased cousin Erik Mounsey who was killed in a friendly fire
incident above Iraq
in 1994. The death of this young helicopter pilot is made even more haunting by the fact that he was an unarmed peacekeeper.
mix. Included with the music CD was a CD-Rom disk exploring the On Air theme.
Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons is a British audio engineer, musician, and record producer. He was involved with the production of several significant albums, including The Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be, as well as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon for which Pink Floyd credit him as an important contributor...
following the split of The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive rock band, active between 1975 and 1990, consisting of singer Eric Woolfson and keyboardist Alan Parsons surrounded by a varying number of session musicians....
, however the album's chief creative force was the Project's long-time guitarist, Ian Bairnson
Ian Bairnson
Ian Bairnson is a Scottish musician, famous for being one of the core members of The Alan Parsons Project. He is a multi-instrumentalist, who has played saxophone and keyboards, although he is best known as a guitarist...
. Its concept
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
revolves around the history of airborne exploration.
Album's concept
With their newfound independence from AristaArista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
, Parsons and Bairnson decided early on that this release would be a work of art from start to finish where neither vision nor integrity would be subverted by commercial sensibility.
The album follows the history of airborne exploration, from the mythological flight of Daedalus
Daedalus
In Greek mythology, Daedalus was a skillful craftsman and artisan.-Family:...
and Icarus
Icarus (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Icarus is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus. The main story told about Icarus is his attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax...
to escape the labyrinth of the Minotaur in "Too Close To The Sun", through Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
's search to design a flying machine, or ornithopter
Ornithopter
An ornithopter is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. Designers seek to imitate the flapping-wing flight of birds, bats, and insects. Though machines may differ in form, they are usually built on the same scale as these flying creatures. Manned ornithopters have also been built, and some...
, in long-time Project drummer Stuart Elliott's "One Day To Fly", until finally mankind's aspirations for space exploration
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
placed on the shoulders of a single astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
in "So Far Away" and the subsequent superpower
Superpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...
race to put a man on the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
in "Apollo", a track backed by John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's famous speech of May 25, 1961.
While the ode
Ode
Ode is a type of lyrical verse. A classic ode is structured in three major parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also exist...
to hot air balloon
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
ing "Blown By The Wind" and following instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
"Cloudbreak" are arguably the finest guitar work Bairnson has ever recorded, the creative catalyst for this album is the beautiful, albeit melancholy, ballad "Brother Up In Heaven". The song's lyrics remember Ian's deceased cousin Erik Mounsey who was killed in a friendly fire
Friendly fire
Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...
incident above Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
in 1994. The death of this young helicopter pilot is made even more haunting by the fact that he was an unarmed peacekeeper.
Release
On Air was issued as both a stereo CD and a 5.1 channel dtsDigital Theater System
DTS is a series of multichannel audio technologies owned by DTS, Inc. , an American company specializing in digital surround sound formats used for both commercial/theatrical and consumer grade applications...
mix. Included with the music CD was a CD-Rom disk exploring the On Air theme.
Track listing
- "Blue Blue Sky" - (Bairnson) Lead Vocals Eric StewartEric StewartEric Stewart is an English musician, songwriter and record producer most known for his tenure with The Mindbenders in the 1960s, and 10cc from 1972 to 1995....
– 1:38 - "Too Close To The Sun" - (Parsons, Bairnson, Elliott) Lead Vocals Neil Lockwood – 5:04
- "Blown By The Wind" - (Bairnson) Lead Vocals Eric Stewart – 5:25
- "Cloudbreak" - (Bairnson, Parsons, Elliott) Instrumental – 4:39
- "I Can't Look Down" - (Bairnson) Lead vocals Neil Lockwood – 4:37
- "Brother Up In Heaven" dedicated to Erik Mounsey 1965-1994 - (Bairnson) Lead Vocals Neil Lockwood – 4:02
- "Fall Free" inspired by skysurfer Rob Harris 1966-1995 - (Bairnson, Elliott, Parsons) Lead Vocals Steve OverlandSteve OverlandSteve Overland is a British singer/musician who was the lead vocalist and songwriter for the bands Wildlife, FM, The Ladder, Shadowman, and his own group, Overland. Overland's nearly 30 year career began in his home county of East Anglia, where he and his brother Chris formed the band Wildlife in...
– 4:21 - "Apollo" - (Elliott, Parsons, Bairnson) Instrumental with John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
audio clips – 6:06 - "So Far Away" - (Bairnson) Lead Vocals Christopher CrossChristopher CrossChristopher Cross is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. His debut album earned him five Grammys. He is perhaps best known for his Top Ten hit songs, "Sailing", "Ride Like the Wind", and "Arthur's Theme ", the last of which he performed for the film Arthur starring Dudley Moore...
– 4:07 - "One Day To Fly" - (Elliott, English) Lead Vocals Graham Dye – 6:16
- "Blue Blue Sky" - (Bairnson) Lead Vocals Eric Stewart – 4:24
Personnel
- Alan ParsonsAlan ParsonsAlan Parsons is a British audio engineer, musician, and record producer. He was involved with the production of several significant albums, including The Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be, as well as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon for which Pink Floyd credit him as an important contributor...
– keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, mixing, engineering - Andrew PowellAndrew PowellAndrew Powell - musical composer, arranger and performer - was born 18 April 1949 in London, England of Welsh parents.- Early life :He began taking piano lessons at the age of four and later attended Kings College School, Wimbledon by which time he was also learning the viola, violin and orchestral...
– orchestral arranger and conductor - Ian BairnsonIan BairnsonIan Bairnson is a Scottish musician, famous for being one of the core members of The Alan Parsons Project. He is a multi-instrumentalist, who has played saxophone and keyboards, although he is best known as a guitarist...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones... - Stuart ElliottStuart Elliott (drummer)Stuart Elliott is an English rock drummer, who has played along with David Byron, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, Al Stewart, The Alan Parsons Project, Kate Bush, Paul McCartney and Keats....
– percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Eric StewartEric StewartEric Stewart is an English musician, songwriter and record producer most known for his tenure with The Mindbenders in the 1960s, and 10cc from 1972 to 1995....
– lead vocals (tracks 1, 3, 11) - Neil Lockwood – lead vocals (tracks 2, 5, 6)
- Steve OverlandSteve OverlandSteve Overland is a British singer/musician who was the lead vocalist and songwriter for the bands Wildlife, FM, The Ladder, Shadowman, and his own group, Overland. Overland's nearly 30 year career began in his home county of East Anglia, where he and his brother Chris formed the band Wildlife in...
– lead vocals (track 7) - Christopher CrossChristopher CrossChristopher Cross is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. His debut album earned him five Grammys. He is perhaps best known for his Top Ten hit songs, "Sailing", "Ride Like the Wind", and "Arthur's Theme ", the last of which he performed for the film Arthur starring Dudley Moore...
– lead vocals (track 9) - Graham Dye – lead vocals (track 10)
- Peter Beckett – backing vocals (track 6)
- John GiblinJohn GiblinJohn Giblin is an internationally renowned session bassist who has worked with the following artists:*Eric Clapton, Sting, Mark Knopfler, Phil Collins * Peter Gabriel...
– bass guitar - Richard Cottle – saxophone
- Gary SanctuaryGary SanctuaryGary Sanctuary is a British pianist, keyboard player, composer and in-demand session musician. He has recorded and toured with a number of well-known musicians, including Michael McDonald, George Benson, Chaka Khan, Maxi Priest, Aztec Camera, Beverley Craven, Terence Trent D'Arby, Jaki Graham,...
– keyboards - Christopher Warren-Green – orchestra leader
- Storm ThorgersonStorm ThorgersonStorm Thorgerson is an English graphic designer, known for his work for rock bands such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, 10cc, Dream Theater, The Mars Volta, Muse, The Cranberries, and Biffy Clyro.-Biography:...
– cover design