Eric Woolfson 1945-2009

In looking up my all-time favorite video last night, which is "Don't Answer Me" by the Alan Parsons Project, I sadly discovered that Eric had passed on Dec. 2 at the age of 64. Maybe the name means nothing to you, and the project little beyond "Eye in the Sky", and that's a shame.
The project was a partnership between main songwriter Woolfson and producer Parsons, and the songs were mainly performed by themselves and a shifting group of studio musicians, with Eric singing the demos, and later on the actual leads on some songs. This partnership produced a string of classic albums and songs. Their second album, "I Robot" (which reached # 9) was inspired by the Asimov books and included the top 30 "I Wouldn't Want to be Like You". It was follwed by "Pyramid" (#26; "What Goes Up..."), "Eve" (#13; "Damned if I Do"), The Turn of a Friendly Card"(a concept album on gambling, and my favorite, hitting #13 as well, and containing the top 15 "Games People Play" and top ten "Time" which was sung by Eric), "Eye in the Sky"(#7; Eric sung the title track), "Ammonia Avenue" (#15, with Eric singing on the hits "Prime Time" and "Don't Answer Me"; It also contained the song "Old and Wise", which is a tremendous song on which to reflect on your life), "Vulture Culture"(#46, with Eric's beautiful vocals on "Days are Numbers(The Traveller)"), and finally "Stereotomy" (#46).
They were not a typical band. They were based on the concept of the producer as the star, just like the Hitchcock movies and many of todays best TV series. As a result, they were not a touring band and while they were successful they never got the fame they deserved.