Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

General discussion about Pink Floyd.
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Annoying Twit
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by Annoying Twit »

Wherever Rog is heading, it appears that Lou Reed got there first.
WebBrown wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 9:51 pm I did not listen Raven from APP before, so I give it a go and I did not find any similarities with HH at all, but then again speaking about a lot other songs from APP I must say he share a lot common with DB and I donot think about riffs at all, then more entire music in general and lyrics, but then again that would be me …
There's a short melodic phrase that is similar. Compare the line 'Thus spake the raven' to the line 'The taste was sweeter'.

However, that isn't saying very much. Most fairly normal songs are made up of the same melodic fragments put together in different ways. There simply aren't enough notes such that an infinite variety of five note descending phrases can be invented. There will be huge numbers of songs with exactly those five notes.

I still think this thread is completely much ado about nothing.
Last edited by Annoying Twit on Wed Oct 27, 2021 7:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by WebBrown »

Annoying Twit wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 7:38 pm Wherever Rog is heading, it appears that Lou Reed got there first.
WebBrown wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 9:51 pm I did not listen Raven from APP before, so I give it a go and I did not find any similarities with HH at all, but then again speaking about a lot other songs from APP I must say he share a lot common with DB and I donot think about riffs at all, then more entire music in general and lyrics, but then again that would be me …
There's a short melodic phrase that is similar. Compare the line 'Thus spake the raven' to the line 'The taste was sweeter'.

However, that isn't saying very much. Most fairly normal songs are made up of the same melodic fragments put together in different ways. There simply aren't enough notes such that an infinite variety of five note descending phrases can be invented. There will be huge numbers of songs with exactly those five notes.

I still think this thread is completely much ado about nothing.
Yes I have find damn line and I do agree, it is very similar , thanks … So I think I will find the same or more in all other songs ,especially since they are already posted here …
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by WebBrown »

Still I found they are very much alike in colour , both I assume AP songs and DB, since there you have a lot sorts of ballads, that share quite a same mood … I think on Eagle will rise again and High hopes …
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

I know Syd Barrett’s "Wolfpack" has been jokingly mentioned alongside Animals, but it could very well have been Roger's "inspiration" for "Raving and Drooling", down to the length and rhythm of the lines, the timing of the chord changes, the tone, and the topic. Based on his comments in the Wish You Were Here Songbook, it wouldn't be surprising if he didn't get around to listening to Barrett until 1974.
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by WebBrown »

I think AP songs are very honest even to the point where he is more honest then Leonard Cohen in song Halleluja where I think AP music would go more under a line :

I am already given to the power that rules my fate. And I cling to nothing, so I will have
nothing to defend.
I have no thoughts, so I will see.
I fear nothing, so I will remember myself.

Detached and at ease, I will dart past the Eagle to be free.
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

I hope it lost something in translation.
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by WebBrown »

ZiggyZipgun wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 6:30 pm I hope it lost something in translation.
Speaking about topic it self there is a lot more to add, especially about AP who engineered DSOTM as album that is at least for me ode to immortality and therefore ‘ I find it is a lot lost in translation when it comes to DSOTM …
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

Alan Parsons didn't have any input when it came to the lyrics or their topics. For fucks sake, he was just the engineer.
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by WebBrown »

ZiggyZipgun wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 8:10 pm Alan Parsons didn't have any input when it came to the lyrics or their topics. For fucks sake, he was just the engineer.
Excuse me, but I was not sayin’ he did wrote any and I very well know who he was in 1973 when they have recorded DSOTM… I was just saying that you have a lot people who understand DSOTM differently … Also AP did great job back then …
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

In that case we should be praising every engineer on every Pink Floyd record. Alan Parsons did such an outstanding job that they never hired him again. Weird!
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by WebBrown »

No, as far as I know he declined to work on WYWH because he was doing very good on his other projects, but apart from DSOTM and other PF engineers I gues you are right … He also did some songs where PF members helped him and he also recorded Mammagamma …
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

Actually he spent a bunch of time mixing a quad version of Dark Side that they never used. He was just an EMI employee - the band would use whomever the studio provided. Alan Parsons is only notable in Pink Floyd's history because he went on to do anything else. Meanwhile James Guthrie has been steadily employed by the band for over 40 years and is probably worth twice as much. Oh, by the way... they chose Guthrie to engineer the 30th Anniversary SACD release of Dark Side of the Moon, not Parsons. Weird!
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by WebBrown »

Probably you are right about, so I think I was exaggerating a bit ...
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

I'm somewhat astonished that we're still talking about The Alan Parsons Project for some reason, since I personally have never taken it seriously, and outside of Austin Powers, I've never heard his name mentioned without it being immediately followed by and he also worked as an engineer on Abbey Road and Dark Side of the Moon. So alright, fine, I looked him up - and the weirdest part is that an EMI session musician formed the group around Alan Parsons based on his experience as a record producer, which at that point stretched less than one year (I'm pretty sure Dave Gilmour had more production credits under his belt at that point). He was offered a full-time job as their studio and live sound engineer, but not as producer, since they still did that themselves.
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Re: Pink Floyd / David Gilmour ripping off The Alan Parsons Project & others?

Post by Eclipse »

ZiggyZipgun wrote: Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:44 am I'm somewhat astonished that we're still talking about The Alan Parsons Project for some reason, since I personally have never taken it seriously
I agree with that, that surprises me too. I've listened to his albums in more detail, and really could not find anything special about them. About engineering/production in other albums, I can't say anything because I really have not checked those aspects.
But, I think the main reason is that his overrated "fame" until today was solely due to his also overrated engineering work on Dark Side of the Moon.
The main soul of the album was obviously by the PF themselves, who were the composers and musical directors. Alan Parsons seems to get much more credit and hype than he deserves, especially when talking about DSOTM.
Without him, DSOTM would still probably be the most iconic PF album and rock album of all times.