If you ever see an interview or article about record engineer and producer Alan Parsons, he will talk a lot about the artists he has worked with, especially The Beatles and Pink Floyd.
But Parsons has a long list of credits, and you can read about him elsewhere. His production style is very clear, precise and rather bass light.
There was a point in the 1970s where Parsons met Scottish songwriter Eric Woolfson.
Woolfson had an idea for a concept album and asked Parsons to engineer and produce it. They decided, somewhat as a joke, to call it The Alan Parsons Project. Thus was Tales Of Mystery And Imagination born, based on some of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Charisma 1976.
There was never really a fixed band called The Alan Parsons Project, just a collection of musicians Parsons and Woolfson had worked with or knew, including (over the years) members of Pilot, John Miles, Chris Rainbow, Gary Brooker and Arthur Brown.
The album was something of a success, so more came, now on the Arista label.
Parsons produced, played a little keyboards-ish and never sang. Woolfson did, especially on later albums.
I Robot came next, based on Asimov books, The Turn Of A Friendly Card on gambling, Gaudi on, er Gaudi and no-one mentions Eve any more (on women and their problems). And more.
Eventually, Woolfson and Parsons were to split. Their last album together, Freudiana, was produced by Parsons and featured many regular players, but has only Woolfson’s name on. 1990.
Woolfson went on to do more musical theatre stuff, especially in Europe, and Parsons did various things, including touring (where he played instruments and sang) and having recurring musicians and a genuine group. There were concerts with orchestras and without. We saw them twice in Shepherd’s Bush in the UK and at the Town Hall in NYC, not so long ago. And there were new records.