Leading independent record label Cooking Vinyl are set to release an extensive reissue campaign of The Alan Parsons Project’s second studio album ‘I Robot,’ widely regarded as one of the greatest concept albums of all time.
Setting the standard in progressive rock during its active period between 1976 and 1987, The Alan Parsons Project comprised of engineer/producer Alan Parsons and songwriter, musician, and manager Eric Woolfson. Together, they released 10 albums and focussed on subject matters including science fiction, supernatural, literary, and sociological themes. They have sold in excess of 55 million albums world-wide, maintaining a devoted audience.
Originally released on Clive Davis’ Arista Records on the 8th July 1977, ‘I Robot’ draws conceptually on author Isaac Asimov’s science fiction Robot stories, exploring philosophical themes regarding artificial intelligence. This all took place at an interesting time for British rock music; The Sex Pistols released their first single ‘Anarchy In The U.K.’ on the 26th November 1976, just days before the ‘I Robot’ sessions began.
Cooking Vinyl’s extensive reissue campaign of ‘I Robot,’ set for release on the 17th October, will be available on various formats including a limited edition Super Deluxe Box Set which contains 4CDs, 1 Blu-ray Disc containing the ‘I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You’ promotional video and interview footage of Eric Woolfson discussing the ‘I Robot’ album, and a 45rpm 180g heavyweight LP vinyl edition in a gatefold sleeve, half-speed remastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios. With an additional 70 bonus tracks (47 of them previously unreleased) taken from studio sessions out-takes, the collection features stunning Dolby Atmos and 5.1 Surround Sound mixes by Alan Parsons from the original multi-track master tapes, along with a new stereo HD & CD remaster of the original album by Showell. Also included is a fully illustrated 12” x 12” casebound book featuring interviews with Alan Parsons, the Woolfson family, and the musicians, as well as full lyrics and commentary on the bonus tracks, an A1 poster and a reproduction press kit folder.
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios like the majority of The Alan Parsons Project albums, ‘I Robot’ featured a variety of different lead vocalists including Steve Harley, Allan Clarke, Lenny Zakatek, Peter Straker, Jack Harris and Jaki Whitren, alongside a selection of session musicians including guitarist Ian Bairnson, bass player David Paton, drummer Stuart Tosh and of course, Woolfson on keyboards with arrangements by Andrew Powell. Four singles were released from the album, including the most successful, ‘I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You.’ In the accompanying music video, Parsons plays the role of a man in a surreal chase with an anonymous humanoid played by Woolfson.
As Davis later wrote in his 2013 autobiography, ‘The Soundtrack Of My Life,’ “They composed haunting, highly atmospheric, literate songs that address ambitious, conceptual subjects such as the impact of mechanisation on the human spirit…The Alan Parsons Project seemed to capture something about the mid-Seventies that made me believe it could reach a larger audience. Alan, after all, had worked as an engineer for The Beatles and Pink Floyd [and] Eric’s innate musicality found expression in his skills as an arranger, composer, and lyricist.”
The Alan Parsons Project enjoyed a stroke of luck with the album title and its cover, as the first Star Wars film appeared in US cinemas, three months before the album’s release. The biggest science fiction event of any medium in history, the film didn’t premiere in the UK until December 1977, but British sci-fi fans knew that it was coming and were hungry for anything remotely sci-fi related. As Woolfson noted, “We brought out ‘I Robot’ almost exactly at the same time as Star Wars was released. Of course, Star Wars featured robots, and the only record sleeves in stores, especially in America, that had a robot on it was ours. Having a robot-like figure on the cover worked very much to our advantage.” Supported by a 10-date press tour of North America, ‘I Robot’ entered the Top 10 in the US, eventually going platinum for sales of over two million copies. Combined with the ‘I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You’ single and it successors, the campaign became among the most successful of The Alan Parsons Project’s career.
The expanded CD release includes a 2025 remaster of the original album by Showell at Abbey Road Studios, alongside 4 additional bonus tracks and a fully illustrated, 12-page booklet containing sleevenotes featuring quotes from Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson as well as lyric sheet. In addition, ‘I Robot’ will also be released on various vinyl formats including 180g classic black vinyl, and limited edition, 180g heavyweight clear vinyl, featuring half-speed remasters by Showell at Abbey Road Studios, and sleevenotes featuring quotes from Parsons and Woolfson.
Parsons and Woolfson first met in the canteen of Abbey Road Studios in the summer of 1974. Parsons was Assistant Engineer on the Beatles’ albums ‘Abbey Road’ (1969) and ‘Let It Be (1970)’ and was also engineer on Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ (1973). Woolfson, a songwriter and composer, was working as a session pianist while composing material for a concept album based on the work of American writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe. Forging a longstanding working and business relationship, Woolfson felt the music business might well become a producer’s medium and he saw a way to combine his and Parsons’s talents. Parsons began to produce and engineer songs written by Woolfson and The Alan Parsons Project was formed.
Super Deluxe Box Set Tracklisting
2 x 45RPM LPs
Side 1
1. I Robot
2. I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You
Side 2
1. Some Other Time
2. Breakdown
3. Don’t Let It Show
Side 3
1. The Voice
2. Nucleus
3. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)
Side 4
1. Total Eclipse
2. Genesis Ch.1. V.32
CD1 – Original Album 2025 Remaster Plus Expanded Bonus Tracks
1. I Robot
2. I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You
3. Some Other Time
4. Breakdown
5. Don’t Let It Show
6. The Voice
7. Nucleus
8. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)
9. Total Eclipse
10. Genesis Ch.1. V.32
Bonus Tracks
11. U.S Radio Commercial For I Robot
12. I Robot (Boules Experiment)
13. I Robot (Hilary Western Soprano Vocal Rehearsal)
14. Extract 1 From The Alan Parsons Project Audio Guide
15. Extract 2 From The Alan Parsons Project Audio Guide
16. I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You (Backing Track Rough Mix)
17. Some Other Time (Complete Vocal By Jaki Whitren)
18. Breakdown (Early Demo Of Backing Riff)
19. Extract 3 From The Alan Parsons Project Audio Guide
20. Breakdown (The Choir)
21. Don’t Let It Show (Eric Woolfson Demo)
22. Day After Day (Early-Stage Rough Mix)
23. Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32 (Choir Session)
24. The Naked Robot
CD2 – Bonus Studio Recordings Vol. 1
1. I Robot (Out Take & Rough Mix)
2. I Robot (Experimental Lead Guitar Part With Guide Count)
3. I Robot (John Leach Kantele Takes)
4. I Robot (Ian Bairnson Rhythm Electric Guitar)
5. I Robot (Choir Takes)
6. I Robot (Early Mix Before Choir)
7. I Robot (Single Edit)
8. I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You (Slower Backing Out Take)
9. I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You (Eric Woolfson Keyboard Take)
10. I Wouldn’t Want To Be like You (Ian Bairnson Electric Rhythm Guitar)
11. I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You (Early Mix Of Backing Track)
12. I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You (Lenny Zakatek Alt. Vocal)
13. Some Other Time (Eric Woolfson Piano Take)
14. Some Other Time (Ian Bairnson Acoustic Guitars Takes)
15. Some Other Time (Ian Bairnson Lead Electric Guitar Takes)
16. Some Other Time (Rough Mix – Jaki Alt. Lyric & Ad Libs)
CD3 – Bonus Studio Recordings Vol. 2
1. Breakdown (Eric Woolfson Keyboard Part)
2. Breakdown (Projectron and Bass)
3. Breakdown (Ian Bairnson Acoustic Guitar Takes)
4. Breakdown (Ian Bairnson Electric Guitar Harmony Solo)
5. Breakdown (Strings, Brass, & Horns Take)
6. Breakdown (Rough Mix + Alt. Backing Track Out Take)
7. Breakdown (Rough Mix Of Backing Track)
8. Don’t Let It Show (Eric Woolfson Piano Takes)
9. Don’t Let It Show (Eric Woolfson Organ Take)
10. Don’t Let It Show (Recorder & Horns Out Take In Key Of D)
11. Don’t Let It Show (String Section Take)
12. Don’t Let It Show (Woodwind Take In Key Of D)
13. Don’t Let It Show (Backing Track Early Rough Mix)
14. Don’t Let It Show (Rough Mix With Alt. Orchestra Score)
15. Don’t Let It Show (Extended End Section)
16. The Voice (Rough Mix With Extra Strings & Alan Vocoder)
17. The Voice (Backing Track Rough Mix)
18. Nucleus (Experimenting with Sound Effects)
19. Nucleus (Talking Sound Effects)
20. Nucleus (Stuart Tosh Drum Take with Delay)
21. Nucleus (Projectron Only)
CD4 – Bonus Studio Recordings Vol. 3
1. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On) (BJ Cole Steel Out Take)
2. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On) (Synth Experiments)
3. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On) (Eric Woolfson Celeste Take)
4. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On) (Ian Bairnson Acoustic Guitar Take)
5. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On) (BJ Cole Pedal Steel Take)
6. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On) (Backing Vocals)
7. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On) (Backing Track)
8. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On) (Single Edit)
9. Total Eclipse & Nucleus (Choral Experiments)
10. Total Eclipse (Choir Only)
11. Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32 (Alan Parsons Demo)
12. Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32 (Everything But The Choir)
13. Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32 (Ian Bairnson Acoustic Guitars)
14. Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32 (Strings Only)
15. Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32 (Backing Singers & Choir Takes)
16. Alan Parsons Spacey Vibraphone
17. Eric’s Jupiter (Start of Gemini Idea)
18. Taking It All Away (Eric Woolfson Songwriting Diary 1st Version)
19. I Robot Radio Adverts
Blu-ray Dolby Atmos/5.1 Surround Sound remixed by Alan Parsons 2025 Original album remastered in Stereo 2025
1. I Robot
2. I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You
3. Some Other Time
4. Breakdown
5. Don’t Let It Show
6. The Voice
7. Nucleus
8. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)
9. Total Eclipse
10. Genesis Ch.1. V.32
I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You (Promotional Video)
I Robot Eric Woolfson Interview Footage
Abbey Road Remaster, Expanded Edition CD
Tracklisting
1. I Robot
2. I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You
3. Some Other Time
4. Breakdown
5. Don’t Let It Show
6. The Voice
7. Nucleus
8. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)
9. Total Eclipse
10. Genesis Ch.1. V.32
Bonus Tracks
11. I Robot (Experimental Lead Guitar Part With Guide Count)
12. I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You (Slower Backing Out Take)
13. Some Other Time (Eric Woolfson Piano Take)
14. Don’t Let It Show (String Section Take)
LP, Ltd Edition Clear Vinyl Half-Speed Remaster and Classic Black Vinyl Half-Speed Remaster
Tracklisting
Side One
1. I Robot
2. I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You
3. Some Other Time
4. Breakdown
5. Don’t Let It Show
Side Two
1. The Voice
2. Nucleus
3. Day After Day (The Show Must Go On)
4. Total Eclipse
5. Genesis Ch.1. V.32
