“He sees the big picture and gets that classic English sound… I’m still very awestruck by his history”: Christopher Cross on why Alan Parsons is his prog hero

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By the time Christopher Cross released his multiple Grammy-winning debut album in 1979, he’d been a fan of Alan Parsons for nearly a decade. In 2011 the American told Prog why the English musician and producer was his musical hero.

“Atom Heart Mother and The Dark Side Of The Moon were big albums in my world – all over the world – and that’s how I first knew of Alan Parsons. He was mainly known for Floyd, but The Alan Parsons Project had a lot of hits in the States, and then of course there’s The Beatles’ Abbey Road. He’s got quite a big discography, you know!

“It’s so long ago that we met I can’t remember who introduced us, but I remember that, as a man with such a big career, Alan was still very mysterious. No-one really knew who he was so when I met him I expected this tiny, bespectacled man in a three-piece suit, but here was a big hairy guy! He’d done things like Here Comes The Sun with George Harrison so had great stories, and was very connected to a lot of great artists. I’m still very awestruck by his history.

“It took a while for us to work together. He always has guests to sing with him like Paul Carrack, or Gary Brooker from Procol Harum, and eventually he called me in. It wasn’t terribly personal; I was in LA, he was in England so he sent me the track [So Far Away from 1996’s On Air], I sang it in the US and sent it back – but it was nice to be involved.

“I’ve done a few tours with him as well, like A Walk Down Abbey Road With The Beatles. Todd Rundgren and Jack Bruce from Cream were on that too – it was a lot of fun.

“Although we’re close I don’t see him as often as I’d like, but we call each other up. I rang him about the Lady Antebellum song [Need You Now] that won a Grammy for Song Of The Year 2011; there was some talk about it being lifted from Alan’s song Eye In The Sky. If you listen to it, it’s pretty close. I mentioned it and he said ‘Oh yeah, we’re aware of it…’

“With Dark Side... Floyd didn’t see their songs as an album. Alan found the pieces of music and put them into a cohesive package. That’s what he’s great at: having a vision. He sees the big picture and gets that classic English sound. That’s his strength, and his kids are carrying on his tradition.

“He doesn’t produce so much these days but if Floyd wanted him to get involved with something – if they decided to do something – I’m sure they’d have Alan at the controls.”

Jo is a journalist, podcaster, event host and music industry lecturer who joined Kerrang! in 1999 and then the dark side – Prog – a decade later as Deputy Editor. Jo's had tea with Robert Fripp, touched Ian Anderson's favourite flute (!) and asked Suzi Quatro what one wears under a leather catsuit. Jo is now Associate Editor of Prog, and a regular contributor to Classic Rock. She continues to spread the experimental and psychedelic music-based word amid unsuspecting students at BIMM Institute London and can be occasionally heard polluting the BBC Radio airwaves as a pop and rock pundit. Steven Wilson still owes her £3, which he borrowed to pay for parking before a King Crimson show in Aylesbury.