If you were around in the 1970s, you may recall seeing a dinky metal pyramid sat on top of a milk bottle. During a shortlived craze, these devices were pitched as conduits for pyramid power, which claimed to stop your full-fat turning sour.
This theory first appeared in print in 1970 in Lynn Schroeder and Sheila Ostrander’s book, Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain, which served up its mysticism with a side dish of Cold War paranoia. According to its authors, the Soviets were harnessing pyramid power to preserve milk and food, thanks to the psychic energy generated by the four points of a compass.
The science was questionable to nonexistent, but that didn’t stop these devices finding their way into household fridges, and inspiring Pyramania on The Alan Parsons Project’s third album, 1978’s Pyramid.
Not that the band’s figurehead or his co-writer/manager Eric Woolfson believed the claims made in the book.
“But there was certainly something in the air,” says Parsons, the morning after playing Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on the Alan Parsons Live Project’s NeverEnding Tour. “We’d all sit around late at night, talking about life and the universe.”
Pyramid was recently reissued as a box set, containing multiple outtakes, Woolfson’s demos (known as ‘songwriting diaries’) and a Dolby Atmos mix. Pyramid continued the group’s yen for otherworldly themes, pioneered on their 1976 Edgar Allan Poe-inspired debut, Tales Of Mystery And Imagination, and the following year’s Isaac Asimov-themed Top 30 hit, I Robot. However, Pyramid also threw in some wry cynicism and spliced its art-rock with filmic instrumentals and the radiofriendly single, What Goes Up….
Work on the album commenced in summer 1977 at EMI’s Abbey Road studios, where Parsons had first been employed as a tape op, before helping to engineer The Beatles’
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JAKKO M JAKSZYK
King Crimson's vocalist and guitarist shares anecdotes from his revealing new autobiography, discusses his lost career as a footballer and reveals what he said when he met the former king of pop.
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Fourth Dimension
The stock of melodic Northumberland-based proggers Stuckfish has been rising since they formed six years ago. Their fourth studio album, Stuckfish IV, represents an important watershed in the band's musical evolution. Co-founders Adrian Fisher and Phil Stuckey tell Prog about the diverse influences that have helped to shape it.
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In the 70s, Barclay James Harvest almost bankrupted themselves by performing with an orchestra, but, several decades on, they’re celebrating last year’s performance with the Slaithwaite Philharmonic, captured on their latest live record, Philharmonic! The Orchestral Concert. John Lees reminisces over the band’s ambitious early years and bassist Craig Fletcher fills Prog in on JLBJH’s upcoming “progtastic” double album.
We've Not Been Expecting You
The unpredictable Frost* are back with Life In The Wires, a bold double concept album that revisits the mood of Milliontown. Bandleader Jem Godfrey tells Prog why he rolled out the solos on a record he describes as the most fun since their dazzling debut.
FAR HORIZONS AND PANORAMIC AMBITIONS
Dutch five-piece Lesoir have been steadily gathering momentum over the last 15 years, and they hope to build on that with their latest release, Push Back The Horizon. Vocalist/ instrumentalist Maartje Meessen and guitarist Ingo Dassen discuss the creation of their sixth album, working with Muse's production team, and their dream of bringing their intricate music to new audiences.
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Tony Banks reflects on his role as a 21st-century classical composer.
There Can Be Only One!
Never meet your heroes, or so the saying goes, but Opeth have had a blast working with Ian Anderson on their latest, The Last Will And Testament. Bandleader Mikael Åkerfeldt and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson discuss the band's proggiest album to date, the return of the growl and why blood isn't always thicker than water.
