The Alan Parsons Project: Next Steps

The Alan Parsons Project's music thrives on the tension between two opposing forces. On the one hand are their sleek, hypnotic grooves, like the slow-motion disco of “Breakdown”; at the other extreme are the expansive arrangements of prog-fueled epics like “Silence and I.” Sometimes, the two forces meet in a single song: “What Goes Up” seesaws between moody beats and wild flights of fancy.