Can the Alan Parsons fans of the SMDB please rank the Alan Parsons CDs in order of must have? I have his/their GHs Vols I & II, but I want some deeper cuts. I am just not sure which CD(s) to pick that will satisfy the craving for more Alan Parsons!
Bonus: Can you comment on your opinion of the lesser known songs of GH II? They don’t seem to make sense, like Ammonia Avenue. Perhaps in the context of a theme album they will make more sense?
I, Robot
Pyramid
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Eye in the Sky
Eve
Hmm, tricky. There are some that I love head-and-shoulders above the rest, but a lot of them end up in tied positions for me. So let’s see … for me, it would probably be something like:
Eye in the Sky
Turn of a Friendly Card
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Pyramid
Eve
I Robot
Gaudi
Ammonia Avenue
Stereotomy
Vulture Culture
This is just the “Project” albums. For Parson’s later non-Project albums, I like them pretty much in order of release, best (oldest) to worst (newest). Thus:
Try Anything Once
On Air
The Time Machine
Try Anything Once
I like all the Alan Parsons Project albums (the post-Project ones, not as much). Ammonia Avenue holds a place in my heart as the first one I bought, and the early ones seem to be missing something with no Woolfson vocals, but they’re all well worth having IMHO.
My AP library consists of;
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
I Robot
Eye in the Sky
The Turn of a Friendly Card
On Air
Time Machine
And
The Best of
The Definitive Collection
I like On Air and most of The Time Machine. Considering they were released in 1996 and 1999 when pretty much no one knew they were still making music, I found them both surprisingly good. I went to their concert here back in that time period and it was pretty fun sitting in the fourth row of seats with (strangely) the front two rows being left empty (so there was only one row of people in front of us). Both of these albums have some songs that I really enjoy in regular rotation in my iTunes. The Very Last Time got some heavy repeat play when I was mourning the loss of my best bud, 20 year old cat who died in 2006.
Thanks all for sharing your insight on why you rank them as you do. I’ll see what I get for the holidays! 
Addendum to my previous list:
It’s worth noting that *every *Parsons album, even the ones at the bottom of my rankings, has songs that I love.
As a huge prog rock fan, in illustrative order:
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Turn of a Friendly Card
I, Robot
After that, meh. ToMaI just does it for me (aside from The Fall of the House of Ussher, which I find just dull); brilliant but fairly faithful interpretations of the original material.
I love Alan Parsons. I’ve been a huge fan since the 70s. As far as I’m concerned there really isn’t a “bad” APP album (though his latest solo effort would probably be the closest I’d pick to one).
My order of favorites:
Turn of a Friendly Card
Ammonia Avenue
Pyramid
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Eye in the Sky
Vulture Culture
On Air
Gaudi
Try Anything Once
Stereotomy
Time Machine
Eve
I, Robot
That’s the APP and AP solo albums. These gradations are very fine, though, because I love them all. I also like the Live album.
If you want to branch out into some further stuff that isn’t strictly AP/APP but really is anyway, I suggest:
*Freudiana *- the English language recording is excellent and not nearly as hard to find as it was when I first got it in 1991. This is basically a Project album with a few show tunes tossed in. You can skip them if you don’t like them and you’ll still have a solid Project album. This one is technically Eric Woolfson solo, but it’s APP in everything but name. There’s also a German-language cast recording that’s good, but you definitely have to be a hardcore fan to want it.
*Poe *- A later Woolfson effort using some of the songs from Tales and some original stuff. Not as Project-y as some of the others, but has some excellent songs.
*Gambler *- Used to be extremely hard to find, but not sure if that’s still true. Another Woolfson stage show, this one based on Turn of a Friendly Card.
*Gaudi *- There are actually two recordings of this. I believe the Aachen one is better than the other one (which I can’t offhand remember where it was recorded, but somewhere in Germany). Yet another Woolfson show, based on the Gaudi album.
I was about to abbreviate that album / song title, but that may have made it too obvious.
[spoiler]From the foreword of the book Alcoholics Anonymous: “I earnestly advise every alcoholic to read this book through, and though perhaps he came to scoff, he may remain to pray.”
Overall, the album is about science having an impact on religion, and those of faith realizing they have no solid basis to prove their faith.
[/spoiler]
You really have to listen to it as an album, end to end. Listening to just one song may work out OK for how music is made today, but back then, the whole thing was like a book, deserving to be read cover to cover.
As for Ammonia Avenue as a title - he (Alan) was at a refinery and all of the streets were named for chemicals. Amid the likes of Gasoline Alley, Boron Drive and Propane Street was the alliterative Ammonia Avenue.