The Time Machine (Alan Parsons Album)

The Time Machine (Alan Parsons Album)

The Time Machine is the third solo album produced and engineered by Alan Parsons following the split of The Alan Parsons Project. (The themes of time, time travel, and memory of the past had been suggested by Parsons as subject matter for the second Alan Parsons Project album, but writing partner Eric Woolfson favoured a purely futuristic theme of robotic beings eventually displacing the human race, which eventually resulted in the album I Robot.)

"Temporalia" features a narration by professor Frank Close on the idea of the universe itself acting as a sort of time machine, whilst "Press Rewind" ponders what we might do if we were able to reverse time, and change decisions we have made. The track "The Call Of The Wild" is notable for featuring the vocal talent of Máire Brennan from Clannad.

While the sound of this album is recognizably similar in style to Alan Parsons Project albums, it is noteworthy that none of the writing or performance credits in the sleeve notes (of the CD edition) go to Alan Parsons, except for one short and simple instrumental part on "Temporalia"; his relation to the album is almost exclusively as producer.

The track list here is from the North American release; on the Japanese release, the instrumental here called "The Time Machine," is named "H.G. Force" (a reference to H.G. Wells) and a bonus track titled "Beginnings" is also included.

The album cover references several popular time-travel icons, including a police box, a reference to the TARDIS in Doctor Who, as well as a wormhole-like tunnel effect from the opening sequence; a DeLorean DMC-12 sportscar is a nod to the Back to the Future series; and there is what appears to be a child playing with a model ship from the Star Trek franchise.