"Inside Looking Out"

In the lines "A dreamer must be / Someone who has more determination than me" in "Inside Looking Out," "determination" is sung with a melisma (F# F# F# F# B B:  the "na" is sung with two syllables/notes - F# B), musically giving a sense of that "more."

"Standing on Higher Ground"

In "Standing on Higher Ground," in the second of each pair of "Way above it all"s, the "all" is sung with a melisma (G F), musically giving a sense of breadth.

"Too Late"

In "Too Late," one of the "late"s (at ~3:56) is sung with a melisma (A F#), musically giving a sense of degree (for "too").

"La Sagrada Familia"

I noted before that in "La Sagrada Familia," "tears" in the line "And for all those years our eyes and ears were filled with tears," is sung with a melisma (D C# B F#) for a sense of amount, but a couple months ago, I discovered that "filled" is also sung with a melisma (Bb A) for a similar effect.

"Tears" is also sung with a melisma in the stand-alone "Filled with tears," although it's the same pitch (F# F#).

"Step by Step"

In the lines "Risin' on the crest of a natural wave / That never seems to break my way" in "Step by Step," the "way" is sung with a melisma (D D C C, I think), so while "break" is negated, there is a musical sense of fragmentation.

"Children of the Moon"

In "Children of the Moon," the line "The seas were empty; there was hunger in the land" exhibits a sort of parallelism:  both clauses illustrate a lack.  Because "sea" and "land" are opposites, however, this lack is emphasized, and its widespread nature is demonstrated.

"Eye in the Sky"

I listened to Eye in the Sky yester-day because it was Eric Woolfson's birthday, and I noticed a few things.

In the line "That's how it goes" in the title track, "goes" is sung with a melisma (F# E D), musically giving something of a sense of (metaphorical) movement.

"Prime Time"

I figured out the chords for "Prime Time" this morning, and while playing along, I noticed a small feature in the lyrics.  In the line "Every move I make feels like a winner," the "every" is sung with three syllables, giving a sense of number.

"Light of the World"

In "Light of the World," "rise" in the line "I can fly so close to the sun that I can not see it rise" is sung with an ascending glissando (D to F), musically giving a sense of its meaning.

"In the Real World"

In the backing vocals near the end of "In the Real World," "hearts" in the line "Too many lonely hearts" is sung with a melisma (G F# D, I think, and only the first time), musically giving a sense of amount.

"Limelight"

In "Limelight," "all" in the line "I'm gonna show them all" is sung with a melisma (F Eb), musically giving a sense of breadth.  The last time (~4:20) is an octave higher than the first two (~1:55 and ~3:44).

"Stereotomy"

I still have a handful of notes from Stereotomy and Gaudi from the end of last year that I need to flesh out into posts, which I hope to do over the next month or so.

When I listened to Stereotomy back in December 2018, I noticed that in the title track, "forever" in the line "Stereotomy, we can make it forever" at ~3:04 is sung with a melisma (F Bb A G), musically giving a sense of duration.  When I listened to the album again last December, I noticed not only that this feature is repeated at ~4:45, but that it also appears in "Stereotomy Two" (at ~0:17), albeit with a slightly different articulation (F A Bb G).

"I Robot"

Recently, I was thinking about the synth phrase at the beginning of "I Robot."  I vaguely remembered a comment Alan Parsons had made about the perceived shift in its rhythm, and I eventually tracked this down again in the liner notes in the legacy edition of I Robot:

I played a 7-note sequence which was continuously 'looped' by the synth [the EMS Synthi-A].  I was fascinated by the fact that the sequence could be interpreted in different ways according to where, within the seven notes, the downbeat (or the first beat of a 4 beat bar) was placed.  Most people hear this sequence as having a certain rhythmic pattern when it first starts, but without anything on the sequence actually changing, the entire feel changes when the drums enter and establish a new downbeat.

I figured out how this works.  When the part fades in, the perceived rhythm is:

(This is two iterations of the sequence; I felt that having more than one would be a better illustration.)

Since there's nothing to indicate where the downbeat is and that C note is held the longest, it seems to occur on the first beat.  But actually, that C note is tied across the bar line.  The sequence is really: