I saw a Facebook post on an Alan Parsons Project (APP) group wishing Andrew Powell Happy Birthday and remembered a lifetime of entertainment.
As an industrial design student in 1983/84 I was fascinated by the brand-new CD technology being launched at the time. Went to look at the first of the Sony & Philips players on display at a hifi store in the Auckland, NZ, CBD. They had a tiny range of imported CDs on sale to support the launch and one was 'Andrew Powell & the Philharmonia Orchestra Plays the Best of the APP".
I was already a fan of APP, aware of his orchestration (and composition) work with APP and many others, but had never heard of, never mind heard, the album. I purchased that CD, about 1.5 weeks student allowance!, and set it aside until I could afford a player. That happed early the next year when some of my first salary got the cheapest CD player then available on the NZ market: A Sony D50 portable.
Although long retired from regular use to mark his birthday I fired up that player, now itself 40 years old, and listened to the CD. I still hear it regularly, albeit from the phone, but it was wonderful to relive decades of enjoyment with the original hardware and media.