This 'lost' album by The Alan Parsons Project has finally seen the light of day! The Sicilian Defence was recorded in 1979 during a turbulent period with their record label Arista in order to fulfill various contractual obligations.

"The Sicilian Defence was our attempt at quickly fulfilling our contractual obligation after I Robot, Pyramid and Eve had been delivered. The album was rejected by Arista, not surprisingly, and we then renegotiated our deal for the future and the next album, The Turn of a Friendly Card. The Sicilian Defence album was never released and never will be, if I have anything to do with it. I have not heard it since it was finished. I hope the tapes no longer exist." —Alan Parsons

The Project released their next official album in November of 1980 in the shape of 'The Turn Of A Friendly Card' which contained the US hit singles 'Games People Play' and 'Time'

Freudiana, was to be the 11th album by The Alan Parsons Project, but during its development, Eric Woolfson decided to turn the album into a rock opera. It was released as simply "Freudiana," and is known as the "unofficial" Alan Parsons Project album. Alan Parsons would continue in 1993 as a solo artist with the album Try Anything Once, which was musically in a direction more or less continued from that of 1987's Gaudi.

Eric Woolfson hit upon the idea of researching the life and works of Sigmund Freud with a view to their musical potential after he finished the tenth Alan Parsons Project album Gaudi. He retraced Freud's footsteps and explored his realms through his homes in London and Vienna (both now museums) as well as literary sources including Freud's classic cases whose real identities he concealed by use of names such as Wolfman, Ratman, Dora, Little Hans, and Schreber, the Judge. In addition, Freud's writings on his discovery of the 'unconscious', his well known theories such as the 'Oedipus Complex', the 'Ego' and the 'Id' and perhaps his best known masterpiece, 'The Interpretation of Dreams' all served as springboards for musical ideas. While recording the album, Brian Brolly entered the picture and he helped steer the album in a new direction. About halfway through the recording process, Eric was approached to develop the concept still further into a musical. With Brolly's help, Eric Woolfson was able to turn Freudiana into a stage musical. The musical had a successful run, and it was hoped that the show would open in other cities. Further plans were put on hold when a lawsuit broke out between Brolly and Woolfson, each fighting for control of the project. In the end, Brolly won, but the album remained attributed to Eric Woolfson.

This album was released in two versions: The "White Album" and the "Black Album". The white album was released in 1990 through EMI Records and is questionably still available. This album includes 18 tracks with lead vocal performances from Leo Sayer, The Flying Pickets, Kiki Dee, Marti Webb, Eric Stewart, Frankie Howerd, and Gary Howard, as well as Project regulars Chris Rainbow, John Miles, Graham Dye, and Woolfson. Alan Parsons wrote only one track, but he made musical contributions throughout the album as well as producing it, like he had with the Project albums. The "Black Album" features a double-length cast disc and is currently out of print. It contains material from the rock opera. The Black album was the first album credited to Eric Woolfson as a solo artist. Freudiana gave Eric a taste of musical theatre and he chose to continue in that end of the business.