The album was intended to be based on the I, Robot stories written by Asimov, and Eric Woolfson spoke with Asimov himself, who was enthusiastic about the idea. As the rights already had been granted to a TV/movie company, the album's title was altered slightly by removing the comma in "I,", and the theme and lyrics were made to be more generically about robots rather than to be specific to the Asimov universe. The cover inlay reads: "I Robot... The story of the rise of the machine and the decline of man, which paradoxically coincided with his discovery of the wheel... and a warning that his brief dominance of this planet will probably end, because man tried to create robot in his own image." The title of the final track, "Genesis Ch.1 v.32", follows this theme by implying a continuation to the story of Creation, since the first chapter of Genesis only has 31 verses.
Artwork
The album cover photo features Storm Thorgerson's assistants in the escalator tubes of the circular Terminal 1 building of the Charles de Gaulle Airport outside of Paris. Over this is superimposed a painting of a robot with a stylised atom for a brain. The robot also appears on the label of the record. The original vinyl release has a gatefold-style cover; the inside spread has the lyrics and a monochrome photograph of Parsons. The pose and angle of the photograph echoes that of the robot on the front cover.
Singles
Three singles were released from the album: "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You", "Don't Let it Show" and "Day After Day ". The LP track "Breakdown" went into heavy rotation on AOR stations and continues to be played on classic rock radio.
Reissues
I Robot has been reissued multiple times in various formats since its initial release on vinyl, including numerous audiophile releases. Besides the 8-track, vinyl and compact-cassette releases, Arista also released the original aluminum CD along with the rest of the Project albums, up to that time. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released the album on standard vinyl, UHQR vinyl, and on aluminium CD. Classic Records has released the album in analogue form on 180-gram vinyl, as well as digitally on HDAD. JVC released the album as a K2 edition, with Ammonia Avenue and Eye in the Sky. In 2007, as part of a larger campaign, Sony released a remastered version along with bonus tracks on CD. It was later released in Japan as an SHM-CD, with the same mastering. The album was re-released under Legacy Recordings as a "legacy edition" in 2013 on CD, with an extra disc with unreleased bonus tracks, mastered by Dave Donelly. There was also a vinyl edition with the same mastering launched one month later.
"Don't Let It Show" was covered by Pat Benatar for her In the Heat of the Night LP. Gail Godwin describes it as "much more sentimental than the usual Alan Parsons"., A Remixed Version Of The Song Was Also Used As The Theme For A Potential Revival Of The Hit Game Show 21 In 1982.
"Some Other Time" was also covered by Arjen Anthony Lucassen in his 2012 album Lost in the New Real.
"I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" is featured in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V on the fictional radio station "Los Santos Rock Radio". The song was also featured in Season 1, episode 9, of the Netflix series Mindhunter, it was played as an ending song for the episode, the song was extended so it could cover the whole credits roll.
"Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32" was featured in Season 1, episode 6, of the Prime Video series Homecoming.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, except where noted. ;2007 reissue bonus tracks
