There’s a lot of pithy comparisons I could make about the new CD
\nfrom Alan Parsons,
\nA Valid Path<\/i>. Comparisons to Yes’
\n90215<\/i> come to mind; both times an artist with a loyal,
\nopinionated fanbase radically changed their sound, and I suspect
\nmuch like Yes, Parsons is going to be raked over some metaphorical
\ncoals. This is not, in any way, shape, or form, the Alan Parsons
\nProject. This is something else — something that longtime fans
\nwill either find cool or execrable.<\/p>\n
I’m not going to keep you in suspense any longer; I’m going to
\ncome down on the side of cool. Different, but very very cool.<\/p>\n
First change; this is not progressive rock. This is electronica;<\/p>\n
A Valid Path<\/i> is mostly instrumentals, with only three vocal
\ntracks. Second change: there are parts of this album that are
\ndownright danceable. Funky, even. If
\nVulture Culture<\/i> is what Alan produced under pressure to be a
\nchart-topping artist,
\nA Valid Path<\/i> is what Alan produced when he wanted to just go
\nhave some fun. And it works. I think it works really well.<\/p>\n
The album’s guest appearance list reads like a who’s who of
\nmodern electronica. At various times, The Crystal Method, Shpongle,
\nNortec Collective, and many others make appearances. David Gilmour
\nshows up on the opening track, “Return To Tunguska,” to link back
\nto the days when Parsons produced Pink Floyd. Parsons’ son, Jeremy,
\nhelped write a track. John Cleese and Orson Welles even show up for
\na bit of vocal work. The production and engineering is without
\npeer, as always.<\/p>\n
The meat of the matter, though, are the songs. Out of nine
\ntracks on the CD, I can without reservation recommend eight, and
\nthat’s quite an average. “More Lost Without You” — which I already
\nknow is a somewhat controversial track among Parsons cognoscenti —
\nis a straight-ahead pop song with an electronica sheen on it. Two
\ntracks (“Mammagamma ’04” and “A Recurring Dream Within A Dream”)
\nare retakes on Project classics, and they both work very very well.
\nThe drum groove and haunting vocals on “We Play The Game” are some
\nof my favorite moments on the CD. My favorite, however, is the
\ntriumphant and tribal “Chomolungma,” the CD’s close, a powerful,
\npercussion-laden work of art. Only “Tijuaniac” does very little for
\nme, and that stems from a personal dislike of works that venture
\ntowards atonal or twelve-tone. (I do wonder if it will grow on me.
\nIt may.)<\/p>\n
\nA Valid Path<\/i> is, indeed, a different path for Parsons. But
\nit’s a path where his peers seem to respect him, he seems to be
\nhaving fun, and he produces some intriguing, groovy work. More
\npower to him; I hope there’s more forthcoming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5965],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-38067","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-alan-parsons","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38067"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}