Look, I didn\u2019t want to write this review. I wanted to keep my head in the sand and pretend. I wanted to just be an Alan Parsons fan and ignore the realities of the situation. But I do have something that resembles journalistic integrity, and when I see a lump of fake poo I have to call it a lump of fake poo.<\/p>\n
The new solo disc by Alan Parsons isn\u2019t quite<\/u> a lump of fake poo. But there are some definite hints of fabricated feces about it. With a couple of exceptions, it just doesn\u2019t work; there is very little about this CD reminiscent of the complex, intricate, and lush sounds of either the best of the Alan Parsons Project or Alan\u2019s best solo disc, Try Anything Once. <\/i>Sadly, The Secret<\/i> is that it just isn\u2019t very good.<\/p>\n
The Muses know that there are enough guest appearances on The Secret<\/i> to choke a liner writer. Steve Hackett of Genesis. Lou Gramm of Foriegner. Jason Mraz<\/i>, for the gods\u2019 sake. But the sum is not greater than \u2013 or even equal to \u2013 its parts. And the worst part is, I\u2019m not even sure why. The songwriting is weak, true. The lyrics to \u201cAs Lights Fall,\u201d Alan\u2019s musical summary of his career, limp badly in several places. What musical grandeur there is seems misplaced. Of all the possibilities for them to record together, why did Parsons and Hackett choose to do a version of Paul Dukas\u2019 \u201cSorcerer\u2019s Apprentice\u201d? Unless Mickey Mouse is involved, \u201cSorcerer\u201d is a second rate classical piece at best. The collaboration with Lou Gramm, \u201cSometimes\u201d sounds like a rejected theme to the Olympics, which is sad, because the orchestral backing is lovely.<\/p>\n
It seems to me that Parsons needed his musical partners in crime \u2013 the late Eric Woolfson, guitarist Ian Bairnson, drummer Stuart Elliot \u2013 to really shine as a songwriter. The production remains impeccable, of course. But the songs are what fail in the end, with a couple of notable exceptions.<\/p>\n
And the best of them \u2013 would you believe it? \u2013 is a breakup song. \u201cI Can\u2019t Get There From Here\u201d brought tears to my eyes the first time I heard it; indie rocker Jared Mahone\u2019s vocals are amazing, and the video (from the upcoming movie 5-25-77<\/i>, which the song appears in) is a heartbreaker as well. (Yes, I was going through a breakup at the time.) The duet with Jason Mraz, \u201cMiracle,\u201d \u201cThe Limelight Fades Away,\u201d and \u201cOne Note Symphony\u201d are all fine as well, but they\u2019re highlights of what is mostly dross.<\/p>\n
I wanted to like The Secret<\/i>. It\u2019s Parsons\u2019 first release in 15 years, I\u2019m a fan, it seemed perfect, but in the end, it wasn\u2019t. No magic spell can fix this, sadly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":33986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5965],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-45814","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-alan-parsons","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45814","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=45814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45814"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45814"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}