ALAN PARSONS "The Secret"



ALAN PARSONS

"The Secret"

And now for something completely different, as a certain British comedy troupe might say...

Being a fossilized old geek, I've been into the harder side of rock music since the early 70's. That crystallized into heavy metal fanaticism in the 80's, but I look back with fondness on 70's rock music. That was a great age for pop of all kinds. One band that caught the imagination of many in that long ago era was the ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, with its combination of power pop, progressive rock and easy listening. The mysterious science fiction and horror overtones of APP were also very attractive to me. But to be honest, it has been decades since Mr. Parsons and his project have been a regular part of my listening.

In 2019, we finally have something new from Alan. "The Secret" revolves around his love of magic and is being released on the rapidly growing Frontiers label, which handles a wide variety of hard rock and melodic metal. Be warned now, "The Secret" cannot be be considered hard rock in any form. This is one of the mellowest releases on Frontiers ever, if not the mellowest. But does it have the magic that attract so many to ALAN PARSONS PROJECT all those years ago?

If you';re in the right mood, it does. First off, the PROJECT has been dropped...this is ALAN PARSONS by himself, collaborating with a diverse coterie of creators including Steve Hackett, Lou Gramm and Jason Mraz. Reading the PR bio, I was surprised to learn of how many great bands of the past Alan's been involved with; I had no idea he worked on the last two BEATLES albums!

There is a lot of cinematic and symphonic sounds here, along with what sounds like some Broadway jazz influence. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" very much sounds like a movie soundtrack and in fact it borrows some cues from the famous Mickey Mouse feature. "Requiem" features a ton of sax and other jazzy instruments. The range of sounds here is pretty great....from 70's soft rock ballads such as "Sometimes" sung by FOREIGNER's Lou Gramm to pure progressive rock ("One Note Symphony", the album highlight IMO) to the aforementioned soundtrack/jazzy tunes. Jason Mraz is a pop singer that I'd rather have a root canal without anesthetic than listen to, but he shows up on "Miracle" and while his vocals are saccharine in the extreme, the song is pure ALAN PARSONS pop that reaches back to the 70's.

This is certainly not an album for anybody who's taste runs to hard or abrasive music. It is, though, a great nostalgic trip back to a time when rock could be smooth and enjoyable as well as original. Listen to it in that spirit and you won't be disappointed.


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