Alan Parsons
A Valid Path

Sometimes it would take time to pull out a good old record, drop the needle, and appreciate the entirety of the composition, the atmosphere, and the emotions that come in the form of sounds and vibrations. In 2004 Alan Parsons didn’t do that. He should have done it with his own records just to refresh his memory. Perhaps by taking a look at the Billboard charts of the time in question. But when you have a grown-up son named Jeremy WHO MUST be the family’s heir, here comes a nice "A Valid Path" complete with design by the usual Storm Thorgerson, who was very ill at the time.

We are at pseudo-experimental pop. It was absolutely not the case. Among the co-authors are The Crystal Method and Uberzone. David Gilmour troubled himself in memory of the old, sigh...great times. Even the lovely wife Lisa between cooking and shopping. Well...but it's still Alan Parsons!!
Everything is produced in Santa Barbara in California where Alan resides. The most visible new entry is J.P. Olsson. A talented synth-programmer and vocalist from Michigan. I don’t feel like talking about all the infinite and dispersive captions of each track about the collaborations. It’s a mishmash of young electronic pop creatives who contributed their part. A collage of tracks and files that took over two years to complete.
Forget "The Time Machine" which was a valid product while maintaining the usual and never wrong standards. Now let's take a breath and talk about the music.

Track 1...instrumental. "Return to Tunguska". This is worth the album. Gilmour on slide adds a lot, perhaps more the name than the actual performance, but just knowing it’s him feels good. If you’re familiar with "One of These Days" it resembles it a lot. Indications on the basic rhythm. You hear with regret a '90s tunz tunz despite the research. However, there is a certain atmosphere and it’s digestible. We are in Parsons sound. "More Lost Without You" is played raw and wouldn’t be bad as a basic melody, but Microsoft did the arrangements. And here it is... "Mammagamma 04". Jeremy’s genius move. Takes a myth of the father and plays over it. BRAVO!! Grade 3 -. Horrible. Wasted time. Luckily "We Play the Game" comes along. It’s a good piece with themes like "Nothing Left To Lose". Pleasing although still too Windows 2000. Imagining it with Woolfson would be remarkable. Still, it’s well sung.
"Tijuaniac" by Nothing Collective. Enough. You’ll find the same stuff on Exciter by Depeche Mode in 2001. Instrumental. "L'Arc en Ciel" by Uberzone is perfect for a news program theme. It will have a future. Jeremy returns...where were you?...here I am dad. Can I do "The Raven"? Yes, but come to bed early. The masters are in the kitchen... and put them in the machine. Yes dad...’night.
David Pack after the good "Try Anything.." returns on "You Can Run". Unrecognizable. I don’t think he ever heard it. He was just passing by. They sound like the Rockets. Actually...worse.
Jeremyyyy, we still have 7 minutes free. Throw something together with J.P. Yes dad....shall we play with the keyboards? Yes...but turn everything off afterward, so mom doesn’t get mad. "Chomolungma" will give you the final blow.
Another note... the recording is rather dark and not very spatial as an ambience. Rarefied and unworthy atmosphere. Jeremy....hands off the mixer!! Right afterward, refresh your ears with Pyramyd. A chasm. Unfortunately.

The project is an evidently poorly developed idea like Peter Gabriel’s Real World. Alan is out of tune in this context, and hopefully, it’s an episode. The positive thing is that Alan is back on the road with a nice tour well-received worldwide with an extraordinary new band. Fortunately, Jeremy isn’t there. He was remixing "Eye in the Sky". Someone stop himmm!!!!!