And finally, all good things...?
The Secret (2019)
Jesus Christ! At this point I had assumed Alan Parsons had either given up music, was dead or had in some other way vanished off the face of the Earth! FIFTEEN years since his last album, and here he is with his fifth, and it looks to be all change, and hopefully for the better. Gone are the electronic “guest artists” like Uberwotsit and The Crystal Thingy, and back comes the orchestra – well,
an orchestra; not the same one but still. Also returning is Ian Bairnson, though don't get too excited, as he's only playing guitar on two tracks and doesn't write anything here. Still, it's a far cry from the pretty miserable effort he put out in 2004, and hopefully a return to the form of albums like
On Air and
Try Anything Once.
Looks like only the one instrumental, too, and that a reworking of the 1897 classical composition,
The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas, which I must admit I don't know, unless it's the one that they use in
Fantasia? Oh it is. I know it then. An interesting choice certainly. I'm not familiar enough though with it to know if Alan does a good job with it, but as it gets going I do recognise it and here it's mostly driven on guitar and piano with of course plenty of orchestral accompaniment. Very bouncy and upbeat with some fine classical guitar passages from the great Steve Hackett, which is a nice link back to his progressive rock roots.
Seems Alan co-writes every track here (even arranging this one) but there are no solo compositions, and he again takes the mike for two tracks, but not the next one, on which vocal duties are passed to Jason Mraz, who does a good job on “Miracle”. This at least sounds like a Parsons solo song, with tripping guitar in a very restrained tone, quite a laid back song though not a ballad by any means. The solo is very AOR with saxophone added by Todd Cooper, and into a lush orchestration opening for “As Lights Fall”, one of the two tracks on which Alan takes the vocal, and sorry but again, for about the fifth time we're listening to an “Eye in the Sky” clone here. I guess he just can't get that song out of his mind, or the desire to make a similar hit won't leave him alone. It's a good song, and I really like it, it's just a pity it can't be listened to without hearing the big hit single.
There are a few oblique references to the possibility of this being his last album, not least in this song, where apart from the title some of the lyrics hint too, such as
”When the curtain falls I'll fade away” and
”This will be my curtain call.” Whether that would be a good thing or not I will reserve judgement until I've heard this album through; on the basis of the previous album I would have said yes, but we'll see. “One Note Symphony” is co-written by and sung by Todd Cooper, and has a powerful keyboard attack leading it in, very dramatic and another very APP-style song which puts me in mind of the
Pyramid era. It's very clever actually, as the same note is sung by Cooper (though the music is exempt; that would be very dull otherwise) and the juxtaposition works very well. The orchestra comes into its own here.
References back to “Apollo” and “Let's Talk About Me” come through here, and the “Parsons March” almost makes it into the song – just cut off as it begins to get going, but it's something. Then there's a voiceover and vocoder bit which I'm not really too happy about but the song itself is impressive and innovative. Again though, look at the titles coming up: “Requiem”. “Years of Glory.” “The Limelight Fades Away.” I really do think he's making a statement here. Next up at any rate is “Sometimes”, featuring the voice of Foreigner's Lou Gramm and reminding me rather strikingly of “Oh Life (There Must Be More)” off the solo debut. Is it a ballad? It certainly starts like one, and yes it is, with lush strings and orchestral arrangement backing Gramm, and again the reflective nature of the song strengthens my belief this is Alan Parsons' swan song.
This track is another very firmly in the Alan Parsons Project classic mould, with songs like “Shadow of a Lonely Man”and the aforementioned “Oh Life” coming to mind. Very powerful, very moving, and very much a step back in the right direction. “Soiree Fantastique” sees Alan join Todd Cooper on the vocals, and it seems like it's another ballad, with a bittersweet message:
“I'm the man who disappeared/ From his own life”. I wonder if that's how he feels now? Great duet between the two of them, another very moving song, with a lot of classic ELO in it. I love the accordion in the song, gives it that real French touch, and there's another nod back to “Shadow of a Lonely Man” when he sings
”Not the man I used to be”.
There's no room for Jeremy Parsons, his son, this time, or maybe he has just moved on to other things. Maybe he didn't want to be an attendee at his father's musical funeral? Maybe it's not that, but it's certainly giving me that impression. Mark Mikel takes the, um, mike next for the breezy “Fly to Me” which kind of reminds me of “Dreamscape” from
Try Anything Once”, though this is really not what I'd call a typical Parsons song. It's got a kind of late sixties vibe to it and I must admit I'm not that fond of it, but it's the first one I haven't liked, and compared to the last album that's a massive improvement.
“Requiem” sounds very Tom Jones-ish, with heavy piano and squealing sax and Todd Cooper back behind the microphone and giving it his all, and again there are dark hints –
The day that the magic dies” – as to this being the last Alan Parsons album. I find a certain sense of Chris Rea in this in parts too, and it certainly washes away the slightly unpleasant taste of “Fly to Me”. The finger-clicking is cool to the max, the bass is tight and the sax break is sweet. Sort of a mixture of jazz and big band, which surprisingly does not turn me off, and that's some achievement. Think maybe a more upbeat uptempo Lana del Rey too. Lots of heavy brass blasting out of this one, and it's a good one for Cooper's last turn on the album.
P.J. Olsson, who we last heard on the previous album, then returns for “Years of Glory”, another ballad with sumptuous orchestration and unsurprisingly more reflective lyrics with some beautiful vocal harmonies and another smooth sax solo. Perhaps to set the final seal on Alan's retirement, if that is what this is to be, Ian Bairnson adds an emotional guitar solo, this being one of only two tracks on which he performs, so I have to think it might be as a favour to his old mate.
”I can look back on years gone by” sings Olsson, in Parsons' words,
“I can look back, try to smile.”
I have no idea who Jordan Huffman is, but “The Limelight Fades Away” is his only vocal performance on the album, and it's a powerful testament to things passing, glories fading and of course it seems to refer back to the song from
Stereotomy, and by association again “Shadow of a Lonely Man.” We end then on “I Can't Get There From Here”, a piano ballad with again beautiful orchestration, vocals by Jared Mahone, whose name again means nothing to me and upon whom I have no information. Is it a final statement of intent, a last farewell, or am I just reading too much into this? I really don't know. Alan apparently went on tour in 2019 in support of the album: does that sound like someone bowing out? Maybe. Maybe not. On the strength of this I'd hope the latter.
One last superb solo from Bairnson before the end, and while I would have preferred to have had one of the more well-known Parsons vocalists handle this – maybe Colin Blunstone or Chris Rainbow or even Alan himself, this Mahone guy does a great job, and it's a lovely gentle little closer, which brings the curtain down on, finally, an album to rival if not equal his first two solo efforts, and quite possibly on a career spanning almost forty years.
TRACK LISTING
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Miracle
As Lights Fall
One Note Symphony
Sometimes
Soiree Fantastique
Fly to Me
Requiem
Years of Glory
The Limelight Fades Away
I Can't Get There From Here
If this is to be the end of Alan's career, then he couldn't have chosen a better way to bow out, with a superb, well-crafted and well-presented final album, full of excellent songs that recall the best of his days both with the Alan Parsons Project and solo, and wipe the memory of the godawful
A Valid Path away forever. With some luck, I'll be totally off the beam and it will either be mere coincidence or a clever trick on his part to try to fool people into thinking he's retiring, though at seventy-three years of age at time of writing, I wouldn't blame him if he did call it a day. If he does, he's left us with one last triumphant masterpiece that is a credit to the musical legacy he and Eric Woolfson created between them, and a fitting tribute to the man who was by his side creatively for over ten years.
If this is his swan song, then I'm truly glad he came out of retirement, as it were, to produce this opus, rather than leave us with the nasty taste of his previous album to remember him by. Not that we would of course – Alan will always be
Eye in the Sky, Pyramid, The Turn of a Friendly Card and albums like that – but it would have been a bitter taste to have had to say that well below-par album was his last creative endeavour. Now at least we have this, and hopefully there may be more, but if there isn't, then I wish him a happy retirement and a long remainder to his life.
To quote Benny and Bjorn, Alan (and Eric, wherever you are, brother up in Heaven) thank you for the music.
Rating: 9.7/10