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Alan Parsons – From the New World

Florian Buechting Media Review No Comments

Alan Parsons - From the New World

Alan Parsons - From the New World
4.4

Rating

 4.4/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Great songs
  • Very good arrangements and atmosphere

Flyctory.com Cons

  • The long list of guest musicians does not lead to a clear sound of the album

A legendary name of the music business is releasing his sixth solo album: Alan Parsons is back in the record stores with From the New World. The album release has been on 15th July 2022. I was really curious about the listen, here is my review.

 

Alan Parsons – About The Artist

Alan Parsons was born on 20th December 1948 in Willesden, London. He is nowadays an appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He made one of his first steps into the music industry as an assistant audio engineer at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. For example, Parsons has a Grammy Award nomination for being part of Pink Floyd’s album The Dark Side of the Moon.

Especially in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Alan Parsons was very successful with the Alan Parsons Project, which consisted of him and Eric Woolfson. Their songs were especially successful in the USA. The duo split up in 1990, Woolfson died in 2009. In 1993, Alan Parsons had his first solo album, Try Anything Once. His previous album release was The Secret in 2019. The album had a Top 20 rating in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.

 

Alan Parsons – From the New World – Track by Track

The eleven song album lasts 45 minutes.

1. Fare Thee Well

Even though Fare Thee Well “just” lasts 4:34 minutes: the opener already leads to that epic, melodic, dramatic Alan Parsons feeling. Within the first one or two minutes, the British already took me to another world. To the New World. Great listen.

2. The Secret

Another song, a very different style. The Secret definitely has the signature of an Alan Parsons Project song – the list of people who is supporting the musical legend on this album is just very long. Thus, this song feels as if another band would approach Alan Parsons music. Nonetless, the song individual and as a follow-up on Fare Thee Well is a nice experience.

3. Uroboros (feat. Tommy Shaw)

For the four minutes of Uruboros, Alan Parsons is spending time with Tommy Shaw, member of the band Styx. The song has a stronger rock heart than the two songs before, it almost has a North American signature. Fun fact: the press package gives shares for this authors of this song. While Doug Powell and Todd Cooper contributed 33.3% each, Alan Parsons himself got 33.4%. I am sure you can feel the 0.1%.

4. Don’t Fade Now

The fourth track of the album is very melodic, almost hymnic. The song creates a lot of atmosphere, I also love the contrast between rather gentle sounds and guitars howling during the 4:12 minute. Nice one, even though the song rather feels a bit hidden compared to other tracks.

5. Give ‘Em My Love (feat. James Durbin & Joe Bonamassa)

The fifth and seventh song of the album are more in focus of the listener. Alan Parsons is joining forces with the amazing blues rock start Joe Bonamassa. As this does not feel sufficient in regards of music superstars participating, each track has an additional guest musician. For Give ‘Em My Love, it is American Idol contestant (and fourth-placed) James Durbin. The song is increasing its energy, before it reaches its climax short before the ending. Nice listen.

6. Obstacles

Piano tunes at the very beginning of Obstacles, which comes in a very traditional and gentle style. This atmosphere turns the sixth track into a very special listen.

7. I Won’t Be Led Astray (feat. David Pack & Joe Bonamassa)

Alan Parsons meets Joe Bonamassa, the second. In order to create another music superstar threesome, David Pack (solo and Ambrosia) joined the two other big names in the studio. Very melodic and at most mid-tempo, with reverently, almost mousily played acoustic guitars. I especially love how Alan Parsons and his guest musicians guide the song towards thus chorus each and every time.

8. You Are The Light

Is there something like progressive folk rock? I guess this would describe the eighth song of From The New World best. At first listen, I did not get that much into You Are The Light – but the more often I listened to it, the more I felt that this is one of the gems of this release.

9. Halo

The core of Halo is the amazing bridge, which creates a beautiful instrumental atmosphere. In other parts of the song, Halo feels too close to other parts of the album to me, so that this one is not on the top of my favorites.

10. Goin’ Home

A very intense brass intro into Goin’ Home, which is a very intense listen. The song almost feels like a decent aria to me at the beginning. Impressive one, indeed.

11. Be My Baby

No need for quotas in the list of authors at the closing song: Be My Baby states Jeff Barry, ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector in the copyright information. Music fans know now: Alan Parsons is covering the legendary Ronettes track. Completely unexpected song selection, but the Englishman makes me smile during the last three minutes of his 2022 album.

 

Alan Parsons – From the New World – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

 

Alan Parsons – From the New World – My View

Here and there, the style of From the New World feels a bit of jumpy and moves too much between different styles in my point of view. Overall, though, Alan Parsons did a very good 2022 release. Fans will love it anyway. Nostalgic music listeners will join in. Can we explain the magic of Alan Parsons to the young generation? Just listen and enjoy!

 

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