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jeremyroberts Group: Members Posts: 139 Joined: June 2005 Posted: Oct. 17 2005, 19:56 Anyone has heard the latest Alan PArsons album called "a valid path"? Parsons and Oldfield have so many similarities... Working with different vocalists, recording instrumental tracks, and now making electronic music with strange vocal sounds. Chris Thompson, who sung for both, said that Oldfield and Parsons were working in a similar way. Now do you prefer A VALID PATH or LIGHT AND SHADE? Personaly I think I prefer A Valid Path. I prefer real vocals heavily processed to fake vocals with just a bit of reverb.   Back to top

Tati The Sentinel Group: Members Posts: 3360 Joined: Feb. 2002 Posted: Oct. 17 2005, 20:43 I like both,but Alan doing electronica stuff sounded a bit non natural to me and forced,although is very good the result on the new tracks(2 of them are new versions of ol' classics from the Project days).On Alan's case, he got into electronica since he found it a trendy way to get into after the disaster of Time Machine in terms of sales. He didn't have an experience like Mike,ya know. On A Valid Path you've got David Gilmour of Pink Floyd playing on Return to Tunguska and The Crystal Method on We Play the Game. Alan's intention was much like what Santana did in Supernatural and Shaman, to work with impressive artists to see if there's a boost on his carrer. Afaik, the result wasn't that good in terms of sales and fan reviews.Alan Parsons live is 3 songs from A Valid Path and all rest from the Project days. Both albums are very good to me,but to compare I'd say, A Valid Path x Shade. Who wins to me - Shade. -------------- "But it's always the outsider, the black sheep, that becomes the blockbuster." - Mike Oldfield, 2014 "I remember feeling that I'd been judged unfairly and that I was going to prove them wrong." - Peter Davison, 2011 Back to top

Marky Group: Members Posts: 390 Joined: Sep. 2005 Posted: Oct. 18 2005, 06:03 There is a mathemetics concept called a ven diagram. It is two (or more) overlapping circles. In my opinion, there is an overlap between Parsons (I have all his music) and Oldfield (ditto) and I like them both. But I don't think the overlap is all that great -only at the instrumental level, mainly. Alan Parsons worked with orchestras (not self conducted) to back up fairly conventional instrumentals that sounded great but did not push the boundaries. Some of these are excellent and I like the Valid Path ones very much. But on the whole, Oldfield is far more varied and innovative with his musical styles, even though at times Parsons and his project colleagues produced sublime music. My favourite of theirs was the half instrumental/half sung "Turn of a Friendly Card" which was sort of rock/folk. But Mike would not wear their ballads which are very melancholy and just not his style! But maybe Parsons should produce Oldfield for an album, after all, that is what AP started out as (Dark Side of the Moon...) and their styles are compatible, so it may make an interesting partnership that way, given that so many on this site are talking about a producer for Mike. Back to top

Piltdownboy on horseback 22 Group: Members Posts: 1548 Joined: Sep. 2005 Posted: Oct. 18 2005, 09:15 They are both genius! But Parsons does one thing that Mike does not: TOUR! (I've seen him a few months ago and it was brilliant! But I'm certainly a bigger Mike fan! Because Mike has more different styles and moods... -------------- "And now we're going to play Platinum!" Back to top

Tati The Sentinel Group: Members Posts: 3360 Joined: Feb. 2002 Posted: Oct. 18 2005, 11:20 But Alan started touring in 94,and never did one tour with the Project with Eric Woolfson. And,Alan just engineered DSOTM,not produced it. -------------- "But it's always the outsider, the black sheep, that becomes the blockbuster." - Mike Oldfield, 2014 "I remember feeling that I'd been judged unfairly and that I was going to prove them wrong." - Peter Davison, 2011 Back to top

Piltdownboy on horseback 22 Group: Members Posts: 1548 Joined: Sep. 2005 Posted: Oct. 18 2005, 11:28 Yes, about touring with Eric Woolfson: I heard that they had a kind of conflict or something. Eric was supposed to be going with Alan on this last tour, but that idea was cancelled at the last moment, I heard, because of new conflicts... difficult people, artists... When I saw him live, he looked huge and was wearing very strange clothes, and in his trousers were the kind of stains of which I don't want to know what kind of stains they were ... A valid path vs light/shade: draw! -------------- "And now we're going to play Platinum!" Back to top

Marky Group: Members Posts: 390 Joined: Sep. 2005 Posted: Oct. 18 2005, 13:05 Quote (Tati The Sentinel @ Oct. 18 2005, 16:20) And,Alan just engineered DSOTM,not produced it. Ooops! Thanks, yes, quite right. Back to top

jeremyroberts Group: Members Posts: 139 Joined: June 2005 Posted: Oct. 18 2005, 15:31 Quote (Tati The Sentinel @ Oct. 17 2005, 20:43) On Alan's case, he got into electronica since he found it a trendy way to get into after the disaster of Time Machine in terms of sales. He didn't have an experience like Mike,ya know. Alan Parsons had experience with technology. He even built the "projectron" which was a kind of self-made mellotron and he was the first artist to use a Vocoder on a rock song ("The Raven" recorded in 1975). And Mammagamma is pure electronic music (OK there is some guitar and strings over the top like icing on the cake! But I agree about the "trendy" thing. He wanted to reach a younger audience. I think he sadly failed. Back to top

jeremyroberts Group: Members Posts: 139 Joined: June 2005 Posted: Oct. 18 2005, 15:35 Quote (Marky @ Oct. 18 2005, 06:03) Alan Parsons worked with orchestras (not self conducted) to back up fairly conventional instrumentals that sounded great but did not push the boundaries. Exemple: the track "I Robot"... Pushing no boundaries? I don't know many artists who used cymbaloms and kanteles on rock music. "The Fall of the House Usher" is another great exemple, though I know many people don't like that piece of music so I won't argue Back to top

jeremyroberts Group: Members Posts: 139 Joined: June 2005 Posted: Oct. 18 2005, 15:39 Quote (Tati The Sentinel @ Oct. 18 2005, 11:20) And,Alan just engineered DSOTM,not produced it. Exact. He personally recorded all the clocks heard on "Time" separately in a clockshop (I don't know the right word). I think he was a very active engineer, but not the producer. Though he produced albums by Al Stewart, John Miles, The Hollies and Ambrosia, and some others. Back to top

Tati The Sentinel Group: Members Posts: 3360 Joined: Feb. 2002 Posted: Oct. 18 2005, 16:03 Wow,me back to the ol' days I was very much into Alan...saw him twice in 97 here,nice fella in person.Now he's got a total American version of the Live Project,now he's even singing live...strange is to see Alan in the center of the stage,behind the vocalist. Great electronica tracks from APP - Lucifer/Sirius/Mammagama/Pipeline,the 3 last ones,all based on Fairlight CMI -------------- "But it's always the outsider, the black sheep, that becomes the blockbuster." - Mike Oldfield, 2014 "I remember feeling that I'd been judged unfairly and that I was going to prove them wrong." - Peter Davison, 2011 Back to top

Marky Group: Members Posts: 390 Joined: Sep. 2005 Posted: Oct. 18 2005, 16:15 Despite the quality of his output, I don't think he pushed boundaries generally, Jeremy, even if he pushed a couple now and again. I feel Woolfson is the man more likely to bend the envelope, especially since the project has stopped. Back to top

jeremyroberts Group: Members Posts: 139 Joined: June 2005 Posted: Oct. 18 2005, 16:48 Quote (Tati The Sentinel @ Oct. 18 2005, 16:03) Great electronica tracks from APP - Lucifer/Sirius/Mammagama/Pipeline,the 3 last ones,all based on Fairlight CMI Ah the Fairlight!   Back to top

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