A VALID PATH

This is the kind of album that makes me feel conservative. Progressive Rock is, of course, meant to be looking forward and searching for new ideas. But if this is progress, I prefer the more reliable Alan Parsons project I knew from the 1980s and to some degree, the 1990s. Not many of their albums were great, as in pure masterpieces, but many of them were very well worth listening to. "Gaudi", Stereotomy and Eye in the sky" all had examples of beautiful songwriting and some experimental ideas. But Alan Parsons goes ambient? I simply don't get it.

I kind of enjoy a song like "We play the game" which has a sort of haunting quality to it, but most of the material is based on repeating monotonous figures, like a constant loop with no way out and no way forward, It has been a while now since I felt like listening to it, because the sense of anger and disappointment I experienced the first times. There might be a chance I decide to give this one another fair chance of convincing me that Parsons chose a bold new, more than "valid" path. But I doubt it, seriously.