The Alan Parsons Project Album: “Valid Path [DualDisc]”

I have been a fan of Alan Parsons since I was 12. Pyramid was the first Album I had heard and of course started buying previous material and new as they came out. Just when I thought there was no more this showed up while surfing online and purchased the MP3 version. I really Love this album especially the remixes of a few of the classics. (keep in mind some people hate remixes period while I am always open minded to remixes) granted I don't agree with people giving a CD a bad review because they couldn't rip the music (silly try a firmware update on your burner)Anyways Alan Parson has always brought something new to each album with the purpose of not trying to be the same which is why he is a very creative artist. I have played this for some co workers (much younger than me) who became fans instantly and wanted to hear more. seems obvious this album was also intended to catch some new ears. I will be ordering the CD/DVD today since I was unaware of the 5.1 tracks. I would definitely recommend this album.

Because I am a long-time, dyed-in-the-wool APP fan, this is painful for me to write. I am SO disappointed. There was a day that The Alan Parsons Project released albums that had deep meaning, themes and emotional involvement .. interspersed with bits of mindless (but fun) sequenced bubblegum. (and yes, I understand the difference between APP and Alan Parsons)

This is ALL bubblegum. And my ear quickly gets tired of chewing it.

Oh, don't get me wrong ... as always, Alan's sheer GENIUS as an electronic recording artist is unequaled, and this album is no exception. But it lacks the soul of earlier albums (perhaps because of the loss of Eric Wolfson, but that's my opinion only).

If you want to "drink from the firehose" of techno-bubblegum music, this is your album and you should proudly enjoy it. If you are expecting the deep, emotional involvement of earlier Alan Parsons Project albums, you had better give this a pass.

I'm not sure of the technical details behind this recording (bitrates, sampling, etc.) but it sounds fantastic on my relatively modest home theatre system. I think its a must-have for any 5.1 music enthusiast.

This is a good Alan Parsons album,

its progressed with an electronic bent from his previous albums... much better than time machine which was half way electronic,

some people complain its not like his other albums.... (they need to stop buying any cd "New" then....

the 5.1 mix is one of the best of I have ever heard...... it finally gives my stereo system a work out.....

To say that A Valid Path is the worst collection of sound ever to issue forth from the mind of Alan Parsons doesn't begin to describe how dismally vapid a work this is. When you have as many truly great efforts as Parsons, "worst" would typically mean "disappointing". Try Anything Once was disappointing. A Valid Path should never have been released.

Who needs Mammagamma 04? The first one was fine. Especially when version 4.0 sounds like a teenager shoved the original into a cheap Mix Master program or some other software that amounts to a surround sound Cuisenart.

The rest of the CD/DVD is merely uninspired and uninspiring with the exception of "You Can Run" which is, sadly, not quite enough to make me shove a CD into a player but might end up in a playlist on my iPod.

One can't fault a perfectionist for constantly retooling his work or for whiling away the hours tinkering on tone generators with no discernable sense of purpose. We can only fault him for inflicting the results on a fan base that would buy something simply because his name is on it.

If it weren't for Dark Side of the Moon, I'd begin to suspect that without Eric Woolfson or Ian Bairnson, Alan Parsons is little more than a producer/engineer who can spot good talent.