The Secret

This review is for the Super Deluxe Edition of the album; it does however include a review of the vinyl album which you can buy separately and also the deluxe combo cd/dvd album, again also available on its' own.Beginning from the outside and working our way in, the box is sturdily built and a little over 12" x 12" (to accommodate the vinyl lp version) and approx 1.75" high. The front features the embossed version of the cover image as per the illustration you can see on Amazon, whilst the front and back sides feature the artist name and album title, in the same typeface font as the front. The rear of the box reveals that it is in fact Alan himself on the front, whilst the left side illustrates the contents of the CD, the DVD and the LP respectively. There is then a separate section listing the bonus contents of the box that I'll get to shortly. On the right hand side is the contents listing for the also-included LiveSpan double-cd album. Barcodes and logos are relatively discreetly placed at the bottom of the rear panel, though still unwelcome on a product of this type.Opening the box, the first thing that greets us is a Fruit Of The Loom t-shirt, large size. The polybag it is sealed in features a Frontiers sticker on the reverse side (Alan's releasing partner for this album). The front of the shirt features the album cover illustration, with Alan's name above it, whilst below the title of the album is in reverse. On the back is Alan's name again, and beneath that the album title as per normal. The shirt feels well made, and I'll be wearing it this weekend. Below that is a startlingly large poster, 24" x 24" of a photographic portrait of Alan by Simon Lowery and next up is a copy of the lithograph of the album cover, suitable for framing. Note that there are only 2000 of these available all in (I got No. 1947)The we're onto the music itself from this box. Firstly is the vinyl edition of the album, which features the same artwork as on the cd/dvd edition, with a small difference being that the track titles on the vinyl are presented left and right at the top of the panel. for side A and side B, where the cd edition presents the all down the left hand side. The album has a gatefold sleeve, which when opened reveals a truly beautiful lyric and illustration layout that is identical to the 16 page booklet provided with the cd/dvd edition. The album is contained in the right side panel as per usual, in a standard white inner sleeve, whilst the centre of the 180gms slab has the same 'magic hands' illustration that also features on the cd and dvd.Below that, the cd/dvd sits in a recess towards the bottom of the box. It's a trifold affair, illustrated as previously mentioned. When you open the trifold, you find you have the cd on a plastic holder to your left, the dvd on the panel to your right (also on a plastic holder) and the centre panel houses the booklet as previously alluded to. A particularly nice feature of both the booklet and the album inner sleeve are the various quotes around the theme of magic that illustrate each song, including Arthur C Clarke, Albert Einstein and many more.Next in the box is the 2cd live set LiveSpan, previously released in 2014 and repackaged here slightly from that retail edition, which was a trifold where this is a gatefold. The trifold included a booklet; this one doesn't but that's not really a major issue - in terms of style of presentation, it's bang on trend as a cardboard sleeve. One slight issue I have with it is the reframing of the original sleeve image, which clearly shows Alan waving to his fans, because you can see his hand gestures. On this new version, his hand is cut off just above the wrist, so the first impression you get is of some fellow throwing a fascist salute. A bit unfortunate, this.Onto the music though, and perhaps not before time. Firstly, this has to be understood to be a strong AP solo album, by which I mean that there are a number of tracks that have immediately joined my 'best of AP solo' list, including the brilliantly clever and witty Sorcerer's Apprentice interpretation, One Note Symphony, Sometimes, Soiree Fantastique (my personal favourite from the album), Requiem and I Can't Get There From Here. I feel that Alan's got himself a good team here; there's a number of distinct ways in which Eric Woolfson is referenced, and I feel that partly that's down to Alan himself showing off what he learned from Eric, and that those new people in his team are all accomplished songwriters and musicians who happen to know and love the Project music too. I'd be keen to hear more; I feel that collaborations particularly with Todd Cooper and Tom Brooks really stand out, which is quite something when you consider the overall strengths of the tracks they don't work on. The album's publisher has recently promoted the album as being 'A return to Alan's symphonic rock roots with the Project', and honestly, and unusually, that's a fair assessment. I could go on here - Lou Gramm in fine fettle on a really lovely tune, the soundscape in One Note Symphony, the closer track's beautiful melody and much more.It's good this album, it really is. I hope it's popular enough that this team or an approximation of it get together again in the future.Oh by the way, in the world's smallest print on the cd/dvd version, note that the dvd offers 5.1 dts surround sound, high resolution stereo, and Dolby Digital stereo.

I noticed a previous comment that the album music by numbers and a pastiche of his previous albums, my I respectfully suggest if the gentleman or indeed lady has hearing difficulties they visit a reputable audiologist,this a quite simple a stunning album .

This is a classic AP record but without Woolfson. It has the songs, the orchestration and the feeling of “I robot”, and is worth a listen. He sings! Strange how an engineer on Dark Side of the Moon, began a musical career of its own. It was to recognise Woodson initially but the success of Pink Floyd overshadowed that. Abra cadabra , hope floats!

Really enjoyed this album. True Alan Parsons style and the vibes are amazing. 'As lights fall' is my favourite track, though I am not taking it seriously as meaning this is the last we will hear from the Great Man.

This a first class cd from Alan Parson full of quality.However I am annoyed that I have paid in excess of £17 for this single cd !It is available on Amazon as a CD/DVD for aprrox £14 and can be bought on the high steet for approx £10 . Problem I have is I cannot complain to Amazon. Be aware it can be bought cheaper.

To begin with, I like Alan Parsons work, I have quite a few of his CD's, so I am not having a go at his work. Normally Alan Parson Cd's sound BIG, wide open sound stage with lots of detail and instruments tucked in here and there, all with such an enjoyable reality and with feeling and soul. But this new CD, for me it has been recorded with either a phone or car stereo in mind, the sound stage is weak, everything is in a box in front of you, that spacious open sound normally in the music is missing, it all feels compressed, as if someone didn't bother to do a sound check first, just relied upon software limiters to prevent over emphasis. The soul of the music is missing, it feels enclosed, detail is missing but I bet it sounds fine on a phone or in the car. Just don't expect it to sound good on a good sound system and that disappoints me, CD's like Eve, IRobot and Edgar Alan Poe are fabulous to listen to but I find this boring, sorry!

Fabulous - played it as soon as it arrived and wasn't disappointed. Very much in the Alan Parsons style of old, great melodies and emotional lyrics. Made me quite emotional and brought it home how much I missed his music.

Excellent album that fits well with Alan Parsons back catalogue. I bought the vynil album and discovered that the spindle hole was too small and would not lay on the turntable, rather than mess around by sending it back I reamed the hole bigger and all is OK.