Released August 24th on Artemis Records in the USA or on Eagle Records in Europe, A Valid Path marks Alan Parsons' first record in five years. A leap into the world of computers and electronic music, A Valid Path is filled with polyrhythmic drumbeats and soaring guitar solos (provided in part by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour), and sees a number of fascinating new collaborations, including The Crystal Method, Shpongle, Jeremy Parsons, Uberzone, The Nortec Collective and PJ Olsson, who also now sings with the Alan Parsons Live Project. In time-honored Alan Parsons style, A Valid Path merges cultures, sensibilities, instrumentation, and artists in a unique but completely natural blend. Dance loops and heavily processed vocals fuse with stylish chord progressions. Experienced players with young guns. Acoustic instrumental lines with computer-generated algorithms.

The following are some of Alan's thoughts about the individual tracks. The quotes come from Issue 25 of The Avenue newsletter, and are just a small sampling of the in-depth article that appeared in that issue.

For further insights, there's more information at A Valid Path.com - a site dedicated to this album.

	RETURN TO TUNGUSKA
	Featuring Shpongle
	Special Guest Appearance by David Gilmour
Simon Posford of Shpongle	The track features a special guest appearance by David Gilmour. Originally Alan had sent David two tracks to consider, and says, "The other was 'L'Arc En Ciel', but he just had a preference for this one.” The performance we hear is actually the second take. Alan explains, "What happened is that I sent it to him and by his own admission he had a rushed attempt at it when his equipment wasn't behaving well. After hearing it, I called him and said, 'Yeah it's good, but what if you played in this kind of style, and you did a bit of chugging here and a bit of soloing there.' I sent out a bar chart, and what he sent back is exactly what you hear. It was perfect!”	MP3 Sample
	MORE LOST WITHOUT YOU
	Featuring P.J. Olsson
PJ Olsson	P.J. Olsson not only contributed to this track but others as well. Alan says, "P.J. really made the album come together. He grabbed the bull by the horns and we just worked together to get it done. He was a big part of it. P.J.'s a real whiz with computers, and he sped up the process enormously.” "More Lost Without You" was the first song from the album to be performed live, and was showcased months before the album release. Alan explains, "It was the obvious one to put into the live repertoire because so many people said it had single potential. I think we are waiting to see which tracks are popular with the radio stations in the long term.”	Lyrics MP3 Sample
	MAMMAGAMMA 04
	Featuring Jeremy Parsons
	In remaking old songs, how was this particular song selected? "It was Jeremy's choice. It may have been a favourite of his growing up and he wanted to have a shot at it. I blame him entirely! (laughs) 'The Raven' was also Jeremy's choice; he felt that would adapt well.”	MP3 Sample
	WE PLAY THE GAME
	Featuring The Crystal Method
The Crystal Method	"We Play The Game" marks the first time that an AP album has featured lyrics that were written solely by Alan Parsons himself. "I'd written entire lyrics in my long distant past, but not on one of my own records. I didn't even write lyrics for the blues band I was in years ago. I wrote pop songs in the late 60s, early 70s; they didn't go anywhere but they at least got recorded. Even then I got others to help with the lyrics."	Lyrics MP3 Sample
	TIJUANIAC
	Featuring The Nortec Collective
The Nortec Collective	On this track, Alan was more involved with the computer programming and says, "They work together using their own individual lap tops, so we had three or four computers going on that track. They worked on their computers and I worked on mine with PJ's help, and we interfaced them all together.”	MP3 Sample
	L'ARC EN CIEL
	Featuring Uberzone
Tim "Q" Wiles of Uberzone	The sixth track "L'Arc En Ciel" opens with rain sound effects, hearkening back to the sounds heard on "Tales of Mystery and Imagination". I asked if the rain is live or from a sound effects disc, and Alan explains, "It's a combination of both. The thunder was from a sound effects record, but all the rain sounds were generated here, partly by actually recording rain in the courtyard outside the studio. Some of it was just a shower dripping into a bath tub because in order to get some of those rhythmic effects we needed to get very isolated drops and one-off sounds that weren't clouded over by other sounds. We needed lots of individual drips and drops to make that rhythmic loop happen.	MP3 Sample
	A RECURRING DREAM WITHIN A DREAM
	Featuring Jeremy Parsons
	Almost everything on this track was recorded from scratch, with one obvious exception. Alan explains, "Orson Welles was the only thing; everything else was totally new. We had to go through a legal process to get Orson cleared from the original record label. We would have had to take it off if the clearance hadn't come through.” The stutter effect for Orson is reminiscent of the loops and effects Alan did many years ago, but Alan explains, "If we'd wanted to achieve this result back in the analogue days it would have been quite hard.”	Lyrics MP3 Sample
	YOU CAN RUN
	Featuring Deep E
David Pack	David Pack also adapted very well to this modern style, and Alan says, "That's one of David's strengths - he can fit into just about any style of music. You think of the wide range of things he's worked on and he's done everything including smooth jazz. We obviously processed his voice pretty heavily, but you can still tell that it's him.”	Lyrics MP3 Sample
	CHOMOLUNGMA
	Featuring Jeremy Parsons amd P.J. Olsson
	Special Guest Appearance by John Cleese
	The final track on the album is "Chomolungma" which is the Sherpa name for Mount Everest, and features Alan Parsons and P.J. doing Miyo Lungsangma chants. Alan adds, "Miyo Lungsangma means 'the mother goddess of mount Everest'. I have no idea if I pronounced it correctly. I hope it's not sacrilegious to Tibetan people; it would be awful if it was.” At the end, the voice of John Cleese can be heard. This piece wasn't recorded specifically for the album. "John was promoting the DVD releases of two of the Python movies. I think it was The Holy Grail and The Life of Brian. He was talking to a guy at XM Radio called Sonny Fox, and John just picked up on his name and called him 'Sonny' in a sarcastic voice. That particular clip is great because it sounds like he could be talking to me. It was a good way to wrap it up, almost like he was interrupting.”	MP3 Sample

DETAILED ALBUM CREDITS

Return To Tunguska - Featuring Shpongle instrumental (8:48)

Special Guest Appearance by David Gilmour

Written by Alan Parsons and Simon Posford

Logic Programming and Sequencing - Simon Posford

Guitar – David Gilmour

Processed Vocals - Michele Adamson

Additional Processed Vocals - Simon Posford, Alan Parsons, Lisa Parsons

Copyright 2003 Appertaining Music (SESAC), a division of Appertaining Inc. (administered by Soroka Music Ltd.)

Used by permission. All rights reserved

More Lost Without You - Featuring P.J. Olsson (3:20)

Written by Alan Parsons and P.J. Olsson

Nuendo Programming and Sequencing - P.J. Olsson

Lead Vocals - P.J. Olsson

Backing Vocals - Alan Parsons, P.J. Olsson

Copyright 2004 Cindy Lou My Dear (ASCAP), a division of Soroka Music Ltd.

Used by permission. All rights reserved

Mammagamma 04 - Featuring Jeremy Parsons instrumental (5:05)

Written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson

Nuendo Programming and Sequencing - Jeremy Parsons

Keyboards - Alan Parsons

Copyright 1981 Woolfsongs Ltd./Careers Music Inc. (BMI). All rights reserved

We Play The Game - Featuring The Crystal Method (5:35)

Music Written By Alan Parsons, Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland

Lyrics by Alan Parsons

Vocal - Alan Parsons

Digital Performer Programming and Sequencing by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland

Additional Programming - P.J. Olsson

Keyboards - Alan Parsons and Scott Kirkland

Guitars and Bass - Alan Parsons

Lead Guitar - Alastair Greene

Copyright 2003 Nine-Ten Music (BMI), a division of Soroka Music Ltd., EMI Virgin Music Inc./Harder faster Music (ASCAP), EMI Virgin Music Inc./Drug Money Music (BMI) Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tijuaniac – Featuring Nortec Collective instrumental (5:10)

Written by Alan Parsons, Pepe Mogt, Jorge Ruiz, Roberto A. Mendoza, Ramon Amezcua and Pedro G. Beas

Programming and Sequencing - Fussible, Bostich, Panoptica, Hiperboreal, P.J Olsson

Copyright 2003 Cindy Lou My Dear (ASCAP), a division of Soroka Music Ltd.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

L’Arc En Ciel - Featuring Uberzone instrumental (5:22)

Written by Alan Parsons and Tim Wiles

Nuendo Programming and Sequencing - Tim ‘Q’ Wiles

Keyboards - Alan Parsons

Guitar - Alastair Greene

Dedicated to Anson Grossfeld (1957-2004)

Copyright 2003 Nine-Ten Music (BMI), a division of Soroka Music Ltd. & Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Co. (BMI)/Gizmonik Publishing (BMI). Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A Recurring Dream Within A Dream - Featuring Jeremy Parsons (4:06)

A composite of two works - ‘A Dream Within A Dream’ and ‘The Raven’

Written by Eric Woolfson and Alan Parsons

Nuendo Programming and Sequencing – Jeremy Parsons

Vocals, Vocoder, Slide Guitars and Keyboards - Alan Parsons Narration - Orson Welles

Copyright 1976 Woolfsongs Ltd./Careers Music Inc. (BMI). All rights reserved.

You Can Run - Featuring Deep E (3:52)

Written by Alan Parsons and David Pack

Vocals, Keyboards and Guitar - David Pack

Keyboards - Alan Parsons

Nuendo Programming And Sequencing - Alan Parsons and Jeremy Parsons

Additional Programming - P.J. Olsson

Copyright 2003 Nine-Ten Music (BMI), a division of Soroka Music Ltd. Used by permission. All rights reserved

Chomolungma - Featuring Jeremy Parsons and P.J Olsson instrumental (7:07)

Special Guest Appearance by John Cleese

Written by Alan Parsons, Jeremy Parsons and P.J. Olsson

Nuendo Programming and Sequencing - Jeremy Parsons and P.J Olsson

Keyboards - Alan Parsons

Miyo Lungsangma Chants – Alan Parsons and PJ Olsson

Copyright 2003 Appertaining Music (SESAC), a division of Appertaining Inc. (administered by Soroka Music Ltd.) Used by permission. All rights reserved

Credits:

Produced By Alan Parsons

All tracks recorded and mixed at Tunnel Studios, Santa Barbara, California except Track 5 - also recorded at The Bomb Shelter, Glendale, California. Engineered by Alan Parsons and P.J. Olsson. Mixes engineered by P.J. Olsson.

Executive Producer – Todd Roberts

Management - Bob Ringe, Survival Management - survivalmgmt@msn.com

Cover design credits: Storm Thorgerson

Thanks to: Lisa, my beautiful wife for her love and support during the making of this album, Jeremy, my son for his talent and long and frequent travels from London to Santa Barbara, Tabitha and Brittni – thanks for the ring tone Brit, John Trickett, Richard Dashut, Todd Roberts and all at 5.1 Entertainment, Terry Shand, Lindsay Brown, Andrew McIntyre and all at Eagle Rock, Steve Martin at The Avenue Fan Club (www.theavenueonline.info), Kirk Keister, Bill Neighbors, Lee Abrams (Laser Beam) and Sonny Fox at XM Satellite Radio, DTS, B&W Loudspeakers, Event Electronics, Steinberg, Greg Ladanyi, Rob Hill, Tom Bolton, Steve Garth, Fred Maher, Brian McConnon, Julian Colbeck and Yamaha Corporation Of America, Godfrey Townsend, Steve Murphy, John Montagna, Manny Focarazzo, Chuck Beckler, Kevin Elson, Dave Stevens, Russell Palmer and Alec White, Les Camacho, Ted Keffalo and Event Electronics, Vic and Ryan, Isabel Figueroa and Harrow. A special mention to P.J. Olsson for his great musical and computer talents, his encouragement, and for helping me meet the deadline. Another special mention to Storm Thorgerson for coming through with another great cover under incredibly difficult personal circumstances.

Mastered for Stereo by Stephen Marcussen at Marcussen Mastering, Hollywood, California. DVDA Authoring and 5.1 Surround Mastering supervised by Bob Michaels.

A portion of the proceeds of this album is being donated to Transition House Family Homelessness Program and The Storm Thorgerson Rehabilitation Trust Fund.

Very special thanks to Bob Ringe for his vision and not swearing at me too often.

For tour dates and more information about Alan Parsons visit alanparsons.com

For live concert booking information please e-mail bill@paradiseartists.com

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