Album Reviews – The Light Appears

The Alan Parsons Project – Best of Alan Parsons Project (2011)

Posted on July 23, 2026 by Michael

After working on some of the biggest albums in rock history (Abbey Road, Dark Side of the Moon), Alan Parsons teamed up with composer Eric Woolfson to form UK band The Alan Parsons Project. More successful in North America, the duo enjoyed several hits, peaking with top 10 hit “Eye In The Sky”. The soft rock classic about a relationship falling apart went to #1 in Canada. With a bit more oomph and a Phil Spector like wall of sound, “Don’t Answer Me” was another hit.

This 2011 compilation collects those two tracks plus 15 others. What the duo did well across this collection is mix soft rock with prog and the occasional disco beat on songs like “Games People Play”. “I Robot” is a funky celestial instrumental and the bright sound of “Lucifer” gets the speaker tweeters working. “Time” is a floaty, Pink Floyd number before the disc closes with the wistful “Old and Wise”. After giving the Essential Yacht Rock playlist a workout, Best of Alan Parsons Project is a solid listen for a deeper dive.

9/10

Album Reviews

Metric – Romanticize The Dive (2026)

Posted on July 16, 2026 by Michael

Romanticize The Dive is Metric’s 10^th studio album. The band is currently out on a massive tour with fellow Canadians Broken Social Scene and Stars. The album is filled with their signature twinkling indie rock. First single and brilliant opener “Victim Of Luck” sees singer Emily Haines counting down from five and declaring “it’s time to live my life like it’s never been done. “Time Is A Bomb” has a deeper sound and shiny chorus to boot. “Crush Forever” adds effects to the vocals over a bed of synths.

After a breather on the slower “Moral Compass”, the Torontonians pick up the pace again with James Shaw’s chiming guitar meshing with synths on “Loyal” before finishing on “Leave You On High”, which the band do. Metric have been around since the early 2000s and with this new album, they add several more tracks to their ever-growing list of sleek, danceable indie rock.

7.5/10

Album Reviews

Bob Dylan – Hard Rain (1976)

Posted on July 12, 2026 by Michael

Just two years after the live album, Before The Flood, Bob Dylan released Hard Rain in 1976. Recorded at two of The Rolling Thunder Review shows in May of that year, the Fort Collins and Fort Worth concerts, the album came out to mixed reviews at the time. Listening 50 years later, this is not greatest hits live album, but instead focuses on an assorted batch of songs to make for a good 50 minutes of music.

A rousing country version of “Maggie’s Farm” starts off the album that dips into various albums in the Dylan catalogue. The band eases into “Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again” that is a solid toe tapper, “Shelter From The Storm” has some great guitar playing and really gets things moving. Dylan’s single “I Threw It All Away” appears towards the end before a ten-minute version of Blood On The Tracks’ song “Idiot Wind” closes out the short live album. Those wanting more from this tour can seek out the two disc Bootleg Series Vol. Five or the whopping 14 discs of The Rolling Thunder Revue released in 2019.

7/10

Album Reviews

David Bowie – Never Let Me Down (1987)

Posted on June 28, 2026 by Michael

After the lukewarm response to his Tonight album, David Bowie kept busy in the mid 80s with film roles and music, Live Aid performance, the memorable “Dancing In The Streets” single with Mick Jagger, etc. When it finally came time to record an album, Bowie chose to work with producer David Richards who he had worked with on “Heroes” and bringing in Bob Clearmountain as engineer for the Never Let Me Down album.

The 80s sounding album starts with “Day-In-Day-Out” clocking in at well over five minutes – punctuated by horn stabs, a good bass groove and call and response vocals, it is a good start. “Time Will Crawl” is a generic yet decent danceable track, sounds like something that would have been played early in the night at the club. Singing in a higher register, the title track brings in a welcome R+B influence.Leaning into rock and roll, “Zeroes” brings in crowd noise with some guitar flexing, “Shining Star (Makin’ My Love)” explores love in the rough streets of drug addiction, includes a Mickey Rourke rap.

Comparing Bowie’s mid 80s sound with other bands of that era like INXS and The Cure, those other bands were producing hits by using the path that Bowie created of mixing rock and sound experimentation within a pop format. It’s a wonder that Bowie himself was not following his own lead instead of the middle of the road dance rock on Never Let Me Down. Having said that, the album does sound more cohesive than Tonight and with a few songs that are actually better than they should be.

6/10