JOHN PARR – The Mission (2012)
* fixed July 25
UK ’80s aorster JOHN PARR seems focused lately in the American market.
His new album “The Mission” is a tribute to the men and women in the Military, released in close conjunction with the Armed Forces related organizations.
As heard in the last year CD, Parr’s style and sound now is oriented to a more American sound combining rockers with ballads.
“The Mission” is genuine Parr. There’s no distortion or alteration in his signature songwriting, and his voice is as solid as in the eighties and nineties works.
Parr has created each song to tell a story and each story relates to the overall theme of the album, which is life centered around military service. Although on paper this looks boring, each track stands by its own.
This is a rock album, guitar fueled and energetic, sometimes acoustic and relaxed.
We have Americanized rockers such as the melodic opener “Big Bad Silverado”, the more edgy “Enlisted Man” or “Military Man”.
The acoustic tracks are cool, being “Fightin’ Girl”, the ballad “The Boy I Left Behind” and the beautiful “At The Cathedral” the best.
We have Classic Parr as well (the best songs in my opinion) in the AOR catchiness of “Come Out Fightin´”, the piano ballad “Soldiers Wife”, the awesome mid-tempo “A Few Good Men” and the emotional charged “Bound By The Thread Of The Flag”.
In the other hand, the training-like “Boots On The Ground” sounds silly to me, and the acoustical “M4 Practice” is pretty boring. But this is a 14-track album, just skip those and you have a solid twelve song CD.
“The Mission” is a fun and rocking album, strong for the most part.
Perhaps the ‘concept’ theme is not everyone’s cup of tea, but the songs work as a whole. And we have a good bunch of ‘classic Parr’ new tunes, and that’s worth the purchase.
Well recorded and produced, “The Mission” is released through John Parr’s own label, and it’s only available on physical CD via his website.
01 – Big Bad Silverado
02 – Enlisted Man
03 – The Boy I Left Behind
04 – Come Out Fightin’
05 – Soldiers Wife
06 – Boots On The Ground
07 – Military Man
08 – A Few Good Men
09 – Fightin’ Girl
10 – At The Cathedral
11 – Open Sky (Fly Boys Fly)
12 – M4 Practice
13 – Bound By The Thread Of The Flag
14 – Comin’ Home
BUY IT !
itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-mission/id540451273
www.johnparr.net/merchandising/merchandising.html
