Music Review // Reid Parsons "Back to Back"

 

There are very few artists who can make a sound which is similar to that of Reid Parsons.  On this song, "Back to Back", Reid Parsons demonstrates that sound of smooth jazz.  The song is slower moving but just feels so cool, almost like something that would come from The Beats in a modern context.   The saxophone is there and this just can be somewhere between Amy Winehouse and Isabella Mendes.   But there is just something else about this song that doesn't happen very often.

Listening to "Back to Back", you can find a comfort in both the sound and the vocals.  It feels like this is both somehow brought out these elements of pop which can make this song feel accessible to everyone- not just those who love some smooth jazz- but in doing so that pop quality also hasn't taken anything away from the sound that makes it true form to jazz.  To go pop such as this, you'd expect the sound to be watered down, but Reid Parsons has found a way to make it not be that way.

I really enjoy this song lyrically as well because the chorus sings about them sleeping back to back and it not being a bad thing because "It means I got yours and you got me".   Sometimes in relationships there is just something that feels out of the ordinary but still works, and if it works for you as a couple you shouldn't really compare yourself to others.  I think about it in the sense of a married couple who, for whatever reason, might need to sleep in separate beds.  That might make them stronger than those sleeping in the same bed uncomfortably.

As you listen to this song, to admit that you like it is to admit that you like jazz and there is nothing wrong with that.  This is one of the finest songs I've heard musically and, again, I feel like it can really be enjoyed by anyone, whatever your musical tastes might be.   To also have that way of relating with and just thinking deeper about the lyrics can also make this the type of song you take very personally, and as such it can become one of your instant favorites.