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Way back when, Magna Carta put out
a series of tribute albums to honor the music of ELP, Tull,
Yes, Genesis, Rush and Pink Floyd.. A bevy of musicians, some
from newer neo-prog bands and some luminaries of the Golden
age took part in these projects. One name that appeared on
every one of them was Robert Berry.***
For some unknown reason, his tracks
on each of these discs somehow turned out to be the highpoint
of each of them. If you've already heard these discs then
you know what I mean. He always seemed to get the best tunes
to cover, "Roundabout", "Minstrel In The Gallery ", "Watcher
Of The Skies", "KarnEvil 9", you get the idea, right?***
Just a little aside here, please?
The version of Genesis's "Watcher Of The Skies", probably
the best cut on this compilation, has Berry backed up by his
old band Hush. Just to put this in historical contest, I used
to go see Hush all the time at what we used to call "dance
concerts". That was when I was fourteen and I'm forty seven
now, so that was……..oh my God, never mind.***
This disc begins with a very different,
very interesting arrangement of Yes's "Roundabout" that takes
the tune into a half time feel and ends with none other than
Steve Howe playing the acoustic ending.***
Next comes Berry's take on Tull's
"Minstral In The Gallery", and believe it or not I also remember
this one from Hush. They used to open with this tune, albeit
not this arrangement. The opening slashing barre chords have
been rearranged for mandolin and the tune comes across nicely,
but with much less power than the original.***
Next comes Pink Floyd's "Brain
Damage" which is performed in its original form and sounds
like it could fit perfectly into Dark Side Of The Moon. The
following cut is my personal favorite, the awesome version
of Genesis's "Watcher Of The Skies" performed by Hush. There
are numerous variations from the original including a chunk
of the "Los Endos" main theme that comes just before the furious
ostinato ending. This cut alone is worth the price of this
disc and I find myself listening to this more often than the
original.***
Next comes a tune from Berry's solo
album Soundtrack For The Wheel Of Time. A bit later comes
another track from this solo work. Both of these tunes, "Winespring
Reel" and "A Theme For The Wheel Of Time" unfortunately sound
to me more like outtakes from the soundtrack to River Dance.
When I listen to either of these I can almost see Michael
Flatley dancing in my living room. I hate River Dance, but
maybe you love it, so don't go by my opinion.***
Well, back to the good stuff, Berry's
great adaptation of Ambrosia's "Life Beyond LA", which appears
nowhere else but on this new disc. I always thought when I
heard this long ago that with a bit more rocking arrangement
this would be a killer tune. It has one of the best hooks
ever written and Berry's take on this song is exactly what
I had longed for. This is indeed good stuff.***
Someone must have thought it would
be funny to juxtapose the light weight Ambrosia tune with
something enormously heavy, so the next tune is a bone crushing
version of ELP's "Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression". This features
a truly kick ass performance with Berry accompanied by Simon
Phillips on drums, Jordan Rudess on keys and Mark Wood on
violin, who pulls off some terrifying solo work. If you've
ever wanted to hear a slightly metalish version of this tune
with more frenetic keyboards than even Emerson himself did,
then this is the song you've been waiting for.***
A beautiful version of Rush's "Different
String" features Berry taking the vocal range down to a low
tenor which works very nicely. Most of the guitar soloing
is performed on nylon stringed acoustic guitar and this song
really sounds like it was meant to be heard like this.***
This collection ends with a cut
from The December People's album Sounds Like Christmas, which
is not a Berry tune at all, but an example of his productions
skills. Anyone notice that this tune ends with Howe's introduction
to "Roundabout"? Nice touch to an otherwise wasted effort.
Perhaps this is why none of the musicians on this track chose
to identify themselves.***
If you don't already have the collection
of Magna Carta tribute discs, this may prompt you to go out
and get them. And if you want only the best tracks from these
discs, you may as well just get Berry's Prime Cuts and save
a few bucks. This disc sports six or seven pretty good tunes
out of ten, so this will get a respectable four out of five.
Bravo Berry!***
RATING - 4/5***
©Thomas Karr April 16, 2006
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