Robert Berry - 3.2 : Third Impression
Fittingly 3 years on from the Keith Emerson contributed 3.2 : The Rules Have Changed, American singer and multi-instrumentalist Robert Berry’s thirty years on nod to AOR-prog supergroup 3 and their 1988 album To the Power of Three (featuring Berry, Emerson and Carl Palmer) comes the final instalment in the melodically progressive shape of 3.2 : Third Impression.
As if to sonically reinforce Robert Berry’s 3.2 credentials as a follow-on to where a reborn 3 may have headed if musical fate and circumstance of Keith Emerson’s tragic passing in 2016 hadn’t decreed otherwise, Third Impression (nice sub-title touch) is bookended by a pair of absolute stand-out, long-form progressive pieces.
The cool Celtic-folk intro to opener 'Top of the World' is more akin to Robert Berry in acoustic solo mode (he has many musical guises, does Mr Berry) but soon kicks in to an electrified version of same before becoming a full-blown, progtastic piece of work.
More importantly it also pays homage to 3 and Keith Emerson through the purposely Emerson-styled keyboard fills and flourishes, while also delivering some seriously weighty bass lines, crunching guitars and meaty drum work, all performed by Robert Berry, who is in full vocal cry on the powerful, Zeppelin-esque mid-section ("From the top of the world I feel destiny!")
Closing number 'Never' could only be at the end of the album, given it’s the last song Keith Emerson and Robert Berry worked on together; it’s also, therefore, one of Emerson’s last ever musical contributions.
Interestingly and fittingly, by preceding the nine minute finale with the album’s lead-off single, the heavy AOR prog-pomp of the very 3 sounding/ Keith Emerson influenced 'A Fond Farewell,' 'Never' becomes an even more powerful and poignant signing off statement.
The Keith Emerson in soundtrack mode opening of 'Never' sets the scene for a piece that flits from the rock-atmospheric to the full-blown prog of 3, resulting in another outstanding and explosive piece of prog-work (there are also some very Kansas moments and Steve Walsh vocal-isms here).
'Never' is nothing less than one of the finest offerings to come from the 3/ 3.2 sessions, offering melodic light, weightier shade and purposeful pace – the latter is to the fore on the instrumental passages featuring Robert Berry’s impressive guitar, keys, bass (the instrument that has served him well across so many albums, bands and projects) and drum work.
Between the monster sized bookends and 'A Fond Farewell' are seven other tracks each with their own merit. Second number 'What Side You’re On' is a short and sharp bombast decrying division (punk-prog in under three minutes? Believe it) while following track, the lengthier and rhythmic 'Black of Night,' shimmers with brighter passages and a quieter, piano-led reflective sequence.
It’s also a number that hearkens back to the original 3 or, perhaps more accurately, the sort of composition that would surely have been on a sequel.
The spikier 'Killer of Hope' features some great keyboard-synth flourishes before giving way to the acoustically introduced 'Missing Piece,' which slowly builds to become another impressive, rhythmically driven number.
Robert Berry also knows how to deliver a ballad or two; he does so here with two highly contrasting numbers that deliver very different musical atmospheres and relationship stories.
'Bond of Union' is a life’s too short number that reflects on loss, the sacrifices made and lessons both taught and learned ("the foundation that was laid beneath my feet, in everyday I see it now").
That it carries a piano-led, classically themed instrumental section only adds to the musical pathos of a beautiful and genuinely moving number.
Providing complete contrast is 'Emotional Trigger.'
A cool film noire meets after hours jazz club number, 'Emotional Trigger' eschews the almost mandatory saxophone wails of such songs for some slinky synth lines that sit atop jazz piano and drums.
'The Devil of Liverpool' is the most interesting of time-shifting songs on Third Impression.
Accompanying its highly rhythmic foundation and sea-shanty styled sing-a-long chorus are quieter, acoustic tale-telling passages and powerful hard rock sequences with guitars sparking in anger, a seriously grooving bass line and those distinct, Keith Emerson-esque keyboards.
The latter includes a frantic and fabulous organ run (nodding to the 70s Emerson) that forms part of the climatic finale.
Good things come by way of the Rule of Three.
The original short-lived 3 that promised so much but delivered only one album and one North American tour.
A proposed thirty years on reinvention of 3 that sadly never happened but did lead to 3.2 and Robert Berry’s excellent The Rules Have Changed.
And, now, an even stronger Third instalment from Robert Berry that does, indeed, make a powerful Emerson influenced Impression and leaves us with a fond farewell.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
As if to sonically reinforce Robert Berry’s 3.2 credentials as a follow-on to where a reborn 3 may have headed if musical fate and circumstance of Keith Emerson’s tragic passing in 2016 hadn’t decreed otherwise, Third Impression (nice sub-title touch) is bookended by a pair of absolute stand-out, long-form progressive pieces.
The cool Celtic-folk intro to opener 'Top of the World' is more akin to Robert Berry in acoustic solo mode (he has many musical guises, does Mr Berry) but soon kicks in to an electrified version of same before becoming a full-blown, progtastic piece of work.
More importantly it also pays homage to 3 and Keith Emerson through the purposely Emerson-styled keyboard fills and flourishes, while also delivering some seriously weighty bass lines, crunching guitars and meaty drum work, all performed by Robert Berry, who is in full vocal cry on the powerful, Zeppelin-esque mid-section ("From the top of the world I feel destiny!")
Closing number 'Never' could only be at the end of the album, given it’s the last song Keith Emerson and Robert Berry worked on together; it’s also, therefore, one of Emerson’s last ever musical contributions.
Interestingly and fittingly, by preceding the nine minute finale with the album’s lead-off single, the heavy AOR prog-pomp of the very 3 sounding/ Keith Emerson influenced 'A Fond Farewell,' 'Never' becomes an even more powerful and poignant signing off statement.
The Keith Emerson in soundtrack mode opening of 'Never' sets the scene for a piece that flits from the rock-atmospheric to the full-blown prog of 3, resulting in another outstanding and explosive piece of prog-work (there are also some very Kansas moments and Steve Walsh vocal-isms here).
'Never' is nothing less than one of the finest offerings to come from the 3/ 3.2 sessions, offering melodic light, weightier shade and purposeful pace – the latter is to the fore on the instrumental passages featuring Robert Berry’s impressive guitar, keys, bass (the instrument that has served him well across so many albums, bands and projects) and drum work.
Between the monster sized bookends and 'A Fond Farewell' are seven other tracks each with their own merit. Second number 'What Side You’re On' is a short and sharp bombast decrying division (punk-prog in under three minutes? Believe it) while following track, the lengthier and rhythmic 'Black of Night,' shimmers with brighter passages and a quieter, piano-led reflective sequence.
It’s also a number that hearkens back to the original 3 or, perhaps more accurately, the sort of composition that would surely have been on a sequel.
The spikier 'Killer of Hope' features some great keyboard-synth flourishes before giving way to the acoustically introduced 'Missing Piece,' which slowly builds to become another impressive, rhythmically driven number.
Robert Berry also knows how to deliver a ballad or two; he does so here with two highly contrasting numbers that deliver very different musical atmospheres and relationship stories.
'Bond of Union' is a life’s too short number that reflects on loss, the sacrifices made and lessons both taught and learned ("the foundation that was laid beneath my feet, in everyday I see it now").
That it carries a piano-led, classically themed instrumental section only adds to the musical pathos of a beautiful and genuinely moving number.
Providing complete contrast is 'Emotional Trigger.'
A cool film noire meets after hours jazz club number, 'Emotional Trigger' eschews the almost mandatory saxophone wails of such songs for some slinky synth lines that sit atop jazz piano and drums.
'The Devil of Liverpool' is the most interesting of time-shifting songs on Third Impression.
Accompanying its highly rhythmic foundation and sea-shanty styled sing-a-long chorus are quieter, acoustic tale-telling passages and powerful hard rock sequences with guitars sparking in anger, a seriously grooving bass line and those distinct, Keith Emerson-esque keyboards.
The latter includes a frantic and fabulous organ run (nodding to the 70s Emerson) that forms part of the climatic finale.
Good things come by way of the Rule of Three.
The original short-lived 3 that promised so much but delivered only one album and one North American tour.
A proposed thirty years on reinvention of 3 that sadly never happened but did lead to 3.2 and Robert Berry’s excellent The Rules Have Changed.
And, now, an even stronger Third instalment from Robert Berry that does, indeed, make a powerful Emerson influenced Impression and leaves us with a fond farewell.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ