3.2 - The Rules Have Changed
Frontiers Music
https://www.frontiers.shop/3.2/
http://www.robertberry.com/

Rating: B

Being a completest can sometimes be a dodgy business.  As a devout ELP fan I own some records I do not play often. In The Hot Seat, Manoevers, P.M., To The Power Of Three...are albums I feel compelled to own but avoid listening to at all costs.

Last year I shelled out money for that 2-disc 3 live release which I dutifully tracked through once before consigning it to the shelf for eternity (or at least until my wife calls Amoeba Records to come get everything after I finally keel over).

As I picked through the endless pages of Amazon's upcoming releases (featuring hundreds of artists I've never heard of) I stumbled upon 3.2 The Rules Have Changed. The features section explained that Robert Berry had finished off a follow up to the original 3 project (occasionally referred to as Emerson, Berry & Palmer) and artfully states that the album "features musical contributions by Keith Emerson."

I must have subconsciosly pre-ordered it because, lets face it, the only other upcoming release I found remotely interesting was an expanded and remastered edition of The Babys Anthology (I'll get around to reviewing that one soon). When I recieved notice of a delivery date I thought "Why did I order that?" and almost cancelled it. But then I thought I could at least get a review out of it. I could have a marvelous time savaging it.

The CD was waiting for me when I returned from vacation on the east coast Saturday night and I threw it on with earphones and figured I'd fall asleep to it. I ended up listening to the whole thing thinking, "Wow! Keith played a lot on this album!"

It's the album 3 should have made the first time around. It sounds like 3 but the music is completely unshackled from the desire to have a radio hit like 90125 Yes, Asia or GTR.  The songs are long and thematic with excellent arrangements and phenomenal keyboard solos.

It wasn't until the next morning when I cracked open the booklet that I discovered the entire album is performed by Robert Berry alone. Keith Emerson receives a co-writing credit on five of the eight songs and the arrangements on all songs are attributed to Keith Emerson and Robert Berry.

Although Emerson does not appear on the album, his spirit, style and musical elan permeates. Berry completely fooled me into thinking that it was Emerson playing the keyboards, though he tosses some his own flair into several of the astounding synthesizer solos he lays down.

I've always pigeonholed Robert Berry as one of those self-serious prog wannabes like Billy Sherwood, who managed to have a track or two on every tribute album Mike Varney ever released. He, like Sherwood, have attached themselves to aging proggers struggling to stay relevant.

I don't like much modern prog as I find it all sounding much the same and not very progressive. I continue to point out that all the fathers of prog sound nothing like each other. There is no mistaking Jethro Tull for Yes, or King Crimson for Genesis, or ELP for Pink Floyd, etc.

Robert Berry's work falls into that modern prog category for me, but this project is special as it comes from a place of celebrating his association with a true prog legend and somehow makes him live again, at least to my ears. This is an album that is going to stay in the player for a while.

Track Listing:
1) One By One
2) Powerful Man
3) The Rules Have Changed
4) Our Bond
5) What You're Dreamin' Now
6) Somebody's Watching
7) This Letter
8) Your Mark On The World

By Eric Sandberg