3.2 with Robert Berry Live at the Sellersville Theater, PA.

 

This show really made the start of my week. The music of a bunch of bands that Robert Berry had a part in, including 3 (Keith Emerson, Robert Berry & Carl Palmer) who put out 1 album back in 1986. I  even saw the tour for this show at the Chestnut Cabaret in Philadelphia. Recently, before the death of Keith Emerson, Robert Berry had been working with his friend Keith, on a new album. Unfortunately, we lost Keith & the project was on hold for a while. With the Emerson Estate’s blessing Robert continued the project, now called 3.2. All of the music was written by Keith Emerson, and played by Robert Berry. Now, Robert is on tour with 3.2, and man, was this show fantastic. Robert Berry on Bass & lead vocals, and his vocals sound better than ever. The musician’s playing with Robert were definatly top notch. On drums, Jimmy Keegan from Spock’s Beard, guitars, Paul Keller, & Andrew Colyer from Circuline, who really played some great keyboards & played Keith’s music just like Keith. The band was perfect. I saw 3 shows this week (this never happens), & this show was the best of the 3. The others were all good (See Steve Hackett & Deep Purple below), but this show just was awesome. After the show I wound up talking with both Robert Berry & Andrew Colyer & found that I had made new friends. After their show, Brand X came on stage & I’ll follow up with a review of that show as well, soon. I also made a new friend in that band as well. Thank you 3.2 for starting off my week with a bang, & I look forward to seeing your full show at a future time. They played songs from 3, Emerson Lake & Palmer, The December People & more. I want more 3.2. I rate this 5 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

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Jose’ Antonio Rodriguez ~Adios Muchachos

 

If you want to relax, this is the music for you. The guitar work is very good & the music is soothing. The only thing that I don’t like about this music, is there is bad hand claps & other percussive sounds that really don’t need to be there. Thumbs up on the guitar work, thumbs down on the percussion sounds. I would give this 3 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Deep Purple at the Tower Theater, Upper Darby PA. October 10, 2019.

All I can really say about this show is WOW! What a great show. I’ve never really thought to see Deep Purple, but, I’ve been meaning to for the past few tours. Unfortunately, other things took priority. This time, the stars were aligned to make this happen. Boy, am I glad that it did. Ian Gillan’s voice was spot on, while Roger Glover & Ian Paice were GREAT on the rhythm part of the show, in that great Deep Purple sound. While we lost Jon Lord very recently, Don Airey did a great job on the keys, including a really nice keyboard solo that played very well. Last, but not least Steve Morse who was really a great front man, even though he wasn’t really the front man. He is probably one of the most under rated guitar players out there. He is & last night, was amazing. He was very interactive with the crowd, which was great. He even had us singing along with his guitar solos. Very entertaining. The band really looked like they had a really good time. After seeing this show, I don’t understand what took the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame so long to put them into the club. It was very past due. Deep Purple opened up with “Highway Star” then went into “Pictures of Home”, “Bloodsucker”, “Demon’s Eye”, “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming”, then Steve Morse went into a guitar solo, then, “Uncommon Man”, after that Don Airey played a keyboard solo which went into “Lazy”. The songs kept flowing as they went into “Time For Bedlam”, “Perfect Strangers”, “Space Truckin'”, then “Smoke On The Water”. The band then left the stage & came back in less than 2 minutes with a cover of “Green Onions”, then a great long version of “Hush” with a bunch of improvisation. They finished the night with “Black Night”. They then left the stage. I was very glad that I was able to go to this show & would rate this 5 out of 5 Music Guru stars. Thank you Deep Purple for one of the best concerts that I’ve seen. An unknown band, by me anyway, opened up for Deep Purple. Their name was Joyous Wolf. While I have never heard of them, I enjoyed the music very much & the lead singer/front man was very entertaining. He went into the audience & was doing cartwheels on stage. The band did sound similar to the Black Crowes, with a bit of extra energy. A good show by them as well. I bought their CD while I was at the show & will post a review of this album as well.

Angel ~ Risen

 

This is really a great album. Original members Frank DeMino (Lead Vocals) & Punky Meadows (Guitars) are back again with a few new members Danny Farrow (Rhythm Guitar), Charlie Calv (Keyboards), Steve Ojane (Bass), & Billy Orrico (Drums), to bring back ANGEL. This album seems to sound very similar to the album “White Hot”, which to me, was their best album, with songs like “Don’t Leave Me Lonely”, “The Winter Song”, which was later slightly re-written to make a Christmas song out of it, & “Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore” which was the only Angel song which made it into the top 50. For this album, I pick “1975” as my first pick for a top single. The band is excellent with everything falling right into place. Frank’s voice is stellar, while a bit lower than it was back in the 1970’s. If you were a fan of Angel back in the 1970’s, you’ll love them now. If you haven’t really listened to Angel, start with this one. I rate this 5 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Sascha Paeth’s Master Of Ceremony ~ Signs Of Wings

 

Hard Rockers will love this album. It is hard core rock & roll with a woman who can sing & scream it out as well. The band is fun. The vocals fit right in. There is one thing that I don’t like. When the singer starts with the cookie monster singing, I can do without that. That happens during the first song & a few others. “Radar” is a really good song, where at times, Adrienne Cowan, the singer sounds like a pirate. “The Path” is a slow ballad, which is almost perfect. Complete with piano & violin & a voice perfect to sing this song. The album goes through a lot of hard rock songs then ends with “Signs Of Wings”, which starts off slow, then takes off. A perfect end to the album. I give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars. It may have gotten 5 out of 5, if not for the cookie monster tracks.

Tom Keifer ~ Rise

 

Man, can this man ROCK! The album starts off a bit weaker (the music, not the rhythm) than his last album, but, kicks right into overdrive. Good music, the vocals fit his sound, even if sometimes it is hard to hear what he is singing about. One of the main reasons I still love vinyl, is that they usually came with the lyrics written somewhere within the album. The slower songs, you can hear what he is saying. For example, “Waiting On The Demons”. A nice ballad that is about your inner demons & trying to beat your demons. This album is much harder & edgier than the previous album (The Way Life Goes) that I had heard. Tom certainly knows how to make his guitar talk. The title track is a really nice song. This shows off the vocals in a better light than some of the songs on the album, although, he did go through some vocal cord issues that he has worked on. Sometimes you can mistake Tom Keifer for AC/DC. He has that kind of voice on the harder songs. One of my favorite songs is “Taste For The Pain” which tells the story of how women treat a man badly & how after all that, he will rise up & still be good. Keep up the good work Tom, I look forward to hearing more.  For those of you, who don’t know, Tom Keifer started a band that you may remember, called CINDERELLA. I give this album 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

From Another Mother ~ Atatoa

 

This progressive alternative band is a bit different than other bands. The thing about them is that they seem to not quite sound like anybody else. That is a good thing in today’s music realm. You may or may not like them, but, as always, that is always up to a person’s taste. They start off this album with a weird beginning that winds up turning into a pretty good song titled “May”. The album is a mixture of Psychedelic music mixed with alternative and some progressive music. All the songs are short but you may be able to groove along with this. The music is pretty good. The vocals are sometimes good, sometimes could be better. Best songs are “Walnut”, “Song No. 9”, “Slightly Wrong”, and “Keep Your Head”, which could be a single. I give this 3.5 out of 5 Music Guru stars.