Robert Berry has been around in the music business for decades, and he has been
a part of band constellations numbering San Francisco Bay Area celebrities such
as Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer. The Dividing Line is his third solo album
which is categorized as “melodic rock”.
I’ve had the opportunity to listen to this album quite a few times before
writing this, and on the plus side I must say that it is flawlessly produced,
the musicians perform very well and it all sounds very nice. On the downside,
however, that’s my main grudge against The Dividing Line: It’s simply too damn
nice in every possible way. After about ten spins in my CD player nothing
really stands out. It’s pure Teflon – nothing sticks.
In other words, the entire album lacks edge and is incapable of keeping me
interested, and at times I almost feel that certain tracks would fare better as
entries in the Eurovision Song Contest (not a compliment in my book) than as
part of an album that is more “melody” than “rock”.
I believe this is primarily an album of
interest to fans of Robert Berry or the Bay Area scene, so I'll pass on this
one.
