ROBERT BÉRIAU

I'm generally not fond of these solo projects, where the sole composer/musician does everything himself, including recording/mixing and artwork (here, an amateur computer photo-montage) to go along. And when I first re-set my eyes on the present, I was thinking of the Ere G Québecois fellow, whose sole album was quite disappointing, despite many glowing reviews. It turns out that many of the flaws found in these solo projects are still present here, but it's less apparent that they are flaws. Indeed, when doing an album from A to Z (except for D and V which are occasional drumming and backing vocals), one single person cannot get much input or corrections from the other participants, since there aren't any. But Beriau gets away from this danger with much talent and a solid dose of talent, because outside his obvious influences and an over-ambitious concept (partly about violence against women to which he contributes), by the third track, I'm sucked into his world, which is fairly rare with these prog concept albums of the last two decades. One of my main concerns is the lyrics, translated (sometimes approximately) from French, but sung fairly convincingly in English.

You're not immediately snatched away from your seat after push the play button. Indeed, it does take the first track, which happens to be the harder rocking piece of the album, and the intro is actually somewhat of a mild repellent with the gothic ambiances and vocals, followed by almost metallic crunchy chords, but by the end of Agoraphobia, your first fears should've disappeared. With the second Terrorism track, the slow slide comes with the Hammill-ian vocals and slow melodies, and by the time the almost 10-mins Blind Heart starts, you're under the spell, despite some weak symphonic synth sounds, but as soon as Beriau's slow but sensual lead guitar soaring over his acoustic guitar arpeggios hits your eardrums, you're hooked. Once the mellotrons enters, you're pulled in an early Genesis or Harmonium spell and all hopes of escaping are useless. With the amazing 6-mins+ Last Call For A change, Robert's Dionne-Brégent influences (debut album mostly) are just tearing your sanity apart, first with the use of keys, ten strings and with an outstanding flute. The Graaf/Hammill-ian soundscapes and dramatics return with The Sinking Ship, and the spell cast is now turning into an addiction. Next is what Beriau call the B-side, which opens on the instrumental Selfcontempt (sic) with heavy-phased-echoing synth then a haunting piano that veers to the "Dantesque" until a church organ (not sure it's the real thing) brings a Froesian guitar solo, before a Graaf- esque ending wraps it up. A heavy bass is announcing a Time Fracture, and you'd swear that PH is at the helm and behind the console. That very same bass (this time, a bit Floydian ala Sheep) comes back for the instrumental Thoughts Are Not Enough, which is another superb instrumental piece. Another slow piece, where Robert's vocals gets a feminine intro and outro, courtesy of a certain Catherine, but Homeless ends in near- suicidal ambiance. The crunchy guitars come back for the closing Next Generation, where the Dionne-Brégent keyboards come back, but the almost 11-mins track recaps most ogf the album's important musical passages.

A big surprise really, given that I wasn't expecting much when I had first opened the cardboard envelope fallen in my postal mailbox. Of course, I'm generally not very appreciative of works that show way too openly their influences on their sleeves, but for some reasons, Beriau's album makes the exception that confirms the rule. It's now been three months since this album has been spinning regularly, and this is about three times the time-lapse that I devote to most post-70's works, so this in itself is already quite an achievement. No doubt I'll investigate his other (previous) works, once given the chance.

Too many studies result in an rather unfocused release and a weird presentation of Beriau's musical background.At moments this all instrumental effort sounds more like an academic release than an album headed to Prog/Rock fans or any other average listener enjoying good quality music.His music relies heavily on Electronic soundscapes, grand piano performances close to Classical/Avant-Garde, Orchestral Rock and synth-based Ambient Music with plenty of sound effects.''Falling Back To Where I Began'' is a rather calm work but with a deep atmospheric background, split between smooth cosmic pieces of music and a few explosions with guitar in evidence, close to a spacey PINK FLOYD approach.The man is definitely skilled but the whole material is far from memorable at the end, maybe a bit hypnotic, failing to either impress the listener or stuck him with his headphones on.

Another mediocre one-man project, where the good skills do not translate eventually into some really good music.Approach with caution, this ones comes only recommended for those searching some good background music stuff with a cinematic film-score edge...2.5 stars.

The reason may be that this is not exactly easy listening, this album. It is nominally a symphonic prog album. But it has a lot more to it than symphonic prog. The thing that strikes me first is the crossover between jazz and metal on this album. That hybrid is then crossbred with symphonic prog aka Anthony Phillips again. Then you have the Peter Hamill like vocals and other references to Van Der Graaf Generator. Easy listening, it is not.

The music is good throughout without really capturing my attention. This album has a lot of nice passages, but not enough to really elevates it to a great album. But it still has a lot to offer so please check it out if anything of what I listed in the paragraph above is your cup, make that a mug, of tea. Thanx again to Robert Beriau for sharing his music with us.

3 stars

"Agoraphobia" is the most rocking song. I like the bass sound at the start; don't know if that's a bass guitar or a synth, but I like it. The riffs here are pretty good. Nice echoed vocal effect at one point. Gets more mellow in the middle with a guitar solo. "Terrorism: A Two Actors Play" has some interesting keyboard work. "Blind Heart" has a nice mix of guitars and keyboards. I like the almost metal guitar playing done on phased guitar. Later some good acoustic guitar playing and symphonic synths before an electric guitar solo. After some cool phased synths and the acoustic guitar playing gets more interesting. Then a short synth solo followed by some piano. Great instrumental.

"Last Call For A Change" reminds me of Soft Machine at the start; nice electric piano sound. "Self Contempt Behaviour Or Social Poverty" and "Time Fracture" begin with the exact same bass line. "Time" is "Self" all over again but now with atmospheric synths. Has the same lyrics as "Self" with some addition lyrics I think. Both songs have a nice cello sound at one point. "Hoping On The Next Generation" has what sounds like two overdubbed basses passing notes back and forth. Next to the first song, this is the only other one where the drums are important. Love the organ over halfway with the martial drumming. Nice string-synths later on.

I like this the more I hear it. There are some cool guitar tones here using chorus and phaser. The bass playing is generally enjoyable. Some overdubbed vocal effects in places. The drums I find to be mixed too low, but maybe that was on purpose. This is a good album but I think there is an audience out there that would enjoy this more than me. To me, this album is good but not essential. 3 stars.

This album, unlike his second release, "Selfishness: Source of War and Violence", is completely instrumental. And on this one, Beriau plays all of the instruments himself. The music is a blend of electronic, light symphonic, and even some psychedelic rock. The best comparison I can make is that it sounds like a blend of Rick Wright of Pink Floyd, with some of Brian Eno's sonic inventiveness, and a bit of Tangerine Dream mixed in. If that sounds compelling to you, come on in.

While Beriau does not show off on any of his instruments, his feel for what sounds, tones and riffs will tastefully fin into his music is nearly perfect. Each song, without straying too far from it's original theme, manages to remain interesting all the way through.

My only (minor) complaint is that on the long piece, The Cycle Of Love, the different sections don't flow naturally from one to another. It sounds like different ideas randomly spliced together. But that doesn't make it a bad song, either.

My first listen of the album came as I was driving down dark New England roads in the middle of the night. The eeriness and mystery of the songs was perfect for the setting.

Vocally, Beriau has an unnerving skill, but his timbre is hardly unique. And the extensive vocal treatments used on this record actually make it rather difficult to hear the lyrics. The occasional sentence comes through, and it's usually phrases like "[%*!#]ing politician" or "rising sea levels"; issues which, in my opinion, are already dull and depressing (if not clichéd in the music world). But nevertheless, I looked forward to the prog itself, having read about Beriau's skills on multiple instruments. I was somewhat disappointed in this area too though.

It is prominently modern-sounding keyboard 'scapes with drenchy guitar melodies, but neither are played to an impressive standard. And I can hear you saying "It doesn't matter how impressive it is if it has emotion and power!"- this is true, but emotion and power are also lacking here. Maybe that's being harsh; there may be a maximum of ONE emotion present, but this emotion is the frustration or bitterness that you would expect from reading the album's title, and it grows boring after the first 3 or 4 songs. It's the same problem Waters' had after he abandonded the rest of his band; single-minded albums with mediocre players and little dynamic or harmonic variation. Sometimes saxes, flutes, and other exotic keyboards threaten to join in the mix, but they stay for a mere phrase or two and leave again. There are tinklings of percussion and and effects which are also used sparingly, a shame.

This album also has a huge range in it's production quality. Some songs are way over-produced, drenched in over-the-top effects and literal decoration, while others sound almost like a rehearsal, especially in the drum department (I can't tell if it's an incredibly complex time-signature, or if the drummer is simply out of time). Both extremes diminish the quality of the songwriting, which isn't all that bad. It just suffers from lashings of melodic cliché and a far too overbearing concept. And the murky, deep sound does represent the concept well, but that doesn't make it automatically good; I would prefer some variation on such a long symphonic prog album.

To conclude, this is a mediocre prize from Prog Archives (much appreciated nonetheless) with rather predictable content. It suffers from the Oldfield syndrome, as mentioned by Snobb, and is mostly lifeless. But there are moments to enjoy for someone I'm sure. Owners of Beriau's previous album will probably have more luck.

From very first sounds I was intrigued by melodic, a bit dark, slightly melancholic atmosphere. Guitar lines, keyboard lines. I could say I like this music, but very soon (after few songs) I just realised I need some more spices in this music. Mid tempo music with similar angular constructions, some interesting sounds quite soon became too much ... repetitive. Not enough drama, nothing happens.

Then I just made a pause, and after some time started to listen album from the place I stopped. Absolutely same feeling. Few first songs sounds quite attractive, than you feel as you're watching the same movie once again.

Possibly, this problem is common for many multi instrumentalists' works. First of all it's extremely difficult to play many instruments at the same high level. But even bigger problem is that in fact very important (if not most important) instrument become studio itself. Using endless overlays, it's so easy to kill all dynamics of previously live music.

We are learned it still from Mike Oldfield's sound many-layers production company. Not too many things changed from that time. Earlier this year great guitarist Pat Metheny tried to solve this problem recorded his real solo album "Orchestrion", when he played all instruments himself, but used Robotics and mechanical devices to have possibility to play as much instruments at the same time as possible. He even had a world tour, demonstrating this techniques live during concerts. For sure, it is much easier way to do it, using computers, but then you will miss this live sound again. So, Pat Metheny partially solved this problem, his album sounds if not very special, but not frozen and lifeless. But it's a rare example.

So, there on Selfishness... unhappily this problem exists in its full. Having it's great moments, album in all sounds very static, lifeless, sometimes repetitive.

Possibly, it's difficult to suggest something new there: I believe same material, played with a band of competent musicians, could sound much better. But - even there enthusiastic fan of symphonic prog will find many pleasant moments to listen.

As every multi-instrumentalist, I admire this. Something that not everyone can do. But in case of one project (one man) I've heard few months ago, it can result in something not so good (in this case it was using of electronic drummer, something that I can't stand a lot - fortunately, most of drums here are real people drumming and if electronic is present here [important word - if], then it's rare and not so clear - possible in The Rats Leave the Sinking Ship). Overall feeling about this album is great. I like the sound of 70s here (even it's 2008 release), great nostalgia. I had little problem with vocals, but just from beginning, then I somehow get used to them and now I like singing style quite a lot. Really not singer in classical way, but more like Peter Hammill style - give it some time and you'll be rewarded with unique performance. Very emotional, which brings another dimension to this music. And nope, for me, power metal singers are not emotional, they just shout as much as possible.

So presuming that Robert Beriau's style can be similar to Peter Hammill's one, I can't hold back though that this album is then actually better than "Fool's Mate". What a treasure I won. Maybe bold though, maybe just daring, maybe simply foolish (what a ironic pun to "Fool's Mate"), but for sure, there's some truth in it.

Another great advantage of Selfishness (by the way interesting title, promising concept album, which may be here, but I didn't notice it. I'm not good at these things) is that it's eclectic a lot. Incorporating many different styles, elements and parts (we have a saying from one fairy tale, how doggy and kitty were making big cake made from many different ingredients, but it's fortunately not this case) and it works. Mostly. This would be maybe most prominent flaw of this album, some of them just doesn't fit me. But yeah, that can be just me and my taste. Anyway, most of them makes me feel good (or in other words, I like them), so that's nothing bad. The problem i that I don't find any problem.

as I'll make another bold move with being second rater (and first reviewer) to give this stars. I wanted to be neutral (even the fact that I get this for cheap helped me obtaining it a lot) and rate fairly, but the result looks like this. Masterpiece. Emotional depths without needless emotions (attacking my senses with brutal onslaught, or cheap copying of melodies, nope, none of this is here).

It's not optimistic, shiny happy people album, it's quite dark. But done in good dark light.

EDIT: one half a star lower rating. For now, I wasn't decided whether 4 better, or 5 worse, so I'm now. Mostly because of first two tracks, they're quite ambient and long, filled with just a few things. But 4(+) because other tracks counter-weight this.

The first thing that comes to mind after listening to this album is how much many of the songs here sound like Peter Hammill. Not only does Beriau's voice sound identical to PH, but also his phrasing, lyrics, and melodies. It's eerie. But I like Hammill's music very much, so I also enjoy this album. There appear to be other influences as well, most noticably Pink Floyd.

Nonetheless, Beriau, who plays all the instuments on this album, save some of the drums, has given us a beautiful album of interesting prog. His mastery of all the instuments played is impressive, and his songwriting, despite the above listed references, is somewhat unique.

This is a pleasant addition to my collection.