3.2 – The Rules Have Changed [Japanese Edition +1] (2018)

Singer, multi-instrumentalist & producer Robert Berry’s new album, “The Rules Have Changed”, will be released under the name 3.2 on Frontiers Music on August. The Japanese Edition will appear tomorrow with a bonus track.
The full-length album will feature musical contributions by the late Keith Emerson, whom Berry was a bandmate with in the band 3 and released a superb album in the Eighties. This is the last musical project in which Emerson was involved prior to his untimely passing in 2016.

The working relationship between the legendary keyboard player Keith Emerson and singer and multi-instrumentalist Robert Berry started in 1987. Iconic manager Brian Lane (Yes, Asia, A-Ha, It Bites etc.) and Carl Palmer arranged a meeting between the two prolific musicians.
The plan was to form a more melodic, song oriented band (compared to EL&P), which would allow Emerson, Berry and Palmer to follow in the footsteps of the success that Asia and GTR were enjoying in that period.

The result of that collaboration between Emerson, Berry and Palmer was the band “3”, and the album “… To The Power of Three” released worldwide by Geffen Records in 1988.
The first single, “Talkin’ ‘Bout” reached #9 on the Billboard Magazine charts and the band toured the US to support the album. With the success of the first release, Geffen urged the band to go back into the studio to begin work on a second album, but Emerson felt uncomfortable with Geffen’s momentum stifling, inconsistent strategy that ultimately cut the first album’s success short, consequently prompting the band to call it quits.

At the time of their breakup several songs were already written for that second release (later released on Robert Berry’s solo album, “Pilgrimage to a Point”).
In October 2015, conversations about a new “3” album started between Robert Berry and Frontiers, as Robert had been speaking to Keith about releasing the long delayed 3 follow up album.

Along with renewed fan interest in the band and those conversations, Berry had sparked revived enthusiasm from Keith Emerson for pursuing the project. The exchange of musical ideas and song collaborations ultimately paved the groundwork for this new release to be called 3.2.

Everything was set. Song ideas, studio time, record contract… and then, that dark day. Emerson’s untimely death made the album an uncertainty. Robert was left with Keith Emerson’s final musical ideas for the project. From old cassette tapes, keyboard parts written over the phone, to long discussions about style, the framework of the album was set and ready to be produced.

After several months of grieving and contemplation about what to do with these co-written songs and musical fragments from Emerson, Robert decided to resume work on the material that was created and craft a record that would ultimately be a fitting tribute to Keith Emerson’s musical legacy and at the same time re-energize and update the musical style started with ‘3’ some 30 years ago.

The final result is 3.2, a reboot of the original “3” project, centered on Robert Berry’s amazing talents.
This is a record that deserves to be heard by each and every fan of the great Keith Emerson and includes some exquisite musical parts, which every progressive music fan will be delighted to indulge in.

If you are new to the previous ‘3’ Eighties album, or Berry’s music – who has created some stupendous proggy AOR albums in the past – 3.2’s “The Rules Have Changed” is a mix of all these.
You have catchy tunes in the GTR-like ‘Powerful Man’, the melodic pump of ‘What You’re Dreaming Now’ (some kind of Asia meets Gowan) and a bit of Greg Lake solo in ‘Your Mark On The World’.

For more proggy (lite) stuff check title track ‘The Rules Have Changed’ with its beautiful atmospheres and smooth Berry vocals, the ballad ‘Our Bond’, or the dynamic uptempo of ‘Somebody’s Watching’ where you can hear Keith Emerson’s touch in the parping keyboard runs.

This Japanese edition offers as bonus track the exclusive ‘Sailors Horn Pipe’, featuring Berry performing all instrument foundation for Emerson’s piano / organ solos in a EL&P fashion, some of the last ivory playing recorded from this talented, influential musician.

3.2 “The Rules Have Changed” makes justice to the original ‘3’ project, and while there’s only (or mostly) Robert Berry at the helm here, the spirit is intact.
Fans of accessible lite proggy music mixed with melodic rock catchiness, this is for you, bringing to the fore again the classic sounds of Asia, GTR, World Trade, and showcasing the varied talents of Berry and Keith Emerson legacy.
HIGHLY Recommended

01 – One By One
02 – Powerful Man
03 – The Rules Have Changed
04 – Our Bond
05 – What You’re Dreaming Now
06 – Somebody’s Watching
07 – This Letter
08 – Your Mark On The World
09 – Sailors Horn Pipe (Japan Bonus Track)

Robert Berry – composer & arranger, performer & producer
Keith Emerson – composer & arranger

PRE ORDER:
www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KICP-1932
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