Robert Berry is perhaps most familiar to progressive rock fans as frontman for the Emerson Lake and Palmer spinoff 3, featuring Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer. His latest solo effort, The Rules Have Changed, is a followup to that group’s sole album. Berry also spent time as a member of Ambrosia and in an aborted second version of GTR replacing Steve Hackett, and as a solo artist has worked on tribute albums to Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd.
The multi-instrumentalist heads December People, an assemblage of rock veterans from Boston, Sammy Hagar’s band, the Tubes and elsewhere who put a rock spin on classic Christmas songs, with riffs and lines from the likes of ZZ Top, Journey and Kansas making their way into old favorites including “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” “Angels We Have Heard on High” and others.
Robert Berry, who is also a member of Greg Kihn’s band, joined us to discuss the albums that shaped his career:
THE BEATLES – SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND (1967): My dad had a big band and a music store, and my mom was a singer with my dad’s band. At an early age I got interested in sound. I bought the [Sgt. Pepper] album, then tried to get the sound. Dad’s drummer had left his drums in our garage. The sound of the drums [on the album], the tone quality was so cool. They used tea towels on the drums. I only had two mics and a four-track Teac. I put washcloths on the drums to get that sound. The Rickenbacker guitars were very bright, the Vox amps were very bright versus Fender or Marshall. That album taught me about tone.
STEVIE WONDER – SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE (1976): I started so young. I was in the studio five days a week in high school and college, then playing on the weekend, so the albums that influenced me [did so] for a certain reason. I listened to Stevie Wonder for songwriting. Stevie was playing all the instruments. I had eight years of classical piano lessons and two years of jazz piano, a couple guitar lessons. At the end of high school, I worked at a recording studio and I played multiple instruments for different sessions.
JEFF BECK – BLOW BY BLOW (1975): I got more into guitar. I was doing a lot of country music sessions. I studied Jeff Beck – I don’t know if he plays guitar or is the guitar. Again, his tone quality thrilled me, recording-wise. His sound is still amazing. He can play super sweet or fiery, but it’s very soulful, amazingly heartfelt. He’s really expressive. I don’t know him but he seems like a nice guy. He’s always gracious to the other musicians, gives them their spot in the spotlight.
- Greg Cahill of Special Consensus: Albums That Shaped My Career - September 16, 2024
- Narada Michael Walden: Albums That Shaped My Career - September 9, 2024
- Alison Brown: The Albums That Shaped My Career - August 19, 2024
