Released: 2003
Tracks: Bear Divide; Seven Percent Grade; Supermarket People; Elate; Get Things Done; Backwoods; Bite; Eighteen Weeks; Projectile; Wildflower; No; See You Next Tuesday; View
Best track: it’s really hard to choose…either Eighteen Weeks, Get Things Done or View
Tracks to skip: Supermarket People & Projectile
Debut album from long time Mike Keneally bassist Bryan Beller, and after many years of not composing, the bug hits him and he writes an album. I can’t possibly imagine going 10 or so years without composing
anything but I guess Bryan was content to play a back up role for first Dweezil & Ahmet Zappa’s band, Z, and then for Mike Keneally. What initially surprised me in hearing this is how he starts writing *good* songs right off the bat. Man, this guy makes me sick! Who comes up with a melody so f’n bad ass as the main one on the title track…on their first album?!? I don’t have that in me, yet. For the bassist in me, I love listening to this album and it makes super proud to hear a fellow bassist stretch out and make an album like this. There are a lot of great songs here, but actually the thing that impresses me most is how this isn’t a shred-fest, it isn’t a place to show off and feed Bryan’s ego. Even though this is most definitely a ‘bass’ album, it’s still a coherent
album with great songs. I absolutely LOVE how he recaps the melody in View from Bear Divide and perfectly sums up the whole album. It’s wonderful to hear that kind of attention to detail.
This album can in a way be considered a “Mike Keneally Band” album, except the star isn’t Keneally, but Beller. Mike does guest on here (keys and guitar), but the main guitarist is Keneally’s 2nd guitarist, Rick Musallam. Former Z drummer Joe Travers and former Keneally drummer Toss Panos play on here, with current Keneally drummer Nick D’Virgilio handling the board duties. The mix Nick did on here is gorgeous with everything (even in the heavy/sludgy songs) sounding so clear. Besides playing a TON of great bass work, Beller actually gets the balls to sing on a few songs. Yeah, he doesn’t have the greatest voice, but I have huge admiration for him in giving it a shot. There are only 3 vocal pieces on here, so it’s not overwhelming. I dig the vocal melody (and the whole song) of Wildflower. A tad on the basic side, but it works. His other vocal is on Projectile, a distorted, yelling kind of song that I can’t get into. Thankfully it’s only 1:35 long.
For some reason, Supermarket People never connected with me either. It doesn’t really go anywhere. Besides those two, all the songs are really good. There are 4 solo bass songs, played on Bryan’s gorgeous sounding Taylor acoustic/electric bass: Bear Divide, Elate, John Patitucci’s Backwoods & Big Bry’s first composition, No. The other tracks are all band affairs. Get Things Done is a great jam, with Beller’s best solo on the album. It’s gorgeous. I also really love Eighteen Weeks, featuring some strings and percussionist Tricia Steel. This is probably the ‘epic’ of this album and it’s just a great song. If I had to pick the one track that really blew me away it was Eighteen Weeks.
I hope that Bryan Beller makes more solo albums in the future, because I love this one. Even if he didn’t have all the talented players on here that he does, there would still be an album of really good compositions…and that’s the foundation of any great album. Naturally this album is highly recommended for those who like Mike Keneally’s music. I also suggest that everyone else out there give it a chance too. It’s mostly instrumental, so if you require vocals you’ll have to open your mind a little. It’s worth it, though. View is a great album.
Rating: 93
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