Prog4you.com - Progressive Rock Review

The Players
Chris Cottros (guitar, track 1, 2) - Bruce Dees (guitars, track 1) - Jody Nardone (piano, track 1, 2) - Clayton Ivey (hammond, track 1) - Bryan Beller (bass, percussion, keyboards, drums, guitars, synth) - Marcus Finnie (drums, track 1, 2) - Ann Marie Calhoun (violin, track 2) - Jim Hoke (clarinet, track 2) - Steve Herrman (trumpet, track 2) - Doug Moffet (saxophones, track 2) - Roy Agee (trombones, track 2) - Rick Musallam (guitars, track 3, 5, 8-11) - Jeff Babko (hammond, Rhodes; track 3, 5, 10, 11) - Joe Travers (drums, track 3, 10, 11) - Mark Niemic (drums, percussion; track 4) - Toss Panos (drums, track 5, 7) - Griff Peters (guitars, track 7, 10, 11) - Jude Crossen (vocals, track 8) - Mike Olekshy (guitars, track 8) - Nick D'Virgilio (drums, track 8) - Mike Keneally (guitars, vibes, piano; track 9) - Marco Minnemann (drums, track 9) - Kira Small (Rhodes, track 10) - Scheila Gonzalez (saxophones, track 11)

US-based bass player, composer and multi-instrumentalist Bryan Beller has been active in the music scene for more than a decade now, starting out with Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa’s band project Z, which he was a part of from 1993-96. After that time he's collaborated closely with guitarist Mike Keneally and Steve Vai on many of their recordings, been a highly popular studio musicians for bands and artists in most genres as well as being a writer for the Bass Player magazine. "Thanks in Advance" is his second solo release, following 5 years after his debut album "View".

When listening through this production, it soon becomes clear that Beller doesn't want to stay within one type of music. As albums go, this isn't one that can be targeted at a specific audience. The range of styles explored extensively or visited briefly is hard to count; but jazz, blues and fusion are the leading contenders in terms of styles explored; with brief visits to regular hard rock and at times highly distinct leanings towards country as well as avant garde rock.

Eclectic is a keyword for this production; and technically skilled performance a good general description of the contents within. From the aptly named composition Snooze Bar opening this creation to the wild and frenzied ending of From Nothing, Beller takes his listeners on a roundtrip of his musical universe, with a plethora of high class guest musicians invited to participate; Mike Keneally and Nick D'Virgilio arguably the best known amongst them.

I think it's fair to say that most listeners won't find this release interesting as a whole; due to the number of style variations. In addition 10 of the eleven compositions are instrumental, further limiting the target audience. Those with eclectic tastes in music that truly enjoys technically proficient performances will see this as a marvelous album though, and as the bass guitar gets to dominate quite a bit I presume that musicians playing that instrument might want to check out this one too.

If you contemplate buying this album, I would advice getting the special edition of this one. It's a tad more expensive, but the DVD included with that one is well worth the extra expense. A documentary tracking the recording and production of this album is the main feature; and even for a non-musician this is rather intriguing to watch. And bass players will delight in the hour or so of extra footage covering the recording of the bass parts for this release; complete with bloopers and retakes.

And the footage of the mixing of this CD is just hilarious - one of the cases of you won't believe it until you see it.

When that is said; this is first and foremost a production that I imagine will appeal to a rather select audience. That select audience will get a treasured album though, while others probably will see this as a somewhat mixed affair. The good stuff here is really good though, so spending some minutes on Beller's MySpace page checking out his music should be time well spent for many.

Rating: 7 (out of 10)
Reviewer: Olav Björnsen

Visit the Artist’s Website

Discography
Thanks in Advance (2008)
View (2003)

(originally written for www.progressiveears.com)