Published on Jul 11, 2001
After you’ve been doing this for a while, you start watching for
certain signs when you listen to a new CD. For example, it’s a good
sign when after one listening a song sticks in your head and will
not let go. Conversely, it’s a bad sign when after five listenings,
you still have to peer at the CD track display in puzzlement,
trying to determine just what you’re listening to. I’m afraid that
A Soundtrack To The Wheel Of Time, the new work from Tempest
producer Robert Berry, is born under a bad sign.
To be fair, this CD was working under a slight disadvantage to
begin with. I haven’t read Robert Jordan’s infinitology “Wheel of
Time”, and I have no plans to do so until he stops writing them and
I can read them all at once. (I’m weird that way.) This means I
don’t get some of the references, I’m sure but I’ve reviewed
soundtracks where I haven’t seen the movie, so I can manage, I
suppose. But I am faced here with a quandary. Robert Berry has
written and performed a serviceable piece of Celtic-tinged rock
that is nonetheless almost completely unremarkable. There’s nothing
bad about
Wheel Of Time. There are even a few good points; “Winespring
Reel” is a jaunty enough tune, “The Aiel Approach” is a haunting,
rich melody, and Lisa Bouchelle’s vocals on “Ladies Of The Tower”
are excellent, crystalline and very well sung. But the unalterable
fact remains that other than those three tracks, nothing stuck in
my head, even after repeated listenings.
Wheel seems to be the musical equivalent of Cream of Wheat;
perhaps it’s substantial and well made, but it still takes bland to
almost fatal levels.
I hate writing reviews like this, as I’ve enjoyed Berry’s work
with Tempest. But, unfortunately, Wheel can only be recommended for
hard-core Robert Jordan fans.