Mike Berry - About Time Too! (2015)

Ever since he was a baby Mike Berry dreamed of recording with the Crickets. Many years ago they agreed to get together and cut an album finally, after many false starts and dashed dreams, here it is. Recorded at JI Allison s studio in Tennessee with Chas Hodges producing and contributing the piano parts, the album was recorded over a few sunny days in November 2004. Although it s a digital recording, everything else was done the same old way live in the studio with as few overdubs and techie innovations as possible. The result is a super rockin album, with Mike and The Crickets having fun on some old songs they all liked you ll like them too. The first edition of the album was produced in a limited quantity of 200 numbered copies for the Clovis Music Festival in September 2005 and these have now been sold. The standard Rolapak CD is now available with added photographs and insert - and about time too!

Finally we get the collaboration everyone has been eager to see together. It could have been a straight list of Holly numbers, but instead Mike and The Crickets chose to do some other classics with a few lesser known ones thrown in. Even the Buddy Holly track "I'm Gonna Set My Foot Down" is a song many may not remember as well. The opening Bobby Darin track "Bullmoose" is a great opener, really rocky which sets the mood for what's to come. There's some slower tracks like The Clouds Will Soon Roll On just to balance things out. Mike has an extremly versatile voice which sounds great whether he is doing fast rock n roll or a country ballad. He has a voice which is easy to listen to, pleasant on the ears and just puts you at ease that the song is going to be a gooden! Chas Hodge's piano playing adds a certain something to the tracks, and you can certainly hear his influence on "Queen of The Hop", and especially his own "I Wonder In Whose Arms." You can tell fun was had by all whilst recording, and the live atmosphere makes it that even more special bringing back how things used to be done. Every album Mike has done goes along the same lines of rock and roll, but none are the same. They all stand out individually sounding fresh. It was worth the wait, you can never rush a good thing. The CD is just great. A new CD from any artist can mean you skip over the not so great tracks, but EVERY track is worth its place. Lets hope Mike will go on to make an album of songs he has written, there are some on previous albums which show his talents don't just lie in singing but song writing and producing. --Ellen Holbrook