BERNIE JOURNEY: REVIEWS

The CRITICAL REVIEW (Editor)

This artist presents us with a CD that offers us some nice R&B, Soul, and Pop/Dance sounds. This is his debut album, and it proves to be a decent effort. The music has a solid beat, good rhythms, and lots of musical layers.

Made of 8 tracks it had good openers, "Jump In and Out of My Love" and "Wounded Child." On "Ran Away From Me" the rich thick organ and cool rhythms make this tune a cool winner. This is impressive and better than 80% (or more) of the stuff (can be called junk too) on Top 40 Radio. R&B formats should eat this up.

"Say A Prayer" is a slower, lush and soulful effort. From the electronic beats and guitars of previous cuts, here the mood is acoustic and ballady. Clearly shows the artists versatility. Next on "What Happened To Our Love?" Journey shows he can maneuver to a totally different mood and style. The percussion and vocal layers give the tune a somewhat dreamy and far-off sense. It plainly puts the question to musical feel. Good stuff.

The song "Only My Love" has the artist changing approach. For some reason I was reminded a bit of DAVID BOWIE's late-80's, early 90's sounds. I even thought I heard aspects of CULTURE CLUB too. A song that works with a laid back beat. The debut project closes with "Memories of You" a slowish R&B tune that has rich tones and textures.

This is a good opening CD for this artist/songwriter/musician. Very enjoyable and accessible sounds. It is a winner with refreshing sounds that avoid the in-your-face style of many of today's irritating artists. Recommended.

Review from Demorama.com (Todd Schneider)

I'm sure I'm not the only one who audibly groaned when reading the name of my latest Demorama assignment. "This is gonna hurt BAD" I said to myself after viewing the pouting, boy-toy photo on his MP3.com sample page.

In retrospect, I wasn't too far off.

Pssst...Bernie, this look DIED in the mid-80's for a reason.

Electronica abounds in Bernie's R&B/soul offerings that gets your foot tapping right away. Before you know it, you'll be humming his hooks while admiring his looks. (What ANOTHER groan??). Artistic potential follows this guy around like a lost puppy. Judging from the photo, so would about six million pre-pubescent girls. George Michael, eat your heart out!

Bernie actually lists George as an influence and I'd wholeheartedly agree. Add a few more harmonic vocal overdubs and I could add Depeche Mode to that list. "Jump In And Out Of My Love" starts with an urban dance synth/drum combination that reminds me of progressive jazz superstar faves 3rd Force (very William-Aura-esque). This same stylistic thread weaves its way through Bernie's music in "Set Me Free" (dedicated to his parents-VERY cool!) and "What Happened (To Our Love)." While the beat is somewhat sterile at times, it's infectious nature more than compensates. Bernie's released a self-titled 8 track CD (no pun intended), more info available at his website.

Spitting Glass Stars (Sarah)

Now that George Michael appears to have all but finished his career by
trying to be Bono, rubbishing ‘pop’ bands and hanging out with Geri
Halliwell (the celebrity leper), there’s surely a gap in the market for
this. Bernie produces grown-up pop music, which although it should be a
contradiction in terms, is actually really popular and largely due to Mr
Michael and his string of ‘serious’ pop hits. You know the style - it’s
slinky faux-soulful pop that is played in the allegedly ‘posh’ meat market
nightclubs, which are recognisable as posh mainly by the drinks being
slightly more extortionate than usual.

This CD starts off with probably the best track - ‘Jump In And Out Of My
Love’ - and it sets the tone for most of the album which continues in a
slow-dance disco kind of way. There is a bit of variety, with some
ill-advised twiddly guitar on a couple of the tracks and although clearly
an attempt to provide a bit more funk, it sounds too jarring and harsh in
the context of his voice and melodies. The real quality tracks are the
smooth / cheesy ones, but at least the others show a bit of eclecticism,
and break the CD up a bit.

The last two tracks up the cheddar factor, with the type of disposable pop
that boy bands regularly take to the top of the charts. Track 8 ’Memories
of You’ in particular - it’s easy to imagine this being sung by a Westlife
on Top of the Pops. Of course he’s probably more interested in making
these hits himself, particularly as some of them are obviously quite
personal (‘Set Me Free’ is dedicated to his parents). But sell them to one
of the big players and he could make a fortune as the songwriter.

Overall he’s got some good little pop songs here, but he does need to
lighten it up a bit in places. Even if the subject matter is serious and
sad (wounded inner children and the like), he should perhaps approach
every song as a potential Christmas number one - get some more sparkly and
shimmery bits in so people can happily sing along as they sway unsteadily
around their office party. George Michael’s piousness has been one of the
reasons for his downfall, so please take note and give us a smile. ______________________________________________________________________________________________

MORE ON BERNIE JOURNEY ONLINE : berniejourney.com | berniejourneymusic.com | myspace.com/berniejourney | stream 'bernie journey' full album ____________________________________________________________________________


SPONSORS
Singing lessons & Vocal Exercise Download | Piano Lessons With A New Edge | Music Master Pro - Guitar, Bass, Drums, Piano And Violin Video Lessons