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Listening with Lee Zimmerman
Rick Berlin: Me & Van Gogh
(Hi-N-Dry)
A one-time member of Boston's legendary art-rock ensemble, Orchestra Luna, Rick Berlin's honed his cabaret stylings and theatrical wit into a bold solo album filled with vivid drama and aching confession.   Utilizing no more than his punctured vocals and fluid piano playing, he spins twelve songs that stake out a fertile field of moods and monologues, recalling along the way such indomitable piano men as Randy Newman and Tom Waits, as well as formidable storytellers like Bruce Springsteen and Leonard Cohen.   A rambunctious tour de force, Me & Van Gogh makes quite an impression.  
Even in such minimal circumstances, Berlin has a fluid ability to transpose himself into a variety of cryptic characters.   There's the weary narrator of the album's title track, the forlorn convict confessing his sins in 'A Letter', the self-deprecating chameleon of 'I'm a Slut' ('I'm a sinner, I'm a ho/I'm anything you're looking for').   Berlin plies his songs with exuberance and intensity; one moment, the music's downcast and despondent ('Buddha'), the next it's sweeping itself into a crescendo ('Don't Talk About Joan') or skewered as if possessed ('The Ride').   Nevertheless, it's an exhilarating experience, adventurous, daring and completely out of the ordinary.   Considering the lack of embellishment, it's all the more engrossing.
Whether or not Berlin's intensity might prove exhausting after several spins remains to be seen. These are fitful interludes and often quite harrowing. One can imagine seeing him in concert in an intimate setting, becoming transfixed as he plays out theses epochs with bracing abandon. However, like the painter heralded in the album title, the best performers dare to break beyond the safe confines of the conventional. After experiencing Me & Van Gogh , there's no doubt that Berlin too is an artist of that ilk.