“Chris Berry's story sounds like a Hollywood script ... because it is hard to believe that a white boy from California moved to Africa, became a ‘spirit caller’ and went on to sell over a million records in Southern Africa”- Steve Leggett, All Music Guide.
I can believe that because Berry has a native African sound to it. From “Love on the Mountain” to “Dancemakers,” the title track, his spirit calling comes in pretty handy. He has a lot to say, and it's pretty politically charged. His message is of justice and peace, but then whose isn't? His music is sincere, and New York Press is correct about him having a “reedy” voice like Sting, but something just seems to be missing.
I listened to this album three times, yet I really couldn't find a song that grabbed me. I like what he has to say on some songs such as “a captive on her ship... on a one-way trip, bound for the sea of ecstasy” from “Every Day.” Others I can understand, like “Why Do We,” a song questioning the death penalty and the whole “eye for an eye” story. I don't agree with him, but I see where he is coming from. “Axe Forgets” is actually the one song I did like more than the rest, but it had to do with the lyrics not so much the melody. “Axe forgets what fallen tree cannot.”
So true. Those words right there tell a lot. “Dancemakers” has to do with those who run our world: the governments and those who are in power. The last track, “911”, comes off on the face as a call for help, “bring my country back to me,” but its undertones are of that fateful day back in 2001.
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