E.E.R.

Mike Pachelli, Tube Driven
Cyberhome: http://www.aimcmc.com/pachelli.html
Contact: info@aimcmc.com

    I've always been afraid of guitar-hero-led albums, since many of them 
quickly degenerate into pointless and unexciting wankery over a total of 
maybe two or three different chord progressions. Mike Pachelli's exciting and 
accomplished Tube Driven actually makes a good case for the validity of this
style.

The album starts of with a killer instrumental appropriately titled "The 
Intro." It features a great hard rock riff that alternates with a nicely 
contrasting acoustic/clean guitar section. Pachelli's solos are utterly 
mesmerizing and the other musicians hold their own quite well, with Tim 
Graziano's bass work ideally supportive and John Sferra's drums rocking 
all-out. This is followed by "Stand Alone," a vocal tune otherwise very much 
in the style of "The Intro." Mike's voice is surprisingly wonderful (how did 
he find time to develop such a powerful guitar AND vocal style?), but the 
melody to the verse is a bit uninteresting and cliched, although the chorus 
is powerfully cool. The next tune is "Texas Twin," a very Texas-like 
rock-blues. Although the style usually bores me to death, Pachelli's guitar 
work and Graziano's awesome bass solo make the piece quite enjoyable. "Good 
Day's Rain" is another vocal piece very much in the style of its predeceasing 
instrumental (with Rich Russo taking the drum stool), although this time the 
blues-rock cliches interfere a bit too much to call the song excellent. Once 
again, Pachelli's guitar work saves the day. "Mind Flight" is yet another 
great hard blues-rock instrumental, with the drum stool this time being given 
to Mike Conway, who rocks as hard as the previous two stickmen. 
Next up is (surprise) a vocal tune, although it doesn't have anything to do 
with the previous instrumental. This piece, "A Winter's Visit," has a soft 
folk feel that showcases Mike's and guest Phil Keaggy's acoustic guitar 
prowess before moving into a laid-back rock groove. Two instrumental tunes 
follow, first the decent-but-not-great "Alley Cat Toys" and the much better, 
metallic "New Planet." These are followed by another vocal track, "Might Blow 
Your Mind," featuring the last guest artist, Michael P. Soffos on bass and 
vocals. This is probably the weakest of all of 'em, and it doesn't really 
sound different from the previous vocal pieces except for the wonderful and 
all-too-short instrumental section. Blistering guitar lines kick off "Holiday 
Frenzy," sadly the last instrumental on the album. Seems that Mike saved the 
best for last, since this one really smokes. As with most of the other pieces 
on the album, the use of contrasting sections and dynamics goes a long way 
towards making things not sound like one big, pointless guitar solo. Two 
vocal tunes end out the album, the hard rocking "Mr. Politician" and the solo 
acoustic piece "Paul." Both are nice but "Holiday Frenzy" would've been 
better to end on. No matter, though, this album comes highly recommended to 
all, even those like me who think they hate guitar heroics albums.
  ~ courtesy of ~Jon~ Dharma




Mike Pachelli, For Now, Forever
Cyberhome: (see above)
Contact: (see above)

    Say whatever else you will about it, but For Now, Forever is a very 
honest album. That said, this very Christian poppish effort by guitar wizard 
Mike Pachelli is not a masterpiece. To be fair most commercial Christian 
music seems oddly plagued by unevenness - I've only heard two or three albums 
where every song is really good, and not many more where even a majority of 
songs were. Mike's effort has a better signal-to-noise ratio. However, some 
songs seem a bit underdeveloped ("Songbird") and some for some reason - 
predictable chord progressions, weak transitions - just don't seem to come 
off at all ("Don't Stop" and "Real Clean Heart"). But what makes this album 
thoroughly listenable is Mike's absolutely stunning guitar work. His leads 
are absent of cliches and his acoustic touch is impeccable. In fact, every 
instrumental track is simply superb.

Mike's lyrics are sometimes a little rough, but they seem to have an 
incredible sense of honesty and "real"-ness as far as his relationship with 
God. A nice alternative to most of the CCM stuff. Also, the stylistic palette 
is somewhat wider. Pachelli is equally comfortable doing hard or bluesy rock 
as stripped-down acoustic ballads, and spends some time in the middle ground 
as well.
 
    One complaint I have is the people around Mike. The production is only 
decent, but the accompanying musicians often seem a bit lackadaisical  - even 
big name guys like Phil Keaggy. Odder still, drummer John Sferra, who kicks 
major booty on Pachelli's Tube Driven, seems particularly lackluster. 
    Overall, a good Christian pop album (in case you haven't figured it out, 
there's not much in the way of progressive* here), especially for you guitar 
heroics fans.

    ~another astute analysis by ~Jon~ Dharma


*EER Editor's note: Catch a very brief feel of chordal progressions similar to
fusion-god, Allan Holdsworth on this release. Pachelli knows Holdsworth personally.
Perhaps in the future Pachelli will toy with a more progressive/fusion
songs-of-worship release. Hey, e-mail Pachelli yourself folks and ask him for such.

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