Marco Iacobini

Review by Teresa Hopkins

Artist: MARCO IACOBINI
Album: The Sky There’ll Always Be
Label: Muso Entertainment
Release Date: April 23, 2013

Tracklist:

1. The Great Rush
2. Where The Angels Come Down
3. Smoky Club’s Blue Light
4. Red Sunset In L.A.
5. A Cup of Shred Wine (Part 1)
6. Sunny Day With You
7. 18F
8. A Cup of Shred Wine (Part 2)
9. The Sky There’ll Always Be
10. Solid Rock
11. Eolian Island

The idea of releasing a fully instrumental album is daunting to some guitarists. Regardless of your skill, style, how fast you can play or how well you can solo, it’s all you, up front and center, for the duration. What are you gonna do up there?

Marco Iacobini doesn’t seem to be at all intimidated by the prospect of it. The Sky There’ll Always Be, his third studio effort, continues to deliver as the first two have with an album that will surely delight and entertain even the scrutinizing listener.

In an interview at Music Web Express 3000, Marco talked of having gone through some pretty rough times. One day, he said, while he was taking a walk around Rome, “I raised up my head and I saw the sky. It was a sunny day and I said okay, there’re a lot of problems to solve, but the sky there’ll always be, and at once there was a smile back on my face.”

And so it began, with the lovely title track…hope, strength, and inspiration.
“The Great Rush” opens the album and sets the tone. It is energetic, melodic, and very uplifting. Marco’s music leans more toward modern jazz-rock fusion, and although this guy can shred with the best of them, be assured this isn’t a collection of just showing off one’s speed or flamboyancy on the fretboard. Rather, it’s a great mix that shows his versatility and strength as a guitarist who has a very intuitive feel for melody and expression of emotion in his playing. I read the titles of the songs as they played and thought of how well they fit and how aptly they described the overall mood in the smooth melodies of “Where The Angels Come Down” (dedicated to his grandmother), “Sunny Day With You”, and “Eolian Island”. Marco has talked in interviews about how he’d get ideas for the songs, such as riding around in Santa Monica, California as the sun was going down, recalling how beautiful it was (“Red Sunset In L.A.”). I think it’s pretty amazing that one could so vividly recreate a mood or a visual musically without the need of any words or photos to express it.

Marco’s playing ventures into several different scales and progressions throughout the album. Interspersed with the songs mentioned above, he shows he can get real with the funk too, on tracks like “Smoky Club’s Blue Light”, “18F”, and “Solid Rock”. “A Cup of Shred Wine” (Parts 1 and 2) display well just what they promise, giving the listener a sample of what Marco can really do when he cuts loose.

The majority of The Sky There’ll Always Be was recorded in Italy and engineered by Roy Hendrickson and Randy Merrill. Marco had several of the best musicians in mind for his project because of their individual skills and styles. As fate would have it, all of them were available when he needed them, and were eager to contribute.

They include:
Stefano Sastro
Cristiano Micalizzi
Carl Verheyen
Stu Hamm
Jason Harrison Smith
Billy Sheehan
Mike Terrana
Thomas Lang
Dave Wekl
Phil Maturano
Keith Carlock
Philippe Saisse
Joel Taylor
Fabio Trentini
Tony Levin
Bill Bergman

Marco has also spoken of Francesco Desmaele with much gratitude for his help in putting this album together and with production and photos.

Though it’s unfortunate that I learned of this album only a couple of weeks ago, I say better late than never! I recommend The Sky There’ll Always Be as an album that will appeal to the music masses. A great listen indeed.

Rating: 8/10

iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/marco-iacobini/id264947521

You can also listen to album samples at these locations:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/marcoiacobini13