Short Reviews [Marcelo Paganini - 2020 - "Identity Crisis"]

Released towards the end of 2020, this fusion album from guitarist Marcelo Paganini features a host of guests including Billy Sherwood (Yes/Asia), Adam Holzman (Steve Wilson Band), Rachel Flowers, Lenny White (Return to Forever), Chad Wackerman (Frank Zappa Band), Jan Dumee (Focus), Marc Madore, Karla Downey, Jamison Smeltz, Damilton Viana, Esdras Ferreira and Adriano Campagnani (Beto Guedes Band). Here, Sherwood has been employed for his vocal skills, only playing bass on one track, but singing on all of them. Paganini also deliberately changed his guitar tuning so he would not repeat what he had done previously, and except for acoustic 12 string intros, he only used one guitar throughout with no vibrato bar, and only one guitar per track so that it could be played live. There are six songs, 38 minutes in length, and given who is involved there is no surprise that the musicianship is top quality. Paganini and Sherwood are the only constants on every track, but this does provide continuity and there are times when this is very commercial indeed, especially during the vocal sections, but then there are also times when it just goes off the wall. There is an instrumental section in “Learn To Love To Wait” where Paganini, Sherwood (this is the one song where he plays bass) and Lenny White really tear it up yet maintain the musicality so it becomes a triumph as opposed to a mess. But it is not all about note density, although there is plenty of that, and songs such as “Tangerine Way” slow it down and put all the focus on the vocals, which is not something one would necessarily expect from a guitarist’s release. Apparently, the death of Allan Holdsworth impacted Marcelo as he feels he needs to keep pushing guitar composition, and while this may not be as essential as the master, this is still a thoroughly enjoyable fusion release with some strong commercial elements and I look forward to hearing more.