Released February
15th 2008
LMC228
EAN6419922002285
01. Still Hurts
02. Andromeda
03. Seven
04. There’s Hope
05. Spread The Disease
06. Farewell
07. Sunset Lights
08. Genius
09. Never Forgive Me
10. Memories
11. Texas BBQ
Marco Sfogli: all guitars, bass on tracks
(5-6-7-11), keyboards on tracks (1-2-3-7)
Salvyo Maiello: drums on tracks (1-2-7-8-9)
Ennio Giannone: drums on tracks (5-6)
John Macaluso: drums on tracks (3-4)
Raffaele Natale: drums on track (11)
Andrea Casali: bass on tracks (1-2-4-8-9)
Dino Fiorenza: bass on track (3)
Emanuele Casali: keyboard solo on track
(2)
Alex Argento: keyboards on track 8 and keyboard
solos on tracks (3-5-8)
Matt Guillory: keyboard solos on tracks
(1-7), piano on track (10)
Fabio Tommasone: piano on track (3)
John
Macaluso & Union Radio
The Radio Waves Goodbye
Marco Sfogli is arguably the world’s
hottest guitarist of the next generation.
With a style equally at home in almost every
genre, from full on shred to straight pop
tunes to mind blowing fusion songs, its
little wonder that Marco was the guitarist
of choice when Dream Theater vocalist James
LaBrie went looking for a guitarist to perform
and then tour for his “Elements Of
Persuasion” album.
Marco
has more recently been heard on the critically
acclaimed John Macaluso & Union Radio
debut “The Radio Waves Goodbye”
and it’s now that guitar fanatics
worldwide have the chance to hear what Marco
can do when given free reign in the instrumental
realm.
His
debut “There’s Hope” is
11 tracks with a mix of influences Marco
has absorbed since he took up the guitar
at age 9. On the album Marco comments, “There
are plenty of shred records out there and
sounds like many guitarists are losing the
melodic component. My goal was to make it
very melodic with the right amount of fire!”
“There’s
Hope” delivers Marco’s aims
with stunning precision, detail and emotional
content sure to make it a “must own”
release for fans of quality music and virtuoso
guitar work.
Still
Hurts: This is my tribute to the
80’s influences that I listened many
years ago. I was born as hard rock guitar
player, listening to bands like Europe,
Winger, Danger Danger, Def Leppard and so
on and this track reflects my earlier passion.
In fact I choose it as opening track for
its majestic “in style” intro.
Andromeda:
When I started writing this record my goal
was to be as much spontaneous as possible.
Wouldn’t have been “my”
record without a modern, progressive tune...and
there it is! Odd times, crazy runs, absolutely
the most difficult and tricky song I recorded
so far. Main verse in 13/16.
Seven:
Early traces of Seven can be found back
in 2002 I guess, when I first heard it from
my former keyboard player. The main theme
was so strong that I decided to pick it
up again and give it a new fresh “Methenyan”
middle part (with a beautiful synth solo
courtesy of Alex Argento). One of my favourite
moment of this record.
There’s
Hope: I wrote this one as soon
as I came back from the recording sessions
of James Labrie’s “Elements
of Persuasion”. I was lock and load
and in the right mood to pop out a metal
tune and here it is. John Macaluso did a
great job on it! The title reflects my feelings
I had after getting the Labrie gig.
Spread
The Disease: One of my dad’s
favourite. I always liked the blues players
“tastiness” and this is my humble
tribute to this beautiful music.
Farewell:
Probably the earliest song (and my dad’s
favourite...). When I was 6, after the Van
Halen binge, I discovered Joe Satriani who’s
been (and still is) one of my favourite
guitar players. I wrote this one back in
1999 and recorded a demo just later. The
lead on the demo had so much fire in it
that I decided to keep it instead of trying
to go for a “good one”. I love
this one, has so many memories in it.
Sunset
Lights: The 7th track of an album
is generally the “ballad” track.
Originally intended to sound more folk-prog
than now (think about The Corrs who meet
Genesis). Later on was heavily modded to
sound more guitar oriented than folk (Matt
Guillory provided some cool tradeoffs in
the middle). It’s one of my favourite
tunes if not my favourite one
Genius:
I discovered fusion music very late (and
I thank my buddy Alex Argento about this).
I wrote Genius around 2004 but wasn’t
satisfied enough about the arrangement.
So I asked Alex to put his hands on it and
ended up being our first collaboration.
The same tune (with different sounds and
solo) can be found on Alex’s solo
record as well.
Never Forgive Me: I wasn’t
sure about this tune at first. To my ears
might have sounded good if I had to put
vocals on it. Since I’m a poor singer
I decided to give it a try and record a
very vocal oriented melody on the guitar.
It worked for me and ended up on the record?
Memories:
Whereas Genius reflects my first collaboration
with Alex Argento, Memories marks my first
collaboration with Matt Guillory. Was originally
written before leaving for the “Elements
of Persuasion” world tour (and we
actually played it during the tour as our
solo spot). Very intimate and sweet, it
shows how good guitar and piano can match
Texas
BBQ: One of my many passions...country?
I admit it, I’m not a country player
(and probably I’ll never be), but
I love the happiness that country music
spread. Instead of saying “bye”
with a sad tune I decided to put this one
as the ending track to leave the listener
with a big smile on his face. It works for
me, I wish it’ll work for you aswell!!!
