Marchello – The Power of Money (Arkeyn Steel Records)
After the impressive reissue of “Destiny”, Arkeyn Steel Records proceeds with the release of Marchello’s second, “lost” album that was a well-kept secret in the circles of the global hard rock community. We are talking about the album that would have succeeded “Destiny” in 1990/91 had CBS not changed their minds at the last minute and while they had invested significant funds in its creation. Although several years ago a release from AOR Heaven with a different title (which is extremely hard to find nowadays) was put on the market, let me say that this release from Arkeyn Steel is clearly more complete.
First of all, there has been some serious remastering and so the songs sound as they would have sounded in 1990 or if you prefer, as Gene Marchello and his late father, the great Peppi Marchello who co-wrote the songs and drove the Marchello vehicle, had in mind. In addition, the bonus demos from 1985/86 are real gems and bear Bob Kulick’s stamp of approval on the production. Just putting on the CD and automatically being transported to that golden age for hard rock says a lot about the success of “The Power of Money” which would not only be a worthy successor to “Destiny” but in some ways would surpass it. And for those who haven’t heard “Destiny” or the Marchello name imagine an absolutely representative case of American hard rock in the style of Fifth Angel, Joshua and with a little bit of Journey (mainly due to Steve Perry’s influence on Gene Marchello’s vocals).
In one sentence: feel free to invest in Marchello’s second work because it will become hard to find after a while but mainly because it is a really remarkable album!
Highlight: AOR Heaven had released the album under the title “The Magic Comes Alive”.
