Many rock fans will recognise the name Kee Marcello, but many people probably won’t. Those who know him will most likely do so because he was the guitarist in the band Europe from 1986 to 1992. Since then he has largely remained below the radar of mainstream rock for the majority of people not living in Scandinavia. Until now! His latest solo album, perhaps appropriately, entitled “Scaling Up” is his first for Frontiers Music and it was released on 14th October. The track “Black Hole Star” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 21st October.


 

Prior to joining Europe in 1986 as a replacement for John Norum, Marcello had been in the Swedish band Easy Action. He recorded two studio albums with Europe - “Out of This World” in 1988 and “Prisoners in Paradise” in 1991. A couple of tracks originally written during his time with Europe have been re-arranged and recorded for this solo album. Whilst Marcello may have been out of the spotlight internationally after leaving Europe in 1992, he did continue work – recording solo albums in 1995, 2011 and 2013 and another as Kee Marcello’s K2 in 2004. There were also numerous other guest appearances and projects.

I haven’t heard any of his previous solo material, but “Scaling Up” is definitely worth checking out. I’ve discovered that Kee Marcello is not just an extremely talented guitarist, but also a rather excellent singer too. For good measure, he also plays keyboards on the album, with Ken Sandin playing bass and Darby Todd playing the drums. There are guest appearances by guitarist Mattias Eklundh on “Good Men Gone Bad” and Michele Luppi on keyboards on “Wild Child”.

There are 12 great tracks on the album. My own favourites would be “Black Hole Star”, “Wild Child”, “Soldier Down”, “Scandinavia” and “Don’t Know How To Love No More”.

Check out the Facebook link for more info - https://www.facebook.com/keemarcello/


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About “NI Rocks Recommends”

The simple idea behind “NI Rocks Recommends” is to acknowledge and promote some of the great music being submitted to Rock Radio NI. I'll not be giving marks or ratings or analyzing the tracks in great detail; just telling you something about the artist and the album. It’s a personal recommendation to go check something out, not a traditional “review”!

My musical tastes cover most things rock; from the not too melodic to the not too heavy. The albums that I’ll be recommending are those that you’ll hear me playing tracks from on my shows on Rock Radio NI.

Check out NI Rocks on Facebook – www.facebook.com/NIRocks or Twitter - www.twitter.com/NIrelandRocks


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