The Neapolitan singer Gigi Pascal (real name Giancarlo D’Auria) had a long career as soloist in the melodic pop field, with some singles dating from the end of the sixties. As many others he was attracted by the newly born rock groups of the early ’70s, and assembled one with the odd name Pop Compagnia Meccanica. This group had a similar story to Fabio Celi & Gli Infermieri, also from Naples, as they released an album in 1973 that sounds like it had been recorded three or four years earlier. Only the first names are known of the other musicians playing with Pascal, the only known member was drummer Fulvio Marzocchella, that played with pop artists such as Umberto Bindi, Nico Fidenco, Patty Pravo and Orietta Berti. ‘Debut’ is a very short album (eight songs for around 26 minutes) with the organ as main instrument and, where Fabio Celi’s album had frantic vocals, this has a softer, more relaxed voice that owes much to the melodic Italian pop of the ’60s, but always well mixed with the band’s sound. The music has some nice classical influences, like in the instrumental ‘Fuga In Si Minore,’ or ‘Crescente’ and the long ‘Un Concerto’ with a very good and complex arrangement, but sometime the sixties sound is more evident, like in the opening ‘La Tua Voce.’ Gigi Pascal released two more singles in 1975, one of them still with the name of Pop Compagnia Meccanica. In the ’80s he released singles and LP’s under the nicknames Jaco D. and Jaco.

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