Mike Gacek recently released his passionate first solo CD, Different Like Everyone Else. Gacek’s original interpretation of the classic rock model has allowed him to create ten solid tunes with a big, wide, enjoyable sound. Gacek has that wide timbre, rangy voice that might remind some of Bob Segar. He sings in an earthy, organic largeness that forges the personality of each song while tugging the ear’s attention.
Gacek opens with “Inna Gadda Da Stairway To Freebird Pie,“ his warm, witty observations of playing in cover bands in rooms where people shout out their requests. Gacek clearly enjoys his job playing people’s requests, making people happy when he plays their favorites. The gentle strum of his acoustic guitar and his smooth low tenor/high baritone voice create a warm vibe. Throughout, he peppers his song with snippets of lead guitar melody from each popular cover song he references.
A blowsy vocal filled with grit and character turn “More Memories To Come” into a soulful, jaunty stroll through a full bodied R&B burner, complete with a catchy, happy go lucky chorus. It’s a song you’ll wish was longer. You cannot help but like the song because Gacek seems to believe in what he is singing of. The song unfolds with a merry soul and a happy swagger.
“Til It’s Gone” is a mellow grooving’ piece with Gacek showing lots of confident gusto in his hefty, emotive vocal sustains. There is just a lot of oomph in how this guy puts his voice across. You’ll wonder why Gacek isn’t already a star on the national level. All of the instrumentation just comes together with precise, flowing motion, smooth and fluid as poetry or film.
Sentimental on “I Don’t Ever Want To Lose That,” Gacek backs his vocal appeal with Chris McDermott’s lead guitar phrase, one that burns with an easeful grace, moving forward ever so tenderly beneath his Gacek’s voice. Hearty acoustic guitar strums are like a secondary gust in the sails. By track four the listener has a clearer sense of Gacek as a strong musical personality who can forge all kinds of elements and influences together and to then move them in whichever direction he chooses.
Acoustic and electric guitar weave a dark, thick texture under Gacek’s husky, forlorn melancholy vocal lament, “Life Is A Moment.” The song mourns the passing of youth into middle age but stops short of depression and self-pity, detouring into a warning song for young people to seize the day. Bad ass cello from Corey Peters haunts the song with dark colors, and Gacek’s voice on the ride out is particularly affecting.
Title track “Different Like Everyone Else” sports an odd humming guitar that reminds me a little bit of a western soundtrack during an impending gunfight. Electric six string itches for a confrontation as Gacek sings in a sturdy tone of asserting one’s individuality amidst a barren landscape of social convention, peer pressure, and narrow minds. Gacek keeps Neal Ward’s lead guitar tension simmering just below the surface here, and that ratchets up the intensity. The listener follows with trepidation while always wondering what could erupt.
Amicable harmonica melody and a welcoming acoustic strum prove the appropriate trappings for “Mr. Hangover.” A tale of a morning after a good time, Gacek is in good humor as he considers a nip at the dog that bit him. Ken Adams’s harmonica line will make you like this song. Its chirpy, upbeat inner melody inside the mischievous feeling on the surface of it creates an undeniably warm vibe.
“Dreams Can Come True” has a slight western feel in John Orlando’s organ fills and laid back saxophone blowing. Gacek is in mellow groove mode here and it works. This tender, supportive down tempo number quietly asserts the need to try for what you’re seeking. This is likely the number Gacek uses to keep the couples onto the dance floor. “Dreams Can Come True” has an irresistible beat for that.
“One Hit Wonder” is a shuffling two step waltz ballad with an endearing country charm. Eva Walsh’s fiddle and Samuel Kelley’s banjo are icing on the cake, adding their authentic rootsie flavors. Closing out with “Then You’ll See,” Gacek returns to the hefty strums of his acoustic guitar layered around Ken Lemire’s smoldering lead guitar and floaty blues organ chords. In between Gacek’s soulful croons, Lemire will erupt with passionate phrasing, lighting a bonfire of notes around meditative lyrics.
Other notable players on this disc are Mike Moore, Kevin Crowley, Neal Ward, Julius Borges, Gary Gendron, Steve Burrows, Mike Poulin, Jason Petrin, Ken Fallow, and Gary Gendron, Gacek has come up with a very solid offering of classic rock influenced songs that delight the ear not only with talent but with the emotive coloring in each song’s every tone.
