Gigi Pascal e la Pop Compagnia Meccanica

Gigi Pascal (vocals)
Arturo (guitar)
Mario (organ)
Franco (bass)
Fulvio Marzocchella (drums)

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 70's, 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 60's, 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 80's he released singles and LP's under the nicknames Jaco D. and Jaco.

LP
Debut	Fans/Phonotype (GPX9-001)	1973	single cover - black label with white/silver writing
	Fans/Phonotype (GPX9-001)	1992	as above with white label - 500 numbered copies reissue
	MDS/Black Widow (80340 77057 997)	2023	single cover
CD
Debut	Mellow (MMP 202)	1993	reissue of 1973 album
	MDS/Black Widow (80327 90785 531)	2023	as above
SINGLES (with picture cover)
Alla fine della strada Cosa hai messo nel caffè	Danvox (25009)	1969	as "Gigi Pascal"
Cuore matto Riderà	Zeus (BE 201)	1969	as "Gigi Pascal"
Questa sera piangerò È la mia pena	Zeus (BE 275)	1970	as "Gigi Pascal"
Il giorno dell'addio Istoria de un amor	Zeus (BE 299)	1970	as "Gigi Pascal"
Ricominciare Tanti auguri señora	Zeus (BC 5033)	1975	as "Gigi Pascal"
Amarti come non mai La terza luna	Zeus (BC 5036)	1975	as "Gigi Pascal e la Pop Compagnia Meccanica"
PROMOTIONAL AND JUKEBOX SINGLES (with blank cover)
Amarti come non mai La terza luna	Zeus (BC 5036/BE 449)	1975	white label jukebox single - as "Gigi Pascal e la Pop Compagnia Meccanica"

A very rare album, probably pressed in just a few hundreds copies, Debut was reissued for the first time in the 90's with the same silver coloured single sleeve as the original, but different label. Original labels were black with white writing, reissues are white with black writing. The original cover has a white seam with the name of the group and the album title, the reissue is completely silver coloured with no writings on the seam. This reissue, made by the Milan label Kaliphonia, was officially released in 500 numbered copies (with a sticker on the back cover), probably taken from the original matrix. Along with these numbered copies, many others exist without the sticker, meaning that the pressing was probably higher than the declared quantity.
The album has been reissued again on LP and CD in 2023 by the MDS/Phonotype and Black Widow labels.

The record was also issued on 8-track cartridge (and probably on cassette) on Phonotype record label, distributed by RCA, with a totally different cover design.


Debut - LP

Debut - original label and reissue

Debut - 8-track cartridge

Gigi Pascal/Alla fine della strada - 7" single	Gigi Pascal/Questa sera piangerò - 7" single

Gigi Pascal/Il giorno dell'addio - 7" single	Gigi Pascal/Ricominciare - 7" single

Amarti come non mai - 7" single

Thanks to Federico Bordo, Alos, Gabriele Pierdomenico, Ubaldo Cibei (Franco), Giovanni Ottone, Mauro Degrassi, for pictures and information