Regeneration (Reunion of Nashville's "A" Team) by Neil (Guitar Man) Cacci.

Cacciottolo. "Take a look at some of your releases today, especially the dynamic Nora Jones who just sold out one of our local venues at Ravinia-and in record numbers". "People want to hear quality music, and with today's technology, the older style of music is new again". "Studios of today provide a much broader spectrum of options and sound than they did thirty or so years ago".

The concept of this history making album did not start on a whim. Neil said that he visualized the idea a few years ago while on his many work assignments to Nashville. Conversing with Harold Bradley, a good friend of his of over fifteen-years, Harold consented to contact his old friends who he worked with side by side, especially on all of the Elvis Presley movie soundtracks and record releases from that period. Bradley, who by the way, is also recognized as the world's most recorded session guitarist, an achievement unparalleled in the annals of recorded music.

The musicians on the album can all speak for themselves. The line up was tremendous, Harold Bradley on guitar, Bob Moore on stand-up bass, Buddy Harman on drums, the legendary and Grammy winning Jordanaires, and saxophone great "Boots" Randolph.

Neil added Walt Cunningham who played piano and keyboards, a well rounded musician in his own right with close proximity to the sound of the late Floyd Cramer, who was also part of Nashville's "A" team from that time.

"I added Walt to the session knowing that he has the closest sound to Floyd, and he proved once again his remarkable genius in performing the selections on those March dates" says Neil. "Walt and I have been working together on many Nashville sessions for over fifteen years and have had a very good friendship since then".

Not to go without mention, the engineering talents of Bob Bradley at Bradley's Barn who transformed a multitude of sounds into a polished commercial work of art. Bob is related to the late industry great Owen Bradley and of coarse Harold Bradley who palyed on the sessions, and is kin to current music industry executive Jerry Bradley.

The master was completed at the famed Chicago Recording Company. CRC is equipped with the most state-of-the-art technology and at the skilled and creative hands of engineer Matt Le Jeune, completed this history making CD into its final stages.

Neil (Guitar Man) Cacci began his recording career as an intern, performing demos in Chicago at the now famous Chess Records, later at Mercury and Decca, finishing with United Artists Records. When UA Records commenced operations in Nashville, Neil followed suit and began his songwriting career, later forming Sunset Promotions-Chicago, a then recording and radio promotion company. Having formal musical training and a degree in Media Relations helped the company become established, as Neil eventually added a publishing and media division.

Asked about the selections on the CD, Neil added; "as a creative twist, I have had the songs recorded on the same date-forty years later"!"At that time, the men were engaged in recording a good number of hits for Elvis and recording soundtracks for his movies". I was asked to record two of my original songs that did very well for us some fifteen-years ago, "Part Time Love" and "Lonely Highway", these songs were tracks from an album titled; "Rock-A-Billy Friends".

"Though all of the songs are excellent, there are three songs that have been receiving good reviews and are especially noted to watch out for"; "Part Time Love" (an original), "Suspicion" (originally recorded by Elvis and later by Terry Stafford), and "Starting Today" (a song written by Don Robertson-a songwriter originally hailing from Chicago and is one of my favorites)".

To sum up what kind of sound the album conveys, "It is a kicked-up version of early-sixties Country-Pop:; so says Neil. "We have included a rare interview with Harold Bradley". "In this interview, Harold narrates classic stories that were never talked or known about the sessions; Elvis, Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline, Les Paul and others". "The backside of the CD contains eight instrumental cuts that were remixed, adding a total of sixteen songs."

Famed photographer Patricia Presley of Nashville, Tennessee, was on hand to capture this historic session, adding her professional touch to all of the color and black and white photos seen on the CD.

Recently, The Chicago Music News stated that; "This is definately an album that everyone should have in their collection", "Both history making and entertaining, it reflects a point of view that musical masters only come about once in a great while".

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Average Customer Review: 5