If he wanted to, Dave Pellicciaro could have dazzled us with fancy keyboarding.  (After all, he contributed prodigious chops to Beausoleil’s Grammy Award winning CD).  If he wanted to, he could have impressed us with intricately complex, intellectual musical compositions.  (After all, he earned a degree in composition from the Cornish School of Music).  If he wanted to, he could have taken us on extended improvisational jams.  (After all, he has often done so in live excursions with his own and numerous other bands).  If he wanted to, he could have bent our minds with surreal lyrics.  (After all, they come as naturally to him as taking a breath).  If he wanted to, he could have surprised us with feats of electronic wizardry on the mixing board.  (After all, he is an award winning producer/owner of Lucky Devil Sound Studios).  If he wanted to, he could have impressed us with a pumped-up, flamboyant visual presence.  (After all, it’s the kind of aura he brings into any gathering).

Instead, Mighty Dave serves up a disc of true humility, straight from the heart.  His image appears nowhere on the packaging.  He even forgets to credit his vocal and keyboard contributions on a couple of the cuts.  He lets somebody else sing one of the songs, even though he wrote all of them. His piano and B3 contributions are sparse, and act exclusively in the service of the songs themselves. 

This isn’t to say, however, we don’t get an honest helping of his ivory, and tickled pink at that.  And he pulls out all the stops, as it were, on the Hammond here and there.  And, yes, there are funky time signatures thrown in, and thoughtful horn arrangements.  And drop-dead gorgeous harmonies from a hauntingly ethereal female voice.  And some of the lyrics push the envelope of syntax and meaning.  And the mix and production are as smooth as silk. And, in fact, one of the cuts on this disc is f%#*ing sublime, and deserves radio airplay as much as any ‘single’ I’ve heard in the past two decades.  

But the real tribute on this CD is that Dave not only knows in his head that samsara is nirvana -— he feels it in his laughing bones.  And he doesn’t hesitate to let ‘em roll.  It’s all about the permanency of the here and now.  Time past and time future are, indeed, contained in time present.  This is our permanence, no matter how well we say goodbye.  So we get everything from a bittersweet country excursion down the Old Plank Road, with the Blue Ridge Mountains just around the bend, to the prophetic burning shores on the horizon of which lies our eastern intrigue.  Nobody feels like a stranger in these landscapes.  Dave laments, in closing his liner notes, that his deceased Mother didn’t hear these tunes.  But with music this spiritually soulful gathering the tribes, all are invited to the dance.  She’s hearing it, brother.  Loud and clear.

Let Dave Pellicciaro lead you to ‘the edge of nowhere’.  There, when the sarod (think sitar) twangs and the feminine raga moans, you’ll be stripped (like this disc itself) of all pretense.  You’ll jump.  You’ll shout.  You’ll laugh.  You’ll cry.  You won’t know whether to shit or go blind.
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Dave's poetic lyrics mask an almost unbearable level of truth- raw, emotional, and vulnerable. Thanks to the complexity of expression, the listener is able to tap into this open vein of feeling at whatever level they can resonate. The music behind the words is epic, skilled, and sophisticated- much like the songwriter. "I Don't Want To Act Like It Doesn't Matter" is a hit song waiting to be discovered.
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This album has it all - well crafted tunes, interesting arrangements, and honest emotional content. Anyone who can seamlessly blend Tower of Power horns with lush pedal steel is worth checking out. Well done.
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A truly fantastic record.  Pellicciaro has brought about mountains from mole hills.  Each track is unique in its own right.  Some of it brings me to tears.  Nice work Mighty Dave.  Keep it up.
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