Friday, July 29, 2011

Al Di Meola: Land Of The Midnight Sun (Vinyl Review)


Released: October 25th, 1976
Reviewed: July 29th, 2011
Record Label: Columbia


My rating: 10/10



Track Listing:


1. The Wizard
2. Land Of The Midnight Sun
3. Sarabande From Violin Sonata In B Minor
4. Love Theme From Pictures Of The Sea
5. Suite Golden Dawn:
    Morning Fire
    Calmer Of The Tempests
    From Ocean To The Clouds
6. Short Tales Of The Black Forest

Al Di Meola is undoubtedly a legendary musician, and despite the fact that I have devoted the best part of the last seven years of my life listening to heavy metal, I often came across his name, hearing and reading about how great and influential he has been, not only to jazz musicians but to musicians across the board. And when Glen Drover included a great rendition of Al Di Meola's "Egyptian Danza" in his solo debut "Metalusion" this year, it only succeeded in further piquing my interest. Other than that cover, I had honestly never heard his music. But now that I've decided to delve into the wonderful world of jazz, the first artist I'm laying focus on is none other than Di Meola. I wanted to start right from the beginning, so I paid a visit to Amoeba yesterday to pick up his debut album on vinyl. There was a sense of excitement and anticipation in me as I held that huge piece of artwork, took out the vinyl, placed it on my turntable and started listening to it.

"The Wizard" gives the album a very Latin start. Di Meola's guitar, synth and percussion combine together to create insane harmonies, as the song makes a journey through multiple tempo shifts. The tune is nothing short of mind-blowing, and makes a long-lasting impact on the listener's mind straightaway. The sheer range of Di Meola's musical abilities is quite evident even in these mere 6 and a half minutes. The title song keeps a similar style going, but in the process it provides yet more delightful musical passages that vary from each other but are brilliantly arranged together to somehow make the tune sound like a cohesive unit. The bass sound is also quite a lot more prominent in this one as compared to the opening track. The song is over 9 minutes long, but I have come across countless number of songs that are of equal or longer duration, and don't even come close to being as musically rich as this one.

A short acoustic guitar piece titled "Sarabande From Violin Sonata In B Minor" comes next. There is nothing quite as mentally liberating as the pristine sound of an acoustic guitar, and when it's being played by someone like Di Meola, it's even better. So needless to say, I'm glad that the album includes an acoustic guitar piece by itself. This is followed by another soft little piece of music titled "Love Theme From Pictures Of The Sea". Besides the sounds of the acoustic guitar, electric guitar and traces of percussion and synth, for the first and only time on the album you'll hear vocals.

Side B has just two tracks, the first being a three-part opus titled "Suite Golden Dawn". I would say the titles of the three parts, "Morning Fire", "Calmer Of The Tempests" and "From Ocean To The Clouds" are completely justified as the music creates images that go perfectly with their respective titles. The tune moves beautifully from part to part as they blend very smoothly into each other. Di Meola and his posse of musicians offer a whole plethora of music, creating 10 minutes that can truly be savored. The album comes to a perfect ending, with veteran musician Chick Corea joining in with a composition of his own, titled "Short Tales Of The Black Forest". Not only did he write the complete song, but also played the piano and marimba on it, making it quite a unique track that stands on its own when compared to the rest of the album.

Overall, this album is every bit as great as I had expected it to be, and then some. From this it's pretty clear that the brilliance of Al Di Meola was there for everyone to see, even at such an early stage of his career, and I can imagine how this album must have provided the ideal launching pad for the rest of his career, inspiring Di Meola to keep creating music that in turn became a huge inspiration for others who were fortunate enough to be exposed to this piece of music when it was actually first released, exactly nine years before I was born.

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