SCENARIO

This is the first album that I had ever heard from Al DiMeola. Steered to ADM by a friend, I thought that having Bruford, Collins and Levin on this album that would be spectacular. Unfortunately, the 3 guest only cover 2 tracks as Bruford and Levin are on 1 track and Collins is on another. There are plenty of drum machines and sequencers on this album and also plenty of Jan Hammer. While not put off as much as many on this site by the 80's sound, some of that sound here is generic. At the time, I was astonished about the guitar stylings of Mr. DiMeola. There is acoustic and of course electric guitar, plus a healthy dose of World Music mixed in and another has Far East influences. Some of these sounds he would explore deeper in the albums to come.

I enjoyed this album quite a bit when it came out but as I found out later, this was only the tip of the iceberg. I want to give this four stars but honestly, I think it falls a little short of the mark.

3 stars