ANTHOLOGY (1975-1982)

Lately there was a thread on the Forum about Underrated Guitarists, immediately Al DiMeola came to my mind, although he is hailed by his fellow musicians. I checked the Internet and indeed, in most of the Best Guitarists Of All Time polls he is hardly to find in the Top 50, because it's often more about popular rock guitarists, like Eddie van Halen, Angus Young and The Edge.

Al DiMeola started to play guitar at an early age and used to practise between 8-10 hours a day. He was very inspired by Larry Coryell, Al loved his blending of jazz, blues and rock. At the age of 19 he joined the legendary fusion formation Return To Forever (with Chick Corea, Stanly Clarke and Lenny White), after the band disbanded Al DiMeola started a solo carreer, in 1976. In 1980 he played in a jawdropping acoustic trio with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia, I have seen this trio two times, "a wet dream for guitar aficionados!".

I consider Al Di Meola his guitar sound as unique and spectacular: fiery, powerful and often very speedy featuring howling and biting soli, propulsive riffs, exciting accellarations and his distinctive 'deading of the strings'. He collaborated with excellent musicians, from Jan Hammer and Jaco Pastorius to Simon Phillips and Phil Collins.

This compilation contains all the 'classic' tracks and also includes four previously unreleased tracks, the final two on CD-2 are recorded in Holland, in 1982 (Al Di's Dream Theme and Theme To The Mothership).

My highlights.

Land Of The Midnight Sun : swinging and dynamic with splendid interplay between guitar, electric piano and the rhythm section, an exciting percussive break and a captivating duel between the Minimoog synthesizer and guitar.

Race With Devil On Spanish Highway : spectacular propulsive rhythm and catchy guitar riffs and swirling interplay between guitar and keyboards.

Elegant Gypsy Suite : wonderful Spanish flavor with acoustic guitar and string-ensemble from Al Di Meola.

Medley: Short Tales Of The Black Forest/Fantasia suite for two guitars : virtuosic interplay between acoustic guitar, marimba and electric piano.

Alien Chase On Arabian Desert : spectacular Yamaha CS-80 synthesizer sound and a sultry climate delivering a sensational duel between the guitar and Minimoog.

God Bird Change : swinging and dynamic rhythm with again great interplay between electric guitar, keyboards and percussion and an exciting percussive break on conga's from Mingo Lewis (I knew this music from The Tubes live).

Electric Rendezvous : sensational atmosphere, very catchy and dynamic featuring howling electric guitar and flashy Minimoog flights from Jan Hammer.

Egyptian Dance-live : also very dynamic and exciting, trademark Al DiMeola solo work.

Crusin'-live : it sounds like The Mahavishnu Orchestra delivering splendid work from Al Di Meola and Jan Hammer.

Sequencer : features fiery electric guitar and Jan Hammer on the famous Fairlight computer delivering a catchy sequencer sound, this evokes the time that Jan Hammer worked with Jeff Beck on the classic fusion album Wired.

Bianca's Midnight Lullaby : Al Di Meola plays romantic acoustic guitar, the mellow side of his varied guitarplay.

For those who are into jazzrock, fusion and guitar-oriented music this compilation is a must, but I am sure lots of progheads who like powerful guitar and spectacular keyboards in dynamic and alternating compositions will be delighted. In my opinion Al DiMeola is an overlooked artist on Prog Archives, especially his 1976-1982 work is worth to discover, scouting the borders between jazzrock/fusion and progressive rock.