CASINO

The album that followed his two most acclaimed solo efforts after leaving Chick Corea's ever-evolving RETURN TO FOREVER project, Casino is a very polished album, eminently listenable, yet lacks something. I think it is the push and prodding that collaborators can have. Here it feels as if Al is definitely the boss--confident to the point of being cocky, taking the vast majority of the limelight--even multi-tracking his own instruments--rather than giving away any of the show time to anyone else. (The album's "Fantasia Suite for Two Guitars" has two guitars, but his! Recorded in two tracks!) Though Al has enlisted the help of amazing team of players--including Steve Gadd, Mingo Lewis, Eddie Colon, Barry Miles, and Anthony Jackson--the team are all subordinates; all are very respected in their field but none of them have been leaders--whereas on previous albums Al had hired help from seasoned veterans--some of whom were senior to him (and, therefore, more strongheaded). For Casino, gone are previous collaborators Jan Hammer, Lenny White, and Paco De Lucia (and before that, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius, and Stanley Clarke). And it shows: This is Al's show now. So what's wrong with that? the music comes out a little too proscribed, cerebral, even sterile. Don't get me wrong. It's impressive and clean and genius. It just lacks some kind of . . . soul. Or emotion.

1. "Egyptian Danza" (5:57) a wonderfully eerie organ intro from Barry Miles sets the tone for something heavy that is intended, I'm guessing, to be spooky. Great mix of the bass, drums, and keys into the spce with Al. The "oasis interlude" in the second minute is a bit odd, but, then, so is the over-arching Latin feel and sound of this song about "Egypt." Nice work from Al, of course, on multiple tracks, but my favorite parts are his little flurries opposite Barry's organ and MiniMoog riffs. Also, this is the Steve Gadd I saw when I saw Jan Hammer and Al in concert about the time of this release or Splendido Hotel. (8.875/10) 2. "Chasin' the Voodoo" (5:05) the Mingo Lewis composition that exists in several places including Mingo's own solo album Flight Never Ending where it is called Frankincense. It's a hard-driving song often cruising along in a surprisingly straightforward time despite the prevalence of endless flurries of challenging moves like a game of lightning chess. Really, this is an amazing song; it just lacks engaging melodies except in a few places. (9/10)

3. "Dark Eye Tango" (5:25) a fairly even-tempoed song that starts out slow with a protracted intro before settling into a nice Latin groove. Great percussion play from Mingo Lewis while Al plays electric guitar with some less-than-usual spaciousness which seems to exhibit some emotion. I really like Al's more drawn out lead guitar playing: that's where he impresses me with his sense of melody as well as the sense that there is feeling being broadcast/channeled from his inner being. At the same time one can almost feel as if he's human playing at speeds that we humans can appreciate, process, and enjoy. (9.25/10)

4. "Señor Mouse" (7:21) a fairly recent Chick Corea song (from his and Gary Burton's 1973 album release, Crystal Silence) is here revived. Despite owning the albums on which Chick approaches this song and its variations, I have to admit that I do not recognize it or its melodies. In spite of this, the ease and spaciousness within the song's construct are greatly appreciated even if the melodies are not all that great. (13.25/15)

5. "Fantasia Suite for Two Guitars" (5:12) : - a. "Viva La Danzarina" - b. "Guitars of the Exotic Isle" - c. "Rhapsody Italia" - d. "Bravoto Fantasia" In my opinion, this song might have contributed greatly to the turning of the tide of public opinion/disfavor that Al began to experience around this time. His machine-like technical skill and antiseptic sound production were already raising some negative feelings for being "too clean" and/or "soulless," but creating a song such as this in which he chooses to use his own guitar playing on multiple tracks to play off of--instead of the use of another player as he'd used on previous albums (like Paco De Lucia) or other instrumentalists of different instruments who possess comparatively equal skill--he was interpreted by some as exhibiting a level of arrogance that turned many off. I know when I saw the acoustic trio of he and John McLaughlin and Paco live in concert the two times I saw them, I came away feeling much greater affinity for the two elder statesmen (though some of this affinity I attribute to the use of nylon string guitars by John and Paco) because Al looked like it was work while John and Paco looked like it was an expression of joy and reverence for their medium and muse (music). At the same time, this suite is actually a very pleasant and beautifully-nuanced piece of music with several melodies feeling familiar enough from the classical and Latin music memories of my childhood. Perhaps it's also due to my enjoyment of Al's acoustic guitar play over his electric. (9.3333/10) 6. "Casino" (9:29) a brilliant 55-second intro leads into a catchy riff that, unfortunately, does not continue on to become the pace or melodic determiner of the first motif; instead this becomes much slower and lazier than expected--very much like that of the exotic strains of "Flight Over Rio" from his previous album. After the midpoint, the song just keeps getting softer and softer, more spacious and drawn out, with Al even giving way to a rather cheesy smooth/Calypso-like electric piano and percussion section in the seventh and eighth minutes. When the guitar maestro does return to reclaim the lead he chooses to have himself backed by some cheesy synthesizer strings before sliding into a lull at the 8:30 mark, which is then followed by a weird Bach/Who-like series of chords to finish. (17.5/20)

Total Time 38:29

An album that at times exhibits almost-incredible skills and speeds from all of its musicians, offers enough scaled down, more-gentle material to help win me over. Where I seem to always fail to get into Al is in his choices of melody lines: they are rarely the kind that please my brain the way it was hard-wired by the likes of Mozart, Burt Bacharach, and Motown and Philly soul/R&B. Listening to this album after all these years reveals some really great music, accomplished composition and performance, just lacking that something personal. "Casino" (5:05) (8/10) and "Chasin' the Voodoo" (9:29) (8/10) have both received many concert performances by Al through the years--as has Chick Corea's "Señor Mouse." I bet the concert versions are awesome.

B+/4.5 stars; if talent and skill alone could make a masterpiece, this would be the case here. Unfortunately, some of Al's choices for arrangement and song structure seem to get lost going down odd side-streets. Recommended but I would never consider this an essential acquisition for anyone's music collection.

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