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Al Dimeola - Casino Audio CD

A fair review of the Al Dimeola "Casino" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Al Dimeola reviews here, or go back to the Al Dimeola tabs.

Al Dimeola Band: Al Dimeola
Title: Casino
Rating:
Release Date: 1998-03-21
Media: Audio CD

Tracks:

Al DiMeola-Casino
It brings back so many good memories of my childhood back in the late 70's. Al DiMeola's Casino is a great CD. The music is fun, energetic, passionate and romantic. I definitely recommend this album to anyone that likes latin jazz and the jazz-rock era.


The Elephant Is In The Room
I was eighteen years old when I first heard this album in 1977 and it blew me away then as it still does today. I couldn't believe it when I read these other reviews before me. Al Dimeola is a master guitarist and it just amazes me how someone with such virtuoso talent as he obviously has can be criticized by these two bit miserable excuses for belly-aching, complaining, sh-t for brains amateurs like yourselves. It doesn't take someone schooled in musical theory to recognize Mr. Dimeola as the wondrous musician that he is. Go back to your Yes, Deep Purple or whatever the hell else you listen to (probably Kiss too, I suspect) and please don't darken these pages with your second rate complaints. .


Awsome Talent , Excellent Album!
My leanings were decidely hard rock at the time but was just discovering jazz fusion. I bought this as an LP when it was first released and proceeded to wear it out. This is an excellent musical effort and is best listened to with attention and when interuptions can be avoided so the full effect of the journey this album will take you on can be appreciated.


Virtuoso performance by a jazz/fusion master
While this may not be his best work overall, the uninitiated can count on dazzling speed combined with crystalline clarity. Al's credentials as a master guitarist are unassailable. If you've never heard Al's work, the closest comparison might be Carlos Santana's jazz albums, without the pop/rock influence. The production is extremely clean and polished, and the arrangements are very tight, so jazz enthusiasts who like their music warm and loose and mellow may be disappointed here. That said, no serious aficionado of jazz fusion guitar will want to miss this recording.

The opening one-two punch of "Egyptian Danza" and "Chasin' the Voodoo" is probably a mistake. Not that these are bad songs, but they're just too similar - both feature fast-paced, relentlessly hard-driving rhythm tracks that back Al's most frenetic melody lines. Actually, these two pieces are my personal favorites, but on first listening they sounded too much alike, always a danger for instrumentalists. Next us is "Dark Eye Tango" which has a welcome slow groove that has Al's guitar singing a melody rather than screaming it, but a few minutes in the pace picks up and we're tearing along again. So while these really are three terrific tracks, they do leave the impression that Al's just a one-trick pony.

Having shot his wad so early on, the rest of this recording is a bit of a letdown. Al covers Chick Corea's "Senor Mouse" again, and the closer, "Casino" is eminently forgettable, but he redeems himself with the acoustic showcase "Fantasia Suite for Two Guitars". While maintaining the blazing energy levels of "Danza" and "Voodoo" in an acoustic format, this song suite shows Al's command of a breadth of styles that is not hinted at on the rest of this disk.

It would have been smart to re-arrange the playing order of the tracks on this CD, and a good slow number (which I'm not normally a big fan of) would have been a welcome addition here. But the playing is superb, and there's plenty of punch in at least four of the six compositions presented. Jazz/fusion guitarists and percussionists will find this one particularly appealing.


Took ages, but I finally got into it
With Casino it was much more difficult. I bought Dimeola's Elegant Gypsy album and got it into relatively quickly despite its technicality. I listened to it many, many times and I was convinced that it was a bad album. Then one day I played it again and I finally figured out what the hell he was doing! I guess that I was just in the right frame of mind at the time. The thing is, there was nothing at all wrong with Dimeola as a musician, composer or anything else. I think that the problem was with me. His music got so complex and fasat at times that I just couldn't get it. Even when I did get some parts, it would be followed by a complex segment and I would lose my concentration and it would go right over my head. Maybe its best for some fans not to play Dimeola for long periods of time at a time because it can be too much to take in sometimes.

For the record, I'm not someone unused to complex music. My favourite bands include Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull and so on, so something like Casino should be right up my street. As it turned out, it was and I am glad for it.

As for the tracks themselves, the best were Egyptian Danza (this was the easiest to get into), Fantasia Suite For Two Guitars(the second and third movement are especially excellent) and the title track.

I still don't really like Chasin' The Voodoo, Dark Eye Tango, Senor Mouse much, but maybe with a few more listens?.


You can see a complete list of all Al Dimeola discography, or go back to the Al Dimeola tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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