AL DI MEOLA — Land of the Midnight Sun (review)

AL DI MEOLA — Land of the Midnight Sun album cover

Album · 1976 · Fusion

4.5/5 · 2024-10-11
FunkFreak75

Guitar phenom Al Di Meola's debut album as a bandleader.

1. "The Wizard" (6:46) a song that is forever burned into me brain for the way it blew me away upon first hearing it in 1976. Now, almost 50 years later it still stands up well: for both freshness in sound and power and proficiency as a strong composition. Nice drumming from Steve Gadd but even better percussion work from Mingo Lewis. Great build-up to the five-minute mark but then the crescendo and dénouement don't really live up to the hype until the very end. (14/15)

2. "Land of the Midnight Sun" (9:10) a great whole band groove with great starting melody coming from Al's smooth electric guitar, but then at the 0:45 mark we start the stop and staccato punching that Al becomes so known for before recapitulating the opening theme for the second verse. His playing is so clean and crisp! At 2:03 there is a motif switch into a gorgeous little Latin swing dance piece over which Al's muted soloing and Barry Miles' MiniMoog trade solo shots back and forth three rounds before moving into the stop and staccato punching for some Mingo Lewis conga display. Then we move into a different-key variation of the opening melody, another staccato divertimenti this time extended with some serious lead guitar and backing electric piano. Al does what Al Di does best at 6:20, soaring to Icarus' heights. The motif goes on just a bit too long before finally showing teasing signs of coming out in the final minute. Masterfully done! (18.75/20)

3. "Sarabande from Violin Sonata in B Minor" (1:20) a nice little display of classical feel and restraint for Al on this Bach piece. (4.75/5)

4. "Love Theme from 'Pictures of the Sea'" (2:25) obviously an excerpt from something else Al and company were recording that he liked but not enough to rework or re-record the piece in its entirety. Al's first display of his vocal talents (with Patty Buyukas and axe-buddy Stanley Clarke). It's nice, innocuous with nothing to really fault. (4.5/5)

5. "Suite - Golden Dawn" (9:49) a suite that is sometimes challenging to find connections between the parts, but the sum is nice. All in all it's good but not great (except for the work from the rhythm section). (17.75/20): - a. "Morning Fire" (1:15) opens sounding like Todd Rundgren's "Utopia Theme" only a little more refined. - b. "Calmer Of The Tempests" (1:11) a gentle tropical breeze from Mahavishnu land. - c. "From Ocean To The Clouds" (7:18) a funk-rock piece with liberal percussion and Alphonse Mouzon on drums. Nice trade offs in the duel between Al and Barry Miles' MiniMoog.

6. "Short Tales of the Black Forest" (5:41) an all-acoustic duet between Al and Chick Corea. Makes you comprehend how much of the RTF stuff comes from the keyboard maestro. Still, Al excels at playing with and off of other masters--filling those spaces with his magical flourishes and trilling runs. Chick's piano is recorded a little too far back--as if it's only Al's guitar that's getting mic-ed and all of Chick's piano sound is only being recorded by the grace of what Al's mic can pick up. (9.25/10)

Total Time: 35:11

The impressive debut album from prodigious guitarist Al Di Meola, fresh off of his first three albums with Chick Corea's Return to Forever project. While Al had undoubtedly the pick of the jazz and jazz-fusion worlds from which to use as his studio musicians on he could easily have just used all of his RTF band mates to display his singular compositional ideas. But his did not. While Chick, Stanley and Lenny all made contributions to Land of The Midnight Sun, Al also employed the support of such stalwarts as bassist Anthony Jackson and Jaco Pastorius, drummers Steve Gadd and Alphonze Mouzon, and keyboardist Barry Miles. As was becoming known throughout the music world at the time, a musician had to be highly proficient bordering on virtuosic to hang with Al; what would become evident in the years to come was that there were other challenges to working with the demanding, self-absorbed maestro. While Midnight Sun does not stand up as well as Elegant Gypsy or some other later Al Di releases (I rarely listen to it, choosing 1977's Elegant Gypsy, 1978's Casino, or his 1980s releases over it), it represents an incredibly impressive display of instrumental and compositional skills though I feel a slightly cold arrogance creating some distance between the music and me, the listener. It's hard to argue with Al's virtuosity; the issue, as the years will bear out, is with his ability to engage his audience with something more than his skill and prowess.

4/20/24 addendum: With all the grief over Al's "soul-less" technicality, I have to say that I disagree: there is plenty of heart and emotion here, even in those blistering runs. The true test, for me, is the feel the listener gains from listening to the artist perform on an acoustic instrument and on Land of the Midnight Sun I think Mr. Di Meola accounts for himself in spades.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of multi-dimensional Jazz-Rock Fusion--a rather brilliant display for one's first foray!