Customer Reviews

Casino

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the album that turned my attention to the fabulous world of fusion music (Santana's albums had been preparing me a bit). My Dad bought this album in 1979 and I was listening mainly to Queen,Santana and Rick Wakeman in those days and I remember hearing the first song on the album, Egyptian Danza and was astounded, this was amazing playing, the beauty of his tone, the incredible technique and all those great melodies and rhythms, I have been an Al Di Meola's fan ever since. After I heard that album I turned my attention to his two previous albums The Land of the Midnigt Sun and Elegant Gypsy (which I think is his ultimate masterpiece and one of the great fusion classics of the 70's) and also to Return to Forever which introduced me to the excellent works of Chick Corea and then on to other great fusion masters like John Mclaughlin and Weather Report.

The thing I like so much about fusion is the freedom in this type of music, different players are fusing different things together so it is difficult to give a good description of what the fusion style is,it is very varied. (although in the mid 80's the form kind of stagnated and degenerated into fusac, which Meola thankfully stayed away from). On this CD, Al is fusing together Jazz,Latin,Rock,Flamengo and Egyptian music together in a beautiful blend.

Thanks Al, for introducing me to one of the great musicial forms ever.

I listened some more to this CD, gave it a year to sink in, and found that it is more enjoyable after repeated listenings. I really like the tune "Dark Eyed Tango", especially when the percussion starts getting funky and does that bouncing effect in the speakers, and Al blazes through it with gracefulness, it's just very cool. "Chasin the Voodoo" and "Fantasia Suite" are still my favorites, but I found that this is better music than I had thought it to be at the time I wrote my last review for it. Very good music, there's a reason why it sold so well. I think that this CD would be a good starting point for rock guitar fans to start out into jazz, the latin beats and the solos and drumming are very accessible to people who are familiar with Santana and other groups from the 70's. Thank you.

Al D is awesome. I was introduced to this album when I was getting my music (percussion) degree in the early 80's. The first time I heard it, I was in awe at Al's speed, melodic interpretation, use of modes and abnormal scalar patterns, and his use of staccato. If you don't understand music theory, you might not fully appreciate his genius, but you'll be dazzled and enthralled by his talent and the quality of this music.

Casino and Elegant Gypsy Suite are his two best albums. I bet I've listened to Casino at least 10,000 times. I know every single note played by every instrument, of every song. I'll never get tired of listening to it.

Steve Gadd, being one of of the greatest drummers ever, compliments Al wonderfully on this album.

I'd love to see today's "guitarists" even try to touch some of the rips Al pulls off. That would be hilarious. No one will ever be this great again. If you appreciate good guitar music, you've got to have this CD.

Al D and Bach, the two greatest musical geniuses in history.

Al's credentials as a master guitarist are unassailable. While this may not be his best work overall, the uninitiated can count on dazzling speed combined with crystalline clarity. 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.

Al DiMeola is a wizard of flashing fusion electric guitar and is also a master as an acoustic player with an eagerness to explore other cultural music stylings. He broke out in the music scene when he joined the great Return To Forever in 1974 and immediately became a very influential fusion guitarist. Though with his great talent, he was criticized early in his career that he overplayed with an excess on notes and lacked true feeling in his playing.

After his short time with the short-lived Return To Forever and due to their breakup, DiMeola led his own groups, alternating between electric and acoustical guitar throughout his career.

"Casino" was his 3rd solo outing released in 1977 and showed that he was progressively maturing as a musician and playing with much improved feeling and growth since his Return For Forever days showed in all of the compositions here with distinct strength and diversity. Several tracks are ripping, straight ahead fusion/rock assaults. "Fantasia Suite For Two Guitars" displays his masterful acoustical guitar talents while his growing affection for flamenco is displayed as well.

Truely a recommended CD of his for your listening pleasure !!!

I bought Dimeola's Elegant Gypsy album and got it into relatively quickly despite its technicality. With Casino it was much more difficult. 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?

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

A relative late comer to Al DiMeola's solo career (really don't know why that it exactly), I am surprised at the new and wonderful qualities I find in his music each time I listen to him. Needless to say the man has an inborn natural talent for knowing the best musicians to compliment his own guitar style. Bringing in extremely capable and very very overworked session players such as the amazing Anthony Jackson and Steve Gadd for such challenging compositions should say a lot. If the fusion genre ever had two bigger guitar hero's it would have to be John McLaughlin and Al DiMeola. Yes they were probably rivals in a sense. And yes they both made their sounds based on different fingering techniques from all over the world. But Al bought something just a tad different to each of his albums so you'd know who you were listening to,just in case you didn't the moment the first lick he played at the start.

"Egyptian Danza" showcases that North African/Arabic melodic style that became all the rage from across jazz and R&B in the last decade but that Al had helped pioneer. Of course there's also the presence of polyrhythm,bright synthesizer touches and a pretty strong melodic construction. It's pretty funky actually,especially when Al's playing arrives at it's most rhythmically shaded frenzy. Almost like a rare, subtle sugar high of sound. A heavy afro latin rock motif shows up on the powerful "Chasin' The Voodoo",showcasing a strong veer towards the musical universe of a Santana from that era. Of course the beautifully slow,swelling rhythms of "Dark Eye Tango" are a pretty dead giveaway in that direction as well. He's dipping into his old RTF catalog a bit with his re imagining of Chick Corea's "Senor Mouse",which in this case is basically a late 70's style reproduction of the original only with Al's personality more at the forefront. "Fantasia Suite" and the title track both showcase Al's fascination for gypsy style spanish,folk and classical influences.

Also something else was happening here,something Al had already made clear on his two previous solo recordings. He was really coining the the whole worldbeat jazz style that John McLaughlin was helping to pioneer earlier in the decade. A quieter and more produced variation of this extra fusion would eventually become the new age sound,which became something of a separate genre of it's own. At the same time this spontaneous,exciting,very memorable and melodic. At first I was sort of put off by all the things I heard about Al's show-offsky musical nature. And indeed he did come along during the currently re-evaluated progressive rock era. All the same his style of playing is very approachable. And during the late 1970's it didn't really seem he could make a bad album. This is definitely one of the important moments of the jazz fusion genre which,in it's original form I feel is still somewhat neglected to this day.

Steve Gadd: the king of the jazz fusion drum set, must be on more great pieces of music than any other jazz musician. This one is no exception, it is jazz guitar wonderkid Al DeMeola's 3rd solo album. He was still in his Chick Corea stage and this is fusion jazz at its very best. Anthony Jackson on bass and the previously mentioned King on drums, and this band rocks. Barry Miles plays some great keyboards and Mingo Lewis can jam on percussion: Mingo's "Chasin' the Vodoo" is a standout. The weakest track is "Dark Eye Tango" and it's not to bad, more of a jazz/blues fusion number.

He covers Chick's "Senor Mouse" and he does the original proud, the band shines here. Al plays the guitar parts different than on the original that was played by Bill Connors, and just as well. I really like this cover of a great Chick Corea song. "Fantasia Suite For Two Guitars" is a four part suite of acoustic guitar pieces. Then we get the title track: Latin jazz fusion at it's very best. "Casino" shows why Al is considered one of the best musicians in the jazz fusion world. Not only as a guitar player but also as a songwriter and his work on this album is among his very best. 4 stars and a must for any fan of good guitar based fusion.

If you haven't heard this guy you've got to get some or atleast one to see for yourself you'll love it I'm guessing !!!!