Flesh on Flesh

Al Di Meola | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 27, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B00006EXFV
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #150,687 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #65 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Jazz Fusion

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Ever since he burst on the scene as a teenage member of the fusion group Return to Forever, Al Di Meola has reigned as a guitar god in jazz, flamenco, and world music circles. Those genres are well represented on this disc, with guests Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, flutist Alejandro Santos, and World Sinfonia members Gumbi Ortiz (percussion) and Mario Parmisano (keyboards). While Di Meola's lightning licks are still in effect, they are tempered by Old World, classically tinged settings with a dash of '70s-style fusion. Chick Corea's "Señor Mouse" is elegantly reworked, and "Fugata" by the Argentine tango master Astor Piazzolla retains cool and complex contrapuntal lines. Di Meola plays a number of guitars on this date, from a 1958 Les Paul to an Ovation model, but it's all Al Di Meola and it's all good. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mystic Tranquility, March 13, 2004

By 

Kurt Harding "bon vivant" (Boerne TX) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Flesh on Flesh (Audio CD)

Al DiMeola's music is hard to write about. I have had this CD for more than a year now, and still have difficulty finding the proper words to describe it. It's technical, it's virtuoso, and it's extremely intellectual. There is something about DiMeola's compositions, particularly since Soaring Through A Dream, that is almost trance-inducing.
DiMeola is far more than just another fast guitarist, he is an explorer and a genre-bending virtuoso. With Flesh On Flesh, he shows once again that he is not afraid to take chances with the music of some of the greatest modern composers of other lands. Argentine master Astor Piazzolla has been a long-time favorite of his and in addition to one of AP's compositions, DiMeola offers his interpretation of a work by the renowned Brazilian Egberto Gismonti.
I had feared, as a couple of other reviewers, that the nude woman on the cover was a device to disguise schlock within much as with DiMeola's uninspired Kiss My Axe. To my delight, it was not. The CD is jammed with great music that fills the listener with a feeling of mystic tranquility.
Some reviewers complain of a similarity to other DiMeola works. Perhaps there are superficial similarities with music he has recorded in the past, but beyond that Flesh On Flesh just adds to the catalogue of DiMeola's fine accomplishments. My favorites are the dreamy Innamorata, the Piazzolla classic Fugata, and the mellow Saffire Soleil. I also enjoy the reworking of Senor Mouse, an old standard from Al's Casino album. I am least fond of the title cut, but it does not really detract from the album as a whole.
Over all, Flesh On Flesh is an excellent album that should please most current DiMeola fans as well as attract some new ones. The four stars mean that its not among his very best, but its not at all bad. Check it out!

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars True Dinner Music of the Gods, December 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Flesh on Flesh (Audio CD)

Di Meola says on the record sleeve that on "Flesh on Flesh" he deliberately attempted to fuse the energy of his earliest records with his more sophisticated, compositional approach of more recent records. Sounds contrived? Or like some "commercial comeback" marketing gag, like the blurb on the "Kiss My Axe" and "Infinite Desire" sleeves? The naked woman on the front cover might convince you that way as well, but think again! Al really does achieve such a balance on this record and it is one of his best. The big bonus (believe it or not) is the inclusion of a flute in the band (perhaps the old Chick Corea influence?). It gives the music a sensuous, melodious tone that permeats the whole album and fits in among the fast Cuban rhtyhms and Al's acoustic and electric guitar playing remarkably well. Some tunes on this one are as orchestral in approach (though there's no orchestra on the record), as on Grande Passion. The difference is that the music is a lot more "up" on this record: meaning both upbeat in tempo and upbeat spiritually, in a joyous kind of way. The title track is a great example of that: acoustic guitar and flute playing a graceful, joyful melody over a very fast Cuban rhtyhm and concluding with an electric solo with all the passion of Dark Eye Tango. The music has that kind of passionate, electric-guitarist-as-lead-violinist, spirit to it that has been missing since Al put down his Les Paul, but the music is entirely new in style...that's whats so pleasing (I bet) to all Al fans. Al plays a new acoustic-electric guitar on this record, which sometimes has a similar tone to his early style Les Paul playing. When he does pick up the electric on this one, he does "let fly" a bit, playing fast and with an "edgy" tone. On a couple of tracks he even does (briefly) his old trademark speed muted picking/flamenco style of playing that he hasn't done for over 20 years. This is NOT a rock album, even though its energetic. There is nothing mechanical or contrived sounding about it (as on Infinite Desire) and there's no sense of Al trying a new style just for the sake of it (as on Orange and Blue) The music, like all Al's best music, is sensual, without being raunchy or the slightest hint of sleaze, energetic without being noisy. It is real "Dinner Music of the Gods" and, after a few listens, you'll see the record sleeve as a piece of art not a cheap excuse for putting a naked woman on the cover. He plays a classical guitar better than any jazz guitarist in history. The album is short enough at 50 mins (with two long jam like tracks taking up nearly 20 mins), but perhaps the best recommendation for the album in this respect is that you won't mind...its not one of those CDs you say: oh, its only 45 mins long--I'm not getting value for money. The music is too special for the thought to come into your head and reminds you that some of the best albums are the shorter ones, especially if it captures the spirit of the artist as well as this one. Joyful, tuneful music--what more could you want? This: Al plays acoustic and electric on this album with grace, passion and a touch of fire and there's none of that sampling, with guitars sounding like oboes or bells, stuff he did before. Instead it is much more of a guitar album and Al's band's achieve a blend of acoustic and electric works with a better balance of energy, melody and passion than ever before. Al is still the only artist I've come across who can play loud electric guitar music, loosy jazzy music, folk music or you name it while maintaining a POWERFUL SPIRIT to his music that seems to come from some a Latin/classical inspired source. That's the magic that's run through his whole solo career and that magic is here. Italian-Americans should be proud of him!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Al is playing his own style now!, February 12, 2006

By 

D. M. Paine "Renaissance Man" (Alexandria, Virginia USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Flesh on Flesh (Audio CD)

With Flesh on Flesh Al Dimeola has developed his own style. Let me say a word about my approach here. Too many Amazon reviews gush all over about how great the album his, without providing context. This is written for the experienced or curious Dimeola fan, to discuss where Al has come from and where he is now.

In 1974 Al Dimeola made a big impression in the jazz-fusion world as Chick Corea's new guitarist for Return to Forever, replacing the amazing but gritty Bill Connors. With his first few solo albums in the 70's he showed good writing ability as well. But since then he has labored in the shadows of guitarists John McLaughlin and Pat Metheny, as well as his mentor Corea. In the 80's he got a bit mired in a fusion rut where speed and accuracy trumped most everything else. He tried to climb out by following Metheny's lead into Brazilian sounds, but to me it was too derivative, not quite right for Al. In the 90's he did some world music, more fusion, and more Brazilian, all excellent, but he never quite achieved a cohesive sound. The best exception to this was 1985's great, all-acoustic Cielo y Terra.

Well, I'm glad to say here that has changed. This album is a complete whole, with great playing, but more importantly, all good compositions that reflect Al's own style. Some songs are great, including the edgy intro Zona Desperata, title piece Flesh on Flesh, which runs a range of emotions as it implies, and the complex Fugata. His band supports him perfectly, not reclusive as some times past but mixed in just right. Al even has fun with Corea's Senor Mouse, funking it up a bit and curtailing the tense middle section. (Al clearly wishes he'd played with Chick for the great Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, as this is his third song from that album.) He has less need to impress here, and just wants to play his own music for us. Keep it up, Al!