Customer Reviews

Tour De Force

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

 

 

How can you not purchase for less than ten bucks this stellar fusion recording? I wore out my vinyl copy in college, and the tunes only sound better with age. With the glut of watery synth sounds out, I especially enjoy hearing Jan Hammer boil out some rocking runs--better even than I heard him perform with Jeff Beck! But the star is not Hammer, or even Al, but the whole band. This is a great live BAND album. Tempos shift, intensity varies remarkably, all within the same tunes. Skill does not overshadow art, either--Al and company find humor, joy, intrigue, and beauty in their compositions.

This is the first time those huge musicians got together on stage, and unfortunately this is the only live album they've recorded. For worst... it's only a single cd (single LP in the original release).
Though Al's marvelous guitar skills don't surprise anyone at this time it is worth to mention that he colors every riff, every tune with his unique latin-like style.
Jan Hammer on keyboards plays a dramatically first role, for moments rivaling DiMeola's leadership of the band.
Steve Gadd on drums and Mingo Lewis on percussion give the band a rock-solid platform on which they develop in such a beautiful manner.
One reviewer here mentions ¨Race with Devil...¨ as his favourite. Well, I would pick Elegant Gypsy Suite for me. It perfectly combines rock-jazz fussion with caribbean rhythms in a solid coherent tune. The last track ¨Cruisin¨ is another jewel.
Mixing and recording quality is excellent considering it comes from analog tapes taken in 1982. Soundstaging and stereo image are unbelievable. Anyone could say it surpasses many live recordings of today.
Well... If I have to mention something negative side on this album, I'd surely shoose its poor printed information. Only a couple of photos and several lines of text. But this doen't demerit the recording in any manner.

"Tour De Force Live" is a mini-best of Al Dimeola. The Band is a once in a lifetime lineup. Gadd(Drums), Hammer(Keyboards),Jackson(Bass)and Mingo(Percussion) ensure that the perfection of the studio is kept in this live recording. One dissapointment is that, besides a litttle reggae in "Race With the Devil", there isn't any improvisation. Dimeola pretty much recreates his studio versions verbatim. I recommend that you get this disc as an introduction to Al's solo career(It was mine). This is an incredible live recording and if it wasn't for the crowd being heard at the end of tunes you would have no idea. Al delivers most of the goods in his playing and the compositions are original. Anyone that thinks that these are simplistic should try writing something like "Race With the Devil". The other dissapointment of this disc is no acoustic showcase. If you desire to hear all that Al is capable of then get "Elegant Gypsy". This disc is still a very good one.

I own this album since my school days. I had it in vynil and now I have my copy in cd. I still enjoy very much the first two tunes here which are really balanced and very creative compositions. Elegant Gypsy Suite is a sort of fusion of styles suite where every player has his moments to shine but without losing himself in pure virtuosism. This tune is what really makes me love this album. The second one is really great too, the lovely "ballad" Nena. I did buy this one again just for these two tunes which I really wanted to have in my cd collection because I think they really deserves ammiration. "Advantage" even if it's not great as the opener is still a very good fusion ride. Simply I can't stand what follows. "Egyptian danza", "Race with devil" are simply boring, unbearable tunes. They are exotic and dramatic in their flavour (thanxs to the harmonic minor scale used here and there) but they are simply unbelievable heavy to listen to. There are moments as in "Egyptian danza" that are even ridicolous (around 2.15)!!! Awful stuff! The last tune "Cruisin" is a little bit better there is more melody and the things get better a little bit again. But frankly I think that even if it is a short album it could even be shorter and noone would complain. 13 minutes shorter to say the least! In the end 5 stars for the first two tunes, 3 and a half stars for the last song, and no stars for the 4th and fifth tunes that personally I find totally unbearable. But we all know Al never recorded a true masterpiece from the first note to the last one. He is very inconsistent as an artist. Impressive guitarist, decent music writer but without a true, solid inspiration. It's a shame because I still think he can do great things. He's talented (for example I enjoy very much Passion Grace and Fire the album he recorded with McLaughlin and DeLucia and even Orange and Blue another album of his) ... so c'mon Al!

Great album, great price, great condition.

One of Al's most classic live performances. Simply amazing.

This in my opinion is the best live album (CD) I've ever heard. Talking about virtuousity is not even close to doing Di Meola and his gang justice. This review is for the sake of those who are not familiar with Di Meola's work (I'm sure his fans have it). Check out especially the dual betweeen Di Meola and Hammer. Really awesome stuff

As a student I stopped buying DiMeola's LPs after his third, 'Casino'. By that stage it became clear that musically he was never going to create a group as strong in its output as his previous band, Return to Forever. His compositions never seemed as strong as RtF's, taking a difficult path between rock riff cliche and whatever was furiously difficult to play.

So it was a pleasant surprise to buy this CD which contains a number of tunes new to me. It's well recorded too -- almost too good to be a true 'live' album. But only 39 minutes long? It must have been a short concert!

Al, Steve Gadd and Chick Corea are amazing in the cd. Probably the best live instrumental CD available in the market.