Splendido Hotel

Splendido Hotel

ASIN: B00000273K

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Al Di Meola earned his stripes playing alongside Stanley Clarke and Chick Corea in Return to Forever, but he made his most compelling personal statements with 1980's Splendido Hotel and its precursor, Elegant Gypsy. Di Meola's compositional embrace of Argentinean tango (on a duet with Corea), Brazilian bossa (the romantic "Silent Story in Her Eyes"), and flamenco compas (the overdubbed solo piece "Splendido Sundance") made him more than just another fast guitar player and paved the way for his future work with John McLaughlin and Paco DeLucia. Here he duets with Les Paul on Bert Kaempfert's comfy "Spanish Eyes," tries his hand at singing an up-tempo soul number ("I Can Tell"), blazes through odd-meter jazz-rockers ("Dinner Music of the Gods"), and closes with the acoustic "Bianca's Midnight Lullaby." This is an ambitious--and very long--set with contributions from Anthony Jackson, Steve Gadd, Phillipe Saisse, and Jan Hammer. --James Rotondi

Tracks:

Alien Chase On Arabian Desert
Silent Story In Her Eyes
Roller Jubilee
Two To Tango
Al Di's Dream Theme
Dinner Music Of The Gods
Splendido Sundance
I Can Tell
Spanish Eyes
Isfahan
Bianca's Midnight Lullaby

Amazon.com

Al Di Meola earned his stripes playing alongside Stanley Clarke and Chick Corea in Return to Forever, but he made his most compelling personal statements with 1980's Splendido Hotel and its precursor, Elegant Gypsy. Di Meola's compositional embrace of Argentinean tango (on a duet with Corea), Brazilian bossa (the romantic "Silent Story in Her Eyes"), and flamenco compas (the overdubbed solo piece "Splendido Sundance") made him more than just another fast guitar player and paved the way for his future work with John McLaughlin and Paco DeLucia. Here he duets with Les Paul on Bert Kaempfert's comfy "Spanish Eyes," tries his hand at singing an up-tempo soul number ("I Can Tell"), blazes through odd-meter jazz-rockers ("Dinner Music of the Gods"), and closes with the acoustic "Bianca's Midnight Lullaby." This is an ambitious--and very long--set with contributions from Anthony Jackson, Steve Gadd, Phillipe Saisse, and Jan Hammer. --James Rotondi

Album Description

Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. 2007.

Customer Reviews:

Spledido Hotel..........2006-01-26

I just purchased Splendido Hotel for $9.99 new! Years ago, I had the album on wax, but never did give it a good listen. I put the CD in my PC (at work, no less), and gave it a good listen. My conclusion? This album has something for everyone. Gang, it's not as bad as some of the reviewers have said. I actually like "I can tell" where Al sings (he sounds okay...), I like the music better (of course!). Get yourself an inexpensive copy and enjoy! Four stars...why?..."Elegant Gypsy" is head and shoulders over "Splendido Hotel!" That's why!!

And The Point Is---?.......2005-01-25

When this sprawling magnesium opus was first unleashed circa 1979, I approached it with some trepidation, unfortunately, that trepidation proved very well founded. Simply put, this was one of the most ponderous, pretentious, egocentric and overblown things I ever heard in my life! And this coming from a person who LOVES good fusion, progressive rock and adventurous music in general! Albums like this were what gave fusion a bad name in some people's minds towards the end of the 70's.

From the rather excessive fussed-with music-math to the equally ridiculous and over-long "Thank You" section in the liner notes (he stops just barely short of thanking the trees for producing the paper that this was printed on and the rubber plants for the vynil et al), it's painfully clear that Al DiMeola wants you to pay attention to him and fall down and worship him wether he actually has something to say or not. Is there no end to this man's ego and overblown self-importance?

The music? On the whole, it seems Big Al is trying to cover a wide variety of bases, some of his own choosing, and one OBVIOUSLY of the record company's ill-conceived marketing tragedy (yes, it's a deliberate substitution on my part for the word "strategy"), "I Can Tell", a soulless pseudo-soul tune on which Big Al proves to the world at large that William Shatner can outsing him (at least Shatner was FUNNY and ENTERTAINING!). The only humor comes on the fadeout when Al smashes an exaspirated power-chord as if to say, "Can you please shoot me now?". There's a pleasnat enough duet with Les Paul ("Spanish Eyes"), a bizarre post-disco dance tune called "Roller Jubilee" and the usual pseudo-flamenco workouts, nothing really new otherwise.

Elsewhere, it's pretty much a repeat of previous Al D outings, very calculated, mathematical textbook exercises lacking in any real soul or passion, long on excessive speed guitar wankery and arbitrary start-stop stuff but VERY short on real musical substance. Even Chick Corea's "Isfhan" fails to spark any interest, attempting to conjure up sonic images of ancient Persia and all.

Big Al D is, if nothing else an accomplished TECHNICIAN, but as far as being able to play musically and with real soul, he falls far short of his comtemporaries like John McLaughlin (who has a FRIGHTENING amount of musical depth), Allan Holdsworth, Larry Coryell, Philip Catherine and Pat Metheny among others.

Want fusion with REAL musical substance? Look elsewhere.

Plendido hotel.......2001-05-01

Great cd for those who lige the early works. It truly jams. Great melodies and very tight. I hate all the new DiMeola dreamy stuff so take it for what it's worth.

Why oh why did Al have to sing?.......2000-05-25

Please, if you get this CD skip over tracks 3 and 8... they are certainly the most annoying tracks ever on an Al CD.

The rest of it is great though...

Tight!.......2000-05-13

These musicians can play better with their eyes closed with their hands tied behind their backs while doing headstands under water than can most musicians you hear today. Anthony Jackson is a really tight player -- check out his playing on the tracks "Al Di's Dream Theme," "Dinner of the Gods"; the drummers are top notch as well.

And this being my first time hearing Di Meola's playing, it was a treat to hear smooth jazz, latin, and Middle Eastern tunes all fused into one very tight mixture. (I guess that's why they call it "fusion!")

Di Meola is oh so talented. Other standout tunes include the piano and guitar duet "Two to Tango" and the awesome chops-heavy progressive piece called "Alien Chase on Arabian Desert," both songs being excellent compositions.

I give this a 4 because of the "disco" tinged songs like "Roller Jubilee," which should be skipped no matter what, and a song where Al sings, called "I Can Tell." But other than the disco element, this album showcases some very honorable music and tight musicianship.

Apologies for using the word "tight" so much. You'd have to hear it to understand. =)

Splendido Hotel
Average customer rating:
Splendido Hotel
Al Dimeola
Manufacturer: Landmark Distributor
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000DSTB
Release Date: 1989-09-14

Jazz Music:

Jazz Music

Jazz Music