Flesh on Flesh

Artist: Al Di Meola
Label: Telarc
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 089408354328
EAN: 0089408354328
ASIN: B00006EXFV

Release Date: 2002-08-27

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Listmania:

ESSENTIAL GUITARIST RECORDS
Some of the odd music I listen to
Retrospective: my favorite albums of 2002
My Favorite Guitar Albums
The best/interesting albums by Al di Meola

Tracks:

Zona Desperata
Innamorta
Meninas
Flesh On Flesh
Fugata
Deep And Madly
Saffire Soleil
Senor Mouse

Similar Items:

The Grande Passion
The Infinite Desire
Christmas: Winter Nights
Kiss My Axe
Consequence of Chaos

Customer Reviews:

Al is playing his own style now!.......2006-02-12

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!

Lacking innovation.......2004-06-08

Al Dimeola is a great master of guitar. He knows how to make the guitar to cry, to chat, or to sing. Does he experiment? Yes, he does. But Flesh is probably not his best recording. It weaves anxious tunes you want to move through as soon as possible, it brings no innovation and leaves no memories. The tracks do not stick together well and the last track does not round the album on high note. Rather it hangs in vague and is cut undone.

Mystic Tranquility.......2004-03-14

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!

Come on Al.......2003-10-07

Lets get this straight, I have been listening to Al Dimeola for 25yrs plus! I purchased this Album and also "The Infinite Desire" album okay I listened to "Flesh on flesh" the opening track is familiar straight away, Well "Zona Desperata" sounds much the same as "Beyond the Mirage" on the "Infinite Desire" CD, and really the whole theme and sound of both these Cd's is a bit "samey" Its all good stuff, great Music, and personnel on each. trouble is its just the same as each other. The plinky plinky piano gets to you after a while, Al switches brilliantly from Acoustic to Electric Guitar in the same track, on most tracks, great mixing. And lots of stuff going on in each Track, you can always hear something different going on. And the whole music is flowing from one thing to another, but thats the problem it does not stop! Then you have the now obligatory "oldie" track tacked onto each album as a standard item, The infinite Desire Cd has, "Race with Devil on Turkish Highway" and now flesh on Flesh has the golden oldie, "Senor Mouse" both of which are versions revamped re- mixed or regurgitated. "Flesh on Flesh is to me the better buy but certainly do not buy both! Come on Al you can do better than this! Even Al's photo is the same on both CD back covers! A Great Musician, but we need some new stuff, But these 2 Cd's are a bit disappointing, as I feel that the buyer is being taken for a slight ride, great though the content is, if that makes sense!

an outstanding work by outstanding musicians.......2003-05-02

This album is amazing. Full of energy and performed to perfection, this album cannot help but knock your socks off. Mario Parmisano plays the keyboards to within an inch of their life, and Alejandro Santos makes one wonder how a flute could possibly be played so precisely.

The album also includes some slower, introspective pieces, as well as an update to the classic Senor Mouse. The music itself has benefitted from a lifetime of learning since the early classics Casino and Elegant Gypsy.

Truly outstanding.

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

Nightmare on Ade St. ~ MC Ade

...Is a Real Boy ~ Say Anything

Devil with a Blue Dress On & Other Hits ~ Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels

We Know How It Goes ~ Red Planet

Ride the High Country/Mail Order Bride

I Love the 80's

Kissing to Be Clever

Per Second, Per Second, Per Second... Every Second ~ Wheat

Hit on Da Hitman ~ Oak Cliff Assassin

Young Roscoe Philaphornia ~ Roscoe