Al Di Meola
Land Of The Midnight Sun

The seventies are remembered as the golden age of hard rock, progressive music, and fusion. Three musical movements distinctly different from each other, yet united by the wealth of great musicians. The greater popularity of hard rock and progressive unfortunately played a key role in overshadowing, through sacred monsters like Page, Blackmore, and Gilmour, an entire generation of equally talented guitarists such as John McLaughlin, John Scofield, and Allan Holdsworth.

The Italo-American Al Di Meola is no exception. An enfant prodige of the guitar, at only nineteen he joined Chick Corea's Return to Forever taking part in the recording of three successful albums (Where Have I Known You Before, No Mystery, and Romantic Warrior), only to embark on a solo career after the group's disbandment in 1976.

It was precisely in 1976 that Di Meola released his first album, titled "Land of the Midnight Sun". As the guitarist himself stated, it was not a simple album for him, still searching for his own direction and uncertain in songwriting, strongly influenced by the experience with Chick Corea, who appears, both as an author and performer, in the concluding Short Tales of the Black Forest. Do not think that the work in question is a mere appendix to Romantic Warrior: the imprint of Di Meola, albeit less defined than later, is felt, and three out of six songs bear his signature.

With the collaboration of the best musicians of the time, among whom it is necessary to mention Jaco Pastorius, Anthony Jackson, Mingo Lewis, and former companions Stanley Clarke and Lenny White, Di Meola creates an album that highlights his talents: skilled in venturing into classic acoustic sonatas (Sarabande from Violin Sonata in B Minor by J.S. Bach) and graceful atmospheric experiments (Love Theme from Pictures of the Sea), audacious in authentic fusion tracks, like the title track and the suite Golden Dawn, where Pastorius' sublime accompaniment stands out. Indeed, these two long tracks are the core of the album, a core where the young guitarist, still in the full swing of his electric verve, is free to unleash his genius through complex and articulate compositions, where passages bordering on shredding alternate with quiet moments of intense expressiveness. Remarkable are also the opening The Wizard, with its firm and martial pace, and Short Tales of the Black Forest, an acoustic duet-duel between Al's guitar and Chick Corea's piano.

Compared to subsequent productions, such as the famous Elegant Gypsy or Splendido Hotel, Land of the Midnight Sun is a more naive and impetuous album, a child of its time, with an explosive and electric Di Meola, far from the Mediterranean echoes that made him famous; at the same time, it proves to be a fundamental piece in the maturation journey of this extraordinary musician, placing itself, rightfully so, among the best releases of the great fusion season.