Tour de Force should be thought
of as secondary to the major Al di Meola albums. Really, this album seems to be more for an Al
di Meola buff, rather than someone who wants to collect great music. So, what’s the problem? The problem is that this is not new
material. It is reworked material with
clapping in the background. It doesn’t
add much, and frankly, clapping is boring to listen to. Clapping might as well be random static. Really, only in rare cases am I a big fan of
clapping. For example, I really like the
way the crowd is mixed in on Iron Maiden’s live album, A Real Live, so it not
that I can say that I simply detest all live albums.
The other fact is, since these
are some of Meola’s best songs, I had already heard them many, many times by
the time I picked up Tour de Force.
Really, Meola’s catalog is more dense than he would have you think when
listening to Tour de Force. However,
Tour de Force is a great way to get sick of the same old same old goodies,
rather than unearthing some of his real treasures, such as the openers to Land
of the Midnight Sun.
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