Search - Al Di Meola, Leonid Agutin :: Cosmopolitan Life

Open Your Ears!!!

Sean Davis | New York, NY | 09/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First of all, it is evident that this album is Agutin's with Di Meola as a guest. HELLO!! Di Meola did not write any of the compositions, so where do you get off saying that he is going backwards??? In playing??? Try taking a listen to his last albums "Flesh on Flesh" or "The Grande Passion" and the intricacy in his playing and compositions. He's done nothing but grown as an artist and has reached levels that obviously surpass, "your boy", Santana. As for this album, I wouldn't call it pop by today's standards. It's more of an Adult Contemporary. And it's definitely far from the Santana thing. IT'S BETTER!! Di Meola's solos throughout the songs give it so much life and seasoning. Very cool album!"

Yin and Yang

piano | New England | 11/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am sure this album will raise brows in both camps of fans. It requires some thinking outside the box. For some of us, this box is narrow. I remember vividly one guy who claimed "Another brick in the wall" was a good disco dance. He was into Beethoven, mostly, and the rest of music was a big blob of goo without much shape. So, if "The rite of strings" is your Bible, you might be reluctant to make steps toward "Hey hop la la lei". And it's a terrible shame if you won't. Personally, I loved the album. Al's solo in "If I'll get a chance" stands high in my world, just for the penetrating soul of it, something so free and emotional that it hurts... like only true inspiration can. I've been missing that in Al's works lately. I admit he is not necessarily comfortable with the role of brasuca (have you seen the German video of their live appearance?), because Al is a brilliant surgeon general, *not* Santana. However, his reserved demeanor was the right recipe for me, I liked his intelligent precision in the middle of fiesta... Yin and Yang, temple and bazaar, the architectural beauty and a secret Russian soul. There is so much life in this combination. Cosmopolitan life, that is, where calls for purity of gender are not welcome, and badmouthing by the hardcore fan[atic]s is only regretful and pitiful. Walk away if you can't accept the form; just like Glazunov walked out of his student's performance... and missed the rising star of Sergei Prokofiev. Here's Leonid now, and he is darn good.

"

Enjoyable collaboration for this Agutin fan

Rachel Fleet | Seattle, WA, USA | 08/28/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It looks as though most of the reviewers here are knowledgeable about Al di Meola. I had never heard of him [*ducks*] -- I found this album because I am a fan of Leonid Agutin. I enjoyed this album very much.



Agutin is an extremely successful mainstream Russian singer-songwriter. His music is mostly pop, with a lot of Latin influence in the instrumentation and rhythms, particularly on his albums in the 1990s, "Bosonogij Mal'chik" and "Dekameron". Thus, this collaboration with di Meola makes a lot of sense.



Even in Russian, Agutin sometimes varies from the standard Muscovite pronunciation while singing, adding a nasal sound that is a bit of a trademark of his. That tendency was exacerbated on this album by the simple fact that he sings English with an accent. I found the accent distracting (though that might simply be because I'm not used to hearing him sing with an accent). It was not until "If I'll Get A Chance" and "Blue River" that we get to hear him sing anything in his native tongue. The difference is striking.



Even so, his voice retains that mostly-silky-but-slightly-rough quality that made our knees weak in songs like "Na Sirenevoj Lune" ("In the Lilac Moonlight"). A bonus for Russian pop fans is that Anzhelika Varum (Agutin's wife and a pop star in her own right) is clearly audible singing on "If I'll Get a Chance".



Favorite tracks as an Agutin fan: "Portofino" and "If I'll Get a Chance".



Oh, and Al di Meola is really good too. :-)"