Member:
yogibear
Date:
3/15/2002
This artist is a guitarist from Venezuela. This CD release is a tour de force of guitar playing. Raimundo has fashioned a wonderful and varied CD of incredible playing. He plays the following: acoustic guitar, classical guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, bass and also some percussion.
On this CD he is joined by a group of very fine musicians including Frank Alburjas on the flute, Lermit Martinez on keys, Jesus Perez on drums, Alfredo Suarez on percussion, Carlos Rodriguez on bass, Cesar Romano on violin, Efrain Ramirez on viola and Edgar Rodriguez on the sax. A most formidable and tight band.
All the tunes were written by Raimundo and are a concept about what can be encountered in dreams. Its based on a story about a man and woman: Crilo and Marta. The tunes tell about their relationship as they meet and begin a life together.
There are 7 songs that total over 68 minutes of music. The music is almost like a "can you guess who's the influence here thing". Raimundo's playing shows echoes of Steve Tibbetts, Mike Oldfield, John Scofield, Steve Howe, and Al Dimeola. The music is very lush and upbeat for the most part. The more romantic of the Italian groups can be heard in some of the songwriting and arranging. Now take that and mix in inventive, super fast (at times), versatile guitar playing (classical and jazz guitar along with a Mike Oldfield tone on e.guitar) and you may get an idea of what this sounds like. Now on top of all that you add sax, violin and flute and you have the makings of a south American guitar classic. Oh yeah don't forget the local flavorings of percussion i.e. congas, bongos, etc.
While I think this is incredible in its wonderful playing and musicality, I did at times think that there was too much going on. The keys that are played here are mostly for tonal coloring and not much in the way of solos and are a little quiet in the mix. The trade offs and dueling is mostly played between steel stringed acoustic guitar and flute and sax. I think he is incredibly fast on this instrument and while he plays the electric expertly he flat burns on the steel string acoustic guitar. There are no vocals except for some samples at the beginning of the 21 minute closer: "Universal Codes" and the center piece of the CD. I'm not saying that its a bad thing only that the onslaught could have been varied and not seem so "samey" with guitar playing. Here is where the keys/synths take a more upfront role and I must say its about time and a welcome addition. This piece has many parts to it as it tells of the beginning of the world, just a little ambitious huh? Well, it works very well but it could have been placed in the middle of the CD to ensure that the listener would be paying attention.
This is a great sampler of new prog/rock fusiony instrumental kinds of things that are beginning to come out of South America.It may be a little hard to find. I think you can get it direct from his website. Great instrumental prowess with a wonderful band!
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