Al Di Meola: Across the Universe

I do not live in the center of the musical universe; even with the Internet, I do not discover some music until quite some time after it has been released. I have only now learned of Al Di Meola's 2020 release of Beatles' material with his Across the Universe CD.

Yesterday, I opened Spotify with the idea of listening Al Di Meola's music. The idea to listen to his music came to me in a rather round about way. Facebook had introduced me to the music of 40 Fingers - Guitar Quartet. Listening to that group's music on Spotify put me in mind of Di Meola. I've enjoyed his music thru the years, but it has been quite a long time since I listened to any of his material.

While listening to Elegant Gypsy, I perused his catalogue on Spotify. Being a fan of the Beatles and Di Meola, I was excited when I discovered Across the Universe . The list of songs on the recording is impressive. Oddly enough, however, my favorite track is a tune recorded by the Fab Four, but one which they did not write - Till There Was You -. Did Di Meola run out of Lennon/McCartney songs?

Sadly, upon listening to the CD, I was disappointed. Maybe I expected too much. Top notch Beatle songs played by a top notch musician - what could go wrong? I knew that Di Meola would not follow the straight and narrow musical path. I knew that there would be some alternative interpretations. I'm ok with that; after all, my favorite cover of a Beatles' tune is Frank Zappa doing I Am the Walrus.

I've saved this CD into my Spotify library - I'll listen to it again. I don't hate the recordings. There are some very fine moments, but I don't find that the recordings reached my expectations. Perhaps I was expecting too much.