As do all excellent jazz-motivated rock tunes, this cut has mood-shifting dynamics throughout with very smooth passages gliding between the busier segments.
The nine-minute “Land of the Midnight Sun” has the familiar feel of Return to Forever due in no small part to the participation of Lenny White on drums. This boy is FAST! The tune works well as an introduction number to grab the listener’s attention, that’s for sure. It’s one of the most melody-driven tracks on the album and it gives Al ample opportunity to show he can shred the fretboard with the best of ’em. Lewis provides the decent keyboard work, as well. Surrounding yourself with primo personnel doesn’t hurt one bit and the opening song by Mingo Lewis, “The Wizard,” wastes no time in setting a torrid pace with Mingo slapping the conga skins like greased lightning and none other than the fabulous Steve Gadd kicking serious tail on drums. Turns out that he hadn’t quite found his footing yet but for a debut effort “Land of the Midnight Sun” was more than satisfactory, to say the least. Those of us who heard and marveled at his playing on the various Return to Forever LPs in the early 70s knew he was a super-talented musician who didn’t seem to have any limitations on what he could do so, when he released his first solo album in 1976, most of us expected to be completely blown away. Maybe if he looked more like John Petrucci he’d be more of a recognizable icon but that’s beside the point.
This guy symbolizes a perfect demonstration of the adage “never judge a book by its cover” because if you met the bearded Al on the street you’d most likely think he was a math professor at the local college rather than one of the best jazz rock/fusion guitarists ever. Al Di Meola Land of the Midnight Sun (1976)
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