1. Abbaji (for Alla Rakha)
2. Raju
3. Maharina
4. Off the One
5. The Voice
6. Inside Out
7. 14U
8. Five Peace Band.
John McLaughlin - Guitar, guitar synthesiser
Hadrien Feraud - Bass guitar
Louiz Banks - Keyboards
Ranjit Barot - Drums
Sivamani - Percussion, konokol
George Brooks - Soprano sax (track 1)
Debashish Bhattacharya - Hindustani slide
guitar (track 2)
Shashank - Bamboo flute (track 4)
Shankar Mahadevan - Voice (track 5)
U Rajesh - Electric mandolin (track 6)
Naveen Kumar - Bamboo flute (track 7)
Niladri Kumar - Sitar (track 8)
It is an extraordinary success
story: a guitarist from a small town in Yorkshire
becomes a world-class superstar. Born in the
small town of Kirk Sandall near Doncaster,
John McLaughlin learnt the guitar when he
was eleven. Real success arrived when he emigrated
to the USA, recorded with Miles Davis and
worked with Tony Williams' Lifetime, before
forming his own famous bands: the Mahavishnu
Orchestra, Shakti, the One Truth Band and
the Free Spirits Trio. These group names suggest
the spiritual nature of John's music and especially
the way that he embraced Indian music, fusing
it with extremely brilliant jazz or jazz-rock.
The Indian influence is definitely
present in this latest album - actually recorded
in India, with predominantly local musicians.
The barrage of percussion often uses Indian
idioms, although the jazz-rock element is
also clearly present, with most tracks having
a jazz-fusion beat. The word "barrage" is
apt for the percussion, as the first and second
tracks are almost submerged beneath the welter
of heavy drumming, with busy drummer Ranjit
Barot given undue prominence by the recording.
Nonetheless you can make out John McLaughlin's
work on guitar and guitar synthesiser, although
the latter often sounds like an electronic
keyboard, virtually indistinguishable from
keyboardist Louiz Banks. George Brooks adds
some poignant soprano saxophone to Abbaji.
Things calm down for Maharina,
a pensive piece, with Louiz Banks seemingly
playing piano, not electronic keyboards. McLaughlin's
Indian influences are evident in the way he
bends notes. The Indian element is also present
in Off the One, with Shashanti's bamboo
flute fluttering alongside McLaughlin's technoflash
guitar and synthesiser.
I find Shankar Mahadevan's
vocals on The Voice irritating rather
than pleasurable, but I like the Indo-jazz
fusion of Inside Out, and 14U has
an attractive melody which, like all the tracks
on the CD, was composed by John McLaughlin.
The final Five Peace Band has lots
of that dazzling guitar from John that we
know and love. At times, he makes the instrument
sound like a sitar. Despite some flaws (such
as the over-heavy drumming), this is a splendid
album from one of Britain's supreme exports.
It's a pity that the tune titles and personnel
are virtually unreadable because of the weird
typeface.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Abstract
Logix ABLX 011
