Customer Reviews

Adventures in Radioland

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD is so diverse in its styles, sounds, dynamics, and themes that I find it very satisfying as a whole. My biggest complaint is the cheesy drum sounds so prevalent when electronic drums first burst onto the scene. I expected more from a John McLaughlin CD. Everyone else, however, is great, with bassist extraordinaire Jonas Hellborg leading the way (his brief, but incredible solo in Gotta Dance is a perfect example). And John's playing is as powerful as ever. From his thoughtful to blistering solo in The Wait (one of my all time favorite songs) to his just-plain-blistering playing in The Wall Will Fall, John does not disappoint. There are a couple of weak tracks on this CD, but the great ones (The Wait, The Wall Will Fall, Reincarnation, & 20th Century Ltd) elevate the overall quality of this CD to 4 1/2 stars!

Oh man. this ain't easy to write, given that I have been a Johnny Mac fan for years, but "Adventures In Radioland" is NOT a good place to start for the curious beginner, and best left where you found it for long-time listeners.

Same problems as the previous 80's Mahavishnu outing, mostly weak tunes, lots of high-tech gimmickry, painfully cheesy 80's sound quality (and those ABOMINABLE Simmons drums which sound like amplified pizza boxes) and precious little of the brilliance that Johnny Mac is typically known for.

"20th Century Limited" though is a notable exception and very welcome. "Florianaplois" suffers from a really cheesy sing-songy arrangement (not unlike something that would be played on a "Smooth Jazz" station) but oddly enough, it underwent a miraculous transformation with John's trio just a couple years later and came out a fire-breathing piece of great music! "Reincarnation" here with full snooze-inducing effect, was transformed by JM's trio into a breathtakingly beautiful meditative piece. "Just Ideas/Jozy" here suffers from high-tech clutter, later gets reworked by the Trio and regains it's plaintive funkiness. If only these original version were ANYWHERE near as good as the subsequent reworkings. The rest of the tunes are obviously calculated for radio-play at any cost, but just merely fall flat on their faces wallowing in gimmickrey and digital-synth overkill. The one thing different (though not enough to salvage the mess) is that JM wisely shelved that infernal Synclavier/Roland Digital Guitar Synth elephantine noisemaking miserable mechanism (read in Dr. Smith voice). Here he straps on a Les Paul Special for the most part, but unfortunately, his tone is so painfully tinny, metallic and lacking in warmth.

I will say this in its favor though, at least some of the tunes had good raw material that could be reworked into something substantial, otherwise, don't bother.

I am a great fan of Mr. JM. When this album came out, it was clear that it had nothing to do with Mahavishnu, maybe because of extensive use of drum programming and Campbell's drums. However, the great piece Florianapolis, which John later released live (On Royal Albert Hall album) with excellent acoustic guitar and nice sax playing by Bill Evans improves the album great deal. With a few other nice acoustic and slow pieces, and with a powerful electric playing on The Wait, John managed to save his face. I gave it four stars, as it is very embarassing to give less to the great master.

Some of the reviews I've read about this record typify why Jazz acceptance struggles in its national birthplace. I can't think of a single musical artist who doesn't experiment with their sound and direction. I read complaints about the "cheesy" drum sound as if those players who are placed so high on a pedestal don't have the right to see if a particular musical voice might have some validation in a direction they're pursuing. Respect the artist's courage to try something different rather than resting on their laurels. It's similar to a band that is gun-shy to play new material because the audience only wants to hear what they're comfortable with. Perhaps some of these people who denegrate this album would prefer to see Kenny G. dominating the musical landscape. Wise up folks. Celebrate the existence of Jazz instead of constantly nitpicking or we'll wind up with Rap or "American Idol" and its offshoots determining the course of music in America.

I've been listening to this for 24 years, since it came out.
It haunts me to this day. Modern fusion at it's best, years ahead of it's time, or the pinnacle of the fusion era, I can't decide..
I love that John and crew were always searching, for the new and the vast within. There are many styles of music here to pick out in the mix, traditional guitar sounds, modern synths, bop, swing, funk, rock, it's all here. Keyboard player really helps fill out the sound. It's a studio album but has LIVE intensity, to the point I'd say it does better in that regard than most artists do. I've heard all the greats play and they were always better live than the studio album, because they had been touring and really working the tunes for a while, but also it was looser because nobody was afraid of bad notes. Just let go. And John to me, always sounded that way in the studio too! Rare for a musician to just go for it the way he does.

"The Wait" is so amazingly intense, and Bill Evans (!) on sax, tearing it up , Jonas is just RAGING on the bass. This is as good as John ever sounded to my ears, and far more contemporary sounding than the 70's recordings to my ears. Recording quaility is vastly superior to prior Mahavishnu recordings, and the musicianship is obviously more mature and refined. Polished and much more dynamic range than the previous recordings from the 70's. To me the earlier recordings just can't compete with this sonic quality, at all. Night and day.

Anybody complaining about drum sounds is not listening to the the music. The intensity, the depth of the exploration and the unleashed raw power that is John McLaughlin with the best sidemen available. Listen to Jonas Hellborg kill on track 6, he's funky to the max. The saxes are doubled up, and sounds like a section but probably just Bill. So lots of cool new kinds of recording effects mixed with even traditional Flaminco sounds on track 6.

And as well, this recording is minimum, 10 years ahead of it's time, so it still sounds fresh to me, in 2010. Timeless virtuosity and great synth sounds, back when analog synths were still available. Holds up well against anybody you can name in the genre including: Alan Holdsworth (Secrets), Scott Henderson (Tribal Tech), Gonzalo Rubalcaba (checkout Giraldilla 1990!!).

There are techno experimental jazz in some respects, as there are pretty heavy synth parts, very musical in the extreme though. However, like any musical undertaking, there are standouts and near misses in some regards. Not all these tunes hold up as well as others, so be it, all a great effort.
World class in fact, and the playing even on my less favorite tracks has amazing musicians with excellent recording quality.

Track 7 has a very ballzy slow laboring bounce to start, then morphs into almost a bop ride along, light and airy. Sounds like some overdubs on the saxes there, or maybe doubled by the keyboards too. I love these old synth sounds; they don't sound dated, they sound rare and rich to me. Nothing sounds like analog filters and multiple oscillators layered on top of each other. FAT.
Don't believe it, I'll put up a Minimoog or Oberhiem Expander against any keyboard sound in the business. THICK and unprocessed sounding, real. By the end of this track, everybody is just wailing.

Dance like nobody's watching, Sing like nobody's listening.

The title aptly describes the music on this CD. More often than not, in the world of jazz, these two adjectives are rather like two poles. This is a great jazz/fusion album, with all the chopsy soloing, complex compositions and arrangements you would expect from a top fusion recording by a major artist in the genre. Some people are offended by the dated technology on this recording, firmly placing it in the 80s, but I think that one needs to look beyond appearances into the heart of the music itself - this is without doubt music with heart. Its lightness and joyousness should not be mistaken for shallowness - though nothing like the probing, hungry, searching music of Mahavishnu Orchestra of the '70s, it's as if the searching is over, and whatever John was looking for has been found. I like to think of this album as fusion brought up to date with the current developments in technology and musical ideas, and whose course has been slightly corrected away from rock and toward jazz.

Here we have Mc's signature spicily fused jazz jams, distilled through plastic production essence with fleeting moments of contained experimental brilliance.

I had a hard time replacing this LP album on CD or finding it on electrons anywhere on the net (legally that is...)that I used to have. I brings back memories like re-discovering something lost, great stuff P.

Anyone that thinks this album is less than 5 stars should be put in a sanitarium, and quit writing reviews. The music and musicians on this album are incredible. If you don't like good music, stay away!