Customer Reviews

Electric Guitarist

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John McLaughlin remains one of the more fascinating Miles Davis
alumni because, like John Coltrane before him, his growth as a
musician, band-leader, innovator and artist (believe me, they
are all separate things!) can easily be traced on record. Also,
like Coltrane, his advancement along those lines is steady and
phenomenal. This particular CD is a landmark because it is here
where all of these qualities first fuse as a complete, satisfying
and prodigious whole.
From his original, startling early work with Miles, to Tony Williams' Lifetime (an overlooked power-trio if ever there was one!) to Mahavishnu Orchestra, to his forays into Eastern music
and mysticism, this is where it all comes together for McLaughlin. It marks the first time that his astounding technical mastery emerges at the service of a highly ordered
musical intelligence, and not the other way around.
With the help of such friends as Billy Cobham, Jean-Luc Ponty,
Carlos Santana, Jack Bruce, Tony Williams, Patrice Rushin, David
Sanborn and others, McLaughlin weaves a program of personal,
astounding and beautiful music. Every tune represents a different marker along McLaughlin's personal musical journey, and each and every one of them is a gem. From the swaggering edge of "New York On My Mind," to the Latin-soul of "Friendship,"
to the exquisite beauty of "Every Tear From Every Eye," each tune
just gets better and better, just as McLaughlin did over the course of his career to this point. This is where we bid adieu
to McLaughlin, the enfant-terrible of jazz guitar and say hello
to McLauhlin the mature artist for the first time. And what an
artist he emerges as!!! This is one of the very few PERFECT jazz
albums ever made! There is no filler, no dead-weight, nothing on it anywhere that isn't of the first and highest order.
Get it!

The title and cover of this CD are hilarious. To call John McLaughlin an Electric Guitarist is to call James Brown funky and the Atlantic Ocean wet. With Hendrix pressed firmly into the pages of history and Clapton nodding off in complacency, McLaughlin has ascended to preeminence with little debate. He has been prolific and mercurial, a constantly restless, evolving prodigy. From the onset he blurred the barrier between rock and jazz, and played a major role in the birth of fusion. Although Miles Davis may have "booked the room," McLaughlin and Tony Williams probably influenced Davis as much as he influenced them. If you are not already familiar with The Tony Williams Lifetime recordings, featuring McLaughlin, do yourself a favor. McLaughlin is simply on fire.

The manic intensity of The Mahavishnu Orchestra, which followed, was at times more technical than musical, but revelatory all the same. My Goal's Beyond, (if you can find it), shows McLaughlin drifting into a love affair with Indian music. As with other virtuoso performers, one is occasionally transfixed by the skill level, losing sight of content in the process. This is always a mistake with McLaughlin, almost equivalent to punishing him for being brilliant. McLaughlin is a soulful artist, never frivolous, always striving to find meaning and share it.

Recording this CD must have been like a college reunion for him, an opportunity to reunite with dear friends. The line-up includes major league hitters like Billy Cobham, Jerry Goodman, Carlos Santana, David Sanborn, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Jack DeJohnette, Jack Bruce, and Tony Williams. Wow. Are You The One? Are You The One? features the dream-team trio of McLaughlin, Bruce, and Williams, a true kicker. Friendship showcases the familiar and pleasing "space patrol" jam phrasing of Carlos Santana. They're all great, but the track that instantly snuck inside me is Do You Hear The Voices That You Left Behind? This tribute to John Coltrane, built on his celebrated composition Giant Steps, evokes a "top-down convertible sound" that might be described as "smooth-jazz" if that wretched term weren't an oxymoron.

In John McLaughlin - Electric Guitarist, you find a master artist in complete control of his instrument and his vision - pure joy.

If you're a fan of John McLaughlin you should have this disc in your collection. "Friendship" features a fired up Carlos Santana. "Do you hear the voices you left behind" sounds like a homage to John Coltrane. "Are you the one?" features ex-bandmates Tony Williams and Jack Bruce and there's much more! For a chance to look into the minds of these geniuses at this price? McLaughlin shows his more refined side on this goldmine. SHIP IT!!

Unlike Birds of Fire, Mahavishnu's masterpiece, this is less a fusion album and more of an electric jazz album. Where the personnel read like a who's who in 70's fusion the majority of the cuts presented here afford the listener the opportunity of hearing these brilliant musicians surrender the excessess of their usual efforts to make an infinitely listenable and enjoyable collaborative effort. The respect these musicians have for one another is evident in the manner by which they accompany and listen to eachother in their collective efforts. This disc, unlike much of fusion's collective works, can withstand the test of time. This is well worth the purchase. A classic disc, highly recommended....Simon

For the casual Mclaughlin enthusiast, this is a clean and crisp album that delivers excellent performances by an allstar lineup of jazz greats including a nice solo by Carlos Santana. Although not as intense as some of his other albums, Electric Guitarist is a fine representation of one of the best guitarists of all time.

Electric Guitarist is a very good McLaughlin album. It has some guests from Mahavishnu orchestra that go very well with this album. McLaughlin has gotten a little cooled down on this album, and he gets a very good sound, with his usual playing technique. This is a very good album and i recommend it to any Mclaughlin fan.

I am a growing jazz musician and this album is a must have. I am really big on the fusion/electric/acid jazz sound and this album has it all. I am very new to Mclaughlin, but any graduate of the Miles Davis camp is sure to satisfy. Every track is full of beauty and takes you to a far away place. If you do not have this album you need to get it and quick.

I just got this CD, and got to listen to this album for the first time in years! It brought back such memories! I had forgotten what an incredible, eclectic, tremendous album this is! McLaughlin: the absurd, wonderful, sublime genius!! His music is ugly in its beauty, and supremely beautiful in its ugliness. No one writes like McLaughlin, and nobody could have given us this rare treasure of both fusion and jazz. It opens with one of my all-time favorite fusion tunes....."New York on my Mind" is a tune that only McLaughlin could have turned such an ugly riff into such a spectatular, beautiful song, with the help of his old Mahavishnu Orchestra buddies Jerry Goodman (violin) and Billy Cobham (drums)....it is a great way to open the album! The next song "Friendship" sounded as if it was written by John specifically to be performed as it was performed by John and the entire Santana band, with John and Carlos each giving a guitar solo that contrasted each other, while still complimenting each other in odd ways that are difficult to explain. John is in a strange mood where he liked to do a lot of string-stretches during solos in these first 2 selections. The next tune "Every Tear From Every Eye" is a slower, more jazzy tune featuring David Sanborn (sax) and Patrice Rushen (keyboards), where John's more jazzy jams still have a rocking electric edge. The next more upbeat jazz song "Do You Hear the Voices That You Left Behind?" features Chick Corea (keyboards) and Stanley Clarke (doghouse bass) and John's sweeping, rolling jams almost reminds you of the jazzier side of Chick and Stanley's earlier Return to Forever days. Then, John teams up with rock bassist Jack Bruce for a funky jazz piece called "Are You the One? Are You the One?" There is a brilliant cohesion in all these tunes, even as they contrast each other. The next piece "Phenomenon: Compulsion" is a gorgeous rocking fusion guitar/drums duet with John and Billy Cobham that sounds like it could have been a spontaneous jam that somehow magically occured during a Mahavishnu Orchestra concert. Then, the album ends with a curiously appropriate slow solo guitar cover of the Victor Young tune "My Foolish Heart". John brought together a Who's Who of the world at the time.....many names I forget to mention like Jack DeJohnette and Tony Williams. John's artistry, virtuosity, dexterity and guitar prowess are omnipresent throughout this work. Sure, the album title and cover sucks. But, the album is supurb! It is a strange, odd, absurd, beautiful, wonderful, eclectic, jazz and fusion slice of magic that only the great genius John McLaughlin could have conceived. It travels many different conflicting, though well-blended journeys. It's an album I am very, very glad I own once again!

This release marked the first in which McLaughlin displayed his ties to more traditonal jazz roots. Even his pre-Mahavishnu work on recordings with the likes of Miles Davis and Tony Williams displayed a more free, atonal style. "Electric Guitarist" indeed granted McLaughlin credibility with even the harshest purists. The high points of this album include his tribute to Coltrane, and his rather expressive treatment of "My Foolish Heart".

I'm not very fond of this John McLaughlin album. For the last year or so I've been enjoying his work with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Santana, and Electric Guitarist just doesn't feel as exciting as the stuff he was doing with those artists.

In the early 70's, McLaughlin's guitar playing featured a distinct style, lots of exciting and memorable licks, and an extremely heavy sound. On Electric Guitarist, it sounds like McLaughlin is just hurrying along his jazzy guitar playing without much concern for memorable songwriting.

In other words, it's a very predictable way to create a jazz/rock album. Most of the guitar playing doesn't stand out to me, and I wonder if he started losing his ability to create ideas by this point. Either that or disco was really messing with his songwriting skills.

So, if you're looking for that insane kind of intensity McLaughlin was exceptionally good at on those old Mahavishnu Orchestra albums, sadly you won't find any of that here. In fact, his early solo albums were even a significant improvement compared to this. We need some better songwriting folks.