Customer Reviews

Friday Night in San Francisco - Live

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I first heard this on vinyl. Properly awed, I promptly listened to all the other instrumental guitar music I could find. Now, twenty years or so later, I'd challenge critics: Name the OTHER acoustic guitar recording that even meets, let alone surpasses, the standard set by "Friday Night in San Francisco." I love Leo Kottke and Allan Holdsworth and Phil Keaggy and all the rest, but this is still the pre-eminent acoustic recording.
Here are two points to consider:
(1) Critics talk about the emotion and beauty being lost in the fireworks. Certainly the fireworks take up the majority of the CD, but listen again to the quiet moment right before the conclusion of "Short Tales of the Black Forest," where one of the guitarists even tells the rowdy crowd, "Shut up, now" (and, by the way, when was the last time you heard a live performer have to tell the crowd to curb its enthusiasm?). Or what about the haunting, eerie melody of the middle section of "Fantasia Suite"? You'll hear it in your dreams.
So, first of all, this recording does have the "beautiful" moments. But that leads into the second response:
(2) Don't miss the point! This is not supposed to be a meditative hour to play in the background while you eat your tofu meat loaf. These three guitarists clearly wanted to have fun with each other, to provoke each other to better performance, and, primarily, to blow away the listener who never thought acoustic guitar could sound remotely like this. If judged by these criteria, "Friday Night in San Francisco" deserves seven or eight stars instead of five.

"Friday Night in San Francisco" is the most incredible acoustic guitar release ever by anybody. Jazz/Rock/Fusion founding fathers John Mclaughlin and Al Dimeola team up with flamenco guitar master Paco De Lucia and the results are breathtaking. The disc starts with three songs(one of each possible pairing), then a live song with all three joining forces, and finally there is a studio song with all three. "Mediterranean Sundance/Rio Ancho" teams Dimeola with Delucia. The two of them display unbelievable virtuosity and the exchanges between them during the solo section are unreal. Audience members can be heard vocalizing their disbelief throughout this song and the others. This song, as well as all of the others, isn't only about their ability to solo. Try to play,nevertheless write, the chord changes/rhythms that these two created. It is equally as dificult a task as their leads. "Short Tales .." is a teaming of Dimeola and Mclaughlin. The two pick up from where the first song left off. However, in addition to being an excellent version of the Corea compostion the two have some fun."The Pink Panther" theme as well as a bit of bluesy improv are included in the spontanaiety. "Frevo Resgado" has John and Paco adding their own madness to the mix. The last live song "Fantasia Suite" finds all three members on stage and is one of the most incredible things that you will ever hear in your life. "Guardian Angel" is a studio recording that gives the listener a sneak peak at "Passion,Grace and Fire" which was recorded after the live tour. "Friday Night in San Francisco" is a landmark recording. All three guitarists display their ability to compose, play and do so impressively.This is one that you should own so BUY IT NOW.

I saw the Trio perform at the Warfield in San Francisco the night after they recorded this outstanding album. I've been to a fair number of concerts over the last thirty years, but that one is indelibly etched in my mind as the best by far that I ever saw. Another reviewer makes an excellent point in commenting that it's difficult if not impossible to capture completely the greatness of a live performance on record, and this album is no exception. As good as it is, the actual concert (or, at least Saturday night's version of it) was unbelievably good, with emotional depth some critics of the album say is missing on the recording. Never before or since, not even with future tours of the Trio, have I experienced such a magical interplay of performers, audience, and breathtaking sound quality. But "Frevo Rasgado" perhaps comes closest to capturing it. It's magnificent! I think McLaughlin's solo on this relatively obscure but wonderful piece is one of his finest ever, a stunning example of the kind of rare, preciously transcendent moment he says he lives for. His interplay with Paco throughout the piece is telepathic, and the ending will drop your jaw. If you're a guitar lover and don't have this album already, buy it. It's the next best thing to having been at one of the greatest concerts you ever did or didn't see.

This music is truely amazing. You wonder how fingers can move that fast and how they do it with amazing percision. Independently, these three guys can stand on their own and when you listen to them together it truely is a work of art. Their performance is technically superior and a wonderful study of the masters playing music together LIVE. Give it a listen, you won't be disappointed and it will leave you wondering....

If there is a better all-guitar album out there, I can assure you that after 15 years of hard-core collecting and delving into every genre imaginable I dont know what what it is. As a live concert piece, the CD remaster sounds gorgeous. As a showcase for technical mastery of the instrument, it is without peer - it will be assured to amaze even the most jaded Shrapnel and Dream Theater worshipping-dweebs (reviewer included, thank you very much :-). As a demonstration of all the warmth and humanity contained in the individual personalities of the players, it can't be beat. "Mediterranean Sundance/Rio Ancho" is a riveting opener - A rapid-fire tradeoff between DiMeola and DeLucia, it showcases the utterly fluid, light-speed phrasing of Al's steel-string and the alien beauty of DeLucia's traditional flamenco technique. Al seems utterly incapable of hitting a bad note, and about a minute into this thing lays down an absolutely jaw-dropping solo that is probably capable of genuflecting most mortals instantly. It seems like he has twenty fingers on each hands as he flies effortlessly over the fretboard, soloing with passion and elegance unmatched by any perormance on any of his solo albums. DeLucia is like a hummingbird flitting over the power-shred of DiMeola, and though he hits a few sour notes, hetrades off some electrifying solos with Al. "Short Tales of the Black Forest", featuring DiMeola and McLaughlin, is quite possibly the strongest musical statement any one of these musicians could make about how to fuse the profoundly technical with the confoundedly heartfelt. This piece is a simply magical re-interpretation of the original Chick Corea tune, laced with mezmerising dynamics, powerful emotional climaxes and genuinely funny spur-of-the-moment antics. I've never heard two masters have so much spontaneous fun, and is the kind of thing that could never be replicated in the studio. "Frevo Rascado" is a fine DeLucia duet with McLaughlin, although it is not nearly as fiery as the initial duet with DiMeola. McLaughlin's playing is not flashy as much as it is sympathetic and allows DeLucia to really breathe and demonstrate some of the more intricate flamenco rhythm techniques here, altough their unison playing and solo tradeoffs towards the end of the piece are magnificent in their precision. Its hard to beat the concert finale, a magnificent re-arrangement of DiMeola's "Fantasia Suite", a song which appeared on _Casino_ but simply takes flight here. Here all three guitarists parade and add flourish to DiMeola's heroic riffs to a climax where all three players trade off stop-start solos that progress left-to-right and then unify into a double-time coda of the initial riff! If pants aren't soiled by now I dont know what else to tell you. "Guardian Angel" is a reworking of a song McLaughlin did with the One Truth Band and feels somewhat out of place here, though its (slightly) more controlled tone may be appreciated by the uninitated, who will no doubt need to "cool off" after getting lit up by the live tracks on this gorgeous disc. A bonafide classic and one of the most consistently exciting pieces of music I have ever heard.

There aren't enough superlatives to describe this performance. So I won't even try. I will say that my entire perception of "guitar" was forever changed the first time I heard this album. Not only because of the effortless 200 mph runs but moreso because thee guys can do this while paying attention to and complementing eachother's playing.

Friday Night in San Francisco is a beautiful recording with plenty of raw emotion, despite what some other reviewers have said. Once you have removed your jaw from the floor and pay attention to the phrasing, song structure, sheer improvisation, and interplay of three geniuses in their prime, you will add this to your desert island list.

Something else that I really like about this album is the way the stereo mastering has the guitars separated into left and right channels. So if you are sitting in a room with really good audio equipment, you would swear you are in the room with these guys. The sound quality is among the best live recordings I've ever heard (I've heard a lot.)

If you haven't heard this album before, I can't encourage you enough to go forth and destroy the paradigm in your mind of what a guitar can do. You'll be amazed. Truly amazed.

Those who whine about this being too break-neck obviously can't let their minds (and guts) go to that place. Not everything needs to be perfectly paced and full of musical chiaroscuro. Sometimes you just want to rock!

I have various bootlegs from this tour and they are all incredible for the ferocity and passion the trio brings to this music. This is definitiely the best night that I've heard; we're lucky to have it in such perfect sound quality.

The highlight is definitely Sundance, where Paco's feel and touch makes DiMeloa's oft-emotionless palm-muted runs at 200 miles an hour take on much more heart. Paco keeps up and then some; Al needed a pick to blaze this hard, Paco did not! McLaughlin is no slouch either, and there's really no dull moment here.

It is indeed a master class for guitarists; I'll never forget hearing it for the first time at age 19 and realizing that acoustic git can wail just as hard as electric. It's also just plain exciting for any pair of ears, musician's or not! Like a strong cup of coffee on a windy mountain side at 5 am, this will get the juices flowing.

These guys know each other's styles so well and mesh so perfectly; for that alone this is five stars. Add the sonic insanity of this many notes played with this much flawless technique and you've got something truly unique and magical. Not a ballad album, nor was it meant to be. The trio has other albums that address that issue; this one is all about amazement and joy.

Still unmatched almost 30 years later.

The musicianship here is very professional and enjoyable - this is the only documented audio of these three guitar giants working together in concert. The performance was recorded live in December 1980, at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. Track #5 is a studio recording, though, but nonetheless coherent and of spectacular quality in both sound and performance.
Throughout the album, all three guitar players (incidentally only playing in pairs on the first three tracks) perform on acoustic guitars, and for an early 80's live recording, the sound quality is surprisingly good (rich acoustics, no feedback, no distortion.) What ruins a lot of the listening experience, however, are the audience members who yell and scream and whistle and clap over some of the music as if they were high on all that currently is illegal to get high on. The wildness of the audience participation on track #2 is especially bothersome; as soon as the guitar players play a fast lick, an unusual effect, anything technically advanced or anything in unison, these people go crazy, and when recognizing an obvious installment of the theme from Pink Panther you can hear them wearing their anuses on their sleeves as they burst from rapture.
But the audience aside, this is an important recording for a lot of obvious reasons - a recording that you definitely should own or at least listen to if you have ever enjoyed any music performed or written by any of these three guitarists. Incidentally, Hal Leonard has produced a book of transcriptions of all titles from this recording.

You're joking right?!! Technical proficiency is not a sign of poor playing, you moron! The fact that each one of these incredibly talented musicians is able to PLAY WITH EACH OTHER is already saying so much about their abilities. If you actually gave the recording a good listen, which you obviously didn't, you would notice that the quiet, slow sections are just as beautiful, if not more so, than the lyrical, speedy sections. Frankly, if you were really a musician, or knew anything about music at all, you would realize that the mark of a great musician, is the ability to play softly, and slowly. You sound like a jaded Berklee student who is trying to find himself and is so insecure in your own inability to develop a sound you have to crap on other people. Oh and by the way...the pressence of arpeggios is included in only about 1/1,000,000 of the playing, most of the runs that Paco plays are augmented, but maybe you skipped that class at music school.

It is impossible to describe how amazed I was when I first heard this CD. There is fire, feeling, heart, passion, virtuosity and even humor on this disc. The musicianship of these guitarists is pure and incredible. What is truly amazing is how the McLaughlin, DiMeola and De Lucia are able to blend together seamlessly, maintain their individuality and not step all over each other while playing.

If you play guitar, buy this CD. Be warned, though. This CD will cause you to either want to practice a lot more or just throw your guitar away because you will never be this good.

You will never hear a finer recording of acoustic guitars. Period.

One final note: This is not background music. Listen to it intently with the volume turned up. It rocks.