Live at the Royal Festival Hall [Live]

John McLaughlin | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 2, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B00000476R
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,131 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Blue in Green

2. Just Ideas/Jozy

3. Florianapolis [Live]

4. Pasha's Love

5. Mother Tongues

6. Blues for L.W.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Acoustic guitar, electrifying music, February 6, 2001

By 

ptitchitza (Leiden, Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at the Royal Festival Hall (Audio CD)

On this 1989/90 tour McLaughlin was joined by Kai Eckhardt on his 5 string electric bass and Trilok Gurtu, one of the greatest drummers/percussionists in his own right. The concert they had in Zagreb during the same tour was one of the last great concerts before the war.

This recording of a London performance captures a great and inspired concert and includes more than one hour of music. What makes me reach for it most often is McLaughlin's use of his guitar synthesizer (called Photon) which for the most part adds a certain "golden" shadow, elegant and unobtrusive, to the notes he plays on acoustic guitar. There are other great guitarists who found a good use of guitar synthesizers (John Abercrombie, Pat Metheny, to mention just a couple of them), but this Photon thing and the way McLaughlin uses it must be - I am certain - one of the most tasteful and moderate examples of how to use a device which in wrong hands can ruin the music.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Genius and Inspired Musical Chemistry!, December 15, 2004

By 

P. McKenna "theowlwatches" (Atlanta GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live at the Royal Festival Hall (Audio CD)

What a breath of fresh air this disc was when it first came out and still is to this very day! After the disastrous resurrection of the Mahavishnu name in the 80's (with NONE of the brilliance), Johnny Mac regrouped and set off on a new course, armed with a customized acoustic axe (w/ midi) and the combined innovativve brilliance of percussionist Trilok Gurtu and a rotating cast of soulful bassists (here, it's Kai Eckhardt).

The end result was nothing short of beautiful, where nuance, beauty and detail combine with ferocity and mystery.

Energized by an appreciative audience, our heroes unfurl Miles Davis' "Blue In Green" which takes on a whole new set of colors in McLaughlin's capable hands as Gurtu and Eckhardt lend empathetic support and Eckhardt turning ina very soulful bass solo as well. "Just Ideas/Jozy" gets downright funky and then leads into the fiery reworking of "Florianapolis" from "Adventures in Radioland". Here, the melody really comes to the fore even as the tempo is DANGEROUSLY high, yet the fearsome threesome keep it together, turning in melodious ideas and never letting the high-velocity get in the way of them. This version absolutely DESTROYS the original (I sure don't miss the shrill high-tech overkill of the 80's Mahavishnu at all here). "Pasha's Love" is a Trilok Gurtu piece that features raga-like exchanges alternating with beautifully yearning segments.

The real piece de resistance is "Mother Tongues", which builds slowly with McLaughlin's tasteful use of guitar-synth and the rhythm section's inventive slow smoldering swing, things get more fiery and then, the big feature, Trilok's percussion extravaganza as McLaughlin and Eckhardt receded quietly into the background. Trilok begins very quietly with all kinds of forest sounds and builds to a monstrous climax, something like a huge steam locomotive pulling out of the station and gathering speed, eventually coming to rest with a beautiful mysterious close.

For an encore, there's "Blues For LW" featuring a feisty vocal-jamming section with all 3 musicians and before long, the crowd roars its approval as our heroes exit triumphantly.

The next best thing to being there.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply beautiful, September 22, 2004

By 

Dr Headgear - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at the Royal Festival Hall (Audio CD)

Having been lucky enough to be at the Royal Festival Hall for this recording I can heartily reccomend. McLaughlin, Eckhardt and Gurtu held the audience absolutely spellbound for the entire duration. The focus and intensity of their complex interplay was simply astounding. When this is coupled with the originality of their soundscapes and the emotional depth of the music then you have a truly exceptional recording. I bought it on vinyl when it first came out, now I've got it on CD. I urge you to do so.