John McLaughlin--you can go home again

[mikeweil]

Here's a concert by Spectrum Road, McLaughlin appears around the 29:00 mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHqVEG5jp9c

As does Jack Bruce, who makes the whole thing even more special!

[Milestones]

It's odd that so many are complaining about his guitar "sound." I'm sure he had many detractors early on. How could this be jazz music in any respect when the guitar is played LIKE THAT? And now his (often former) fans feel he's adopted some kind of horrible sound(s)--as if, in this exceptionally long career, McLaughlin is not free to explores many sounds, tones, and approaches.

Edited June 19, 2014 by Milestones

[StarThrower]

Nobody's questioning McLaughlin's jazz credentials. As far as guitar tones, it's a matter of taste. And he's never been known as a guitarist with exceptional tone qualities. For my ears, his approach is more suited to acoustic guitar because he doesn't really exploit the capabilities of the electric guitar as far as sustain, phrasing, or vocal qualities. His hard staccato picking style combined with the heavy chorus sound doesn't appeal to everyone.

That said, I do enjoy it in small doses. There's a track on Gary Husband's Dirty And Beautiful album where McLaughlin sounds inspired and plays some great stuff. He's no doubt one of the greats, and his contributions to modern music are quite significant. I've been listening for over 30 years now, and I have most of his records.

[clifford_thornton]

I dunno, how much time have you spent with Extrapolation or Experiments with Pops? His phrasing is incredible on those records, deep and bluesy with an equal measure of micro-gestural approaches. The hard staccato minimalism of his later work isn't nearly as evident and his range seems broader.

[StarThrower]

I obviously was referring to his more recent work. I love Extrapolation, and I think it's a brilliant debut record. Wonderful compositions, and the vibe that really draws one into the music.

[Shawn]

You can add Allan Holdsworth to that list as well.

Them's fightin' words!

I love his sound circa 1975 or so (Believe It, Bundles), but once the guitar synth stuff kicked in I run quickly for the exit.

[erwbol]

I also hate guitar synth. There was already a change in sound compared to Floating Point and Zen when the 4th Dimension released To The One, but with Boston Record the sound sound has roughened up a bit (more). Try to download the Montreux duo concert with Billy Cobham from 2010 from that place. Rough sound certainly compared to the recent past.

Edited June 19, 2014 by erwbol

[A Lark Ascending]

I just feel all the processing renders the guitar sound more homogeneous; less of that sense of texture you get on the 60s/early 70s recordings. I often find it hard to tell the guitar from the keyboards, especially on recordings where all the spaces seem filled with one sound or another.

Though I'm sure people thought the same thing about electric guitars when they first came out. Maybe if you didn't start with the earlier sound you can hear the beauties of the current guitar playing more clearly.

[erwbol]

I started with electric Miles and only later Inner Mounting Flame. To The One is a coherent gem of an album imo. Even the synth stuff (two tracks only) perfectly fits. I'm not too well acquainted with what came between original Mahavishnu and 4th Dimension.