UKC

As a punky kinda guy in the early 80's this wasn't my music of choice. But as I started hanging about with hippies there was cross pollination. They got into Ramones, with herbal enhancement I started to broaden my musical horizons to this kinda thing. They were part of the soundtrack to many a journey.
I accidentally bought Birds of Fire the other day and was amazed to find I really enjoyed it. Straight and sober. The short track lengths were also a surprise, they used to go on for ages! Anyway, other John MacLoughlin recommendations would be appreciated.

In reply to aln: If you can get hold of it, the video of McGlaughlin, Paco De Lucia, and Larry Croyell; "Meeting of the spirits," is a cracker.

Otherwise "Inner Mountain Flame" is very similar to "Birds of fire."

In reply to stroppygob:


Do you mean "The Inner Mounting Flame"?

In reply to aln:

Carlos Santana & John McLaughlin - Love Devotion Surrender

In reply to aln:

Yup, soz, that's the bunny. I should have looked it up before posting!

In reply to aln:

The albums with Shakti are very good if you like Indian & jazz mixed, more 'rock' is Electric guitarist. You might enjoy some of his recordings with Miles Davis (I listened to 'In a silent way' for the first time in ages yesterday & he features on that)

Someone else mentioned a video with Paco de Lucia, there's also a couple of records with de Lucia & Al de Meleo (not sure if thats spelt right) - acoustic jazz with more than a hint of flamenco

In reply to aln:

Amazing what you can find on youtube;

youtube.com/watch?v=jlRZd3zdWTA&

In reply to aln:

Try listening to McLaughlin's spinoff - Mahavishnu. Two albums, mahavishnu and Adventures in radioland. the second by far the best. He's done a 'miles davis' and picked up some stellar young players - Jonas Hellborg on Bass and Bill Evans on sax spring to mind. Also danny Gottlieb (ex pat metheney) on drums. Fantastic playing but a bit harsher than the original Mahvishnu Orchestra.
Once you've started on McLaughlin you'll find you're branching out into all sorts of fascinating music as you track down projects by his sidemen.

In reply to graeme jackson:


And of course, the man who McLaughlin was a sideman for - ie take a step back to Miles and check out Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Tribute to Jack Johnson, On The Corner and Live Evil...

In reply to aln:

I'm a big fan. On a tangent I'd recommend this album http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celebrating-Mahavishnu-Orchestra-String-Quartet/dp/...
String quartet versions of their tracks. Intense listening.

In reply to aln:

His first solo album, 'Extrapolation' is sensational. Maybe more jazz than jazz-rock but a real attention-grabber with definite staying power and great depths to plumb. I do rather like it.

In reply to aln:

And I'll add his trio album Que Alegria with trilok Gurtu and Dominique DiPiazza (who takes a sublime Bass solo on 'Marie'). Also features bassist kai Eckhart on a couple of tracks.

(mcLaughlins recorded output is one of the best places to hear truly superlative bass players)