Love Devotion Surrender

I want to be short with this one..... so you can get on with the purchase. I will make it very simple ...the finest electric guitar ever recorded anywhere at anytime.

John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana were at the hieght of their powers.
Turn it up loud and just be overwelmed by the absolute finest guitar ever whipped out!!

The cd reviewed has been re-released for 2008 and there are plenty of copies of prior releases as well on Amazon etc.

Buy it NOW....Hurry

This recording drew a line in the sand, and those that "get it" do, and those that don't, well...they never will. 35 years ago I "got it", and to this day it is still valid as ever. Any comment on the music itself would be superficial at best. Get it, absorb it, let your mind fly free and it will take you somewhere you've never been before. Nuff said.

You know, before I bought this album, I was looking at the song titles. "A Love Supreme", "Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord" and "Meditation" gave me the impression this was gonna be a very mellow album with lots of grooves and atmospheric sections.....

I was WAY off! This is a VERY LOUD and INTENSE guitar-dominated rock/jazz album!!!

When I found out my favorite guitarist John McLaughlin and my other favorite guitarist Santana played together on an album in the early 70's, I was extremely happy! These two guitarists together can only create extremely impressive results, and that's exactly what happened.

I have no idea why neither Santana or Mahavishnu Orchestra fans hardly ever mention this album. It's really an interesting, exciting, and extremely heavy listen.

1. "A Love Supreme" really showcases BOTH musicians talents. It has a slow and mysterious groove in the background from Santana, while McLaughlin is laying down possibly some of his greatest moments as a guitar player. A really great track.

2. "Naima" reminds me of that one classical song from "The Inner Mounting Flame" (which is another masterpiece album that you MUST own). Despite the fact the two songs use different instruments (the one here in an acoustic track) the two songs are written in the same way.

3. "The Life Divine" continues the underrated intensity of McLaughlin with a fairly lengthy guitar jam, while other parts sound like they'd fit in perfectly with Santana's "Caravanserai" album (ANOTHER classic album). I also love the way the chorus repeat over and over behind some amazing guitar playing, giving the song a hypnotic feeling. Excellent.

4. "Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord" is nearly 16 minutes long, and it's about the craziest rock jam you've probably ever heard in your life. Anyone who makes the mistake in thinking 70's rock is old and dated and doesn't stand up today in terms of purely rocking out, well, I have news for you- this song packs an incredibly severe punch that not even Deep Purple or other bands would be able to pull off. Wow. I can't say anything else about it.

5. "Meditation" is just a short harmless jazzy piano song that ends the album nicely on a mellow note.

Overall, Santana and Mahavishnu Orchestra fans MUST own this great forgotten gem. Guitar lovers everywhere- buy it NOW!!

So here we go, continuing in the direction of Santana's extremely underrated fusion phase. And who's guest-starring? That's right, John McLaughlin!! Yeah, he's cool. Anyway, this whole shamalamadingdong starts off with a pair of excellent Coltrane covers - neither are better than the originals, but they both excel. First, "A Love Supreme" (only part one, not the whole thing) is awesome, with the two guitarists trading some truly fine licks; "Naima" is pretty lovely remade for acoustic guitars. Neither of these guys are known for their acoustic work, but they both can play those things rather well. Better than I can, at any rate. I find it odd that they cover Coltrane extensively on a fusion album, when Coltrane's more of a free-jazz guy, but Trane's my favorite artist, so I can't complain. After that is the only weak spot on the album. "The Love Divine" is obviously an attempt by McLaughlin to recreate "Ascension" or "Selflessness", but it's boring. And chaos isn't supposed to be boring! That's not how it works! God, I swear... But the song after that is my favorite: "Let Us Go into the House of the Lord. John and Carlos convey so many different emotions through their guitars on that one, it's amazing. It's like we've got two John Coltranes (of course, guitar-slingin' John Coltranes) on the same album! That is Santana. That is jazz. Now, there's one last song, but it doesn't do much for me. "Meditations" is... well, it's easy on the ears, I guess. The good news is that "The Love Divine" is the only pile of goat droppings on the album, and even then it's much better than "Open Invitation".

This is the go to CD for students of Jazz Rock fusion. These are the men who started it all. When this music was recorded Guitar Gods truly walked the Earth. With a little help from Larry Young and Billy Cobham, Carlos and Mahavishnu blast off and take you on a musical ride that is out of this world.