DevotionJohn McLaughlin | Celluloid (1970)
Originally released in 1970 but re-released regularly since,
Devotion is a hard driving, spaced-out, distorted hard-jazz-rock
album featuring organist Larry Young, drummer Buddy Miles, and the little
known bassist Billy Rich. This album was recorded close to the period
when McLaughlin had been jamming with Jimi Hendrix, Young, Miles and
Dave Holland. Terrible bootlegs exist of some of their jams, but bad
sound quality and McLaughlin's guitar on the fritz make the bootlegs a
ripoff.
Devotion was also sort of a ripoff. To this day, McLaughlin is angry about the way former Hendrix producer Alan Douglas mixed this record. Apparently, Douglas spliced bits of music together here and there that were not supposed to be connected. Despite this obvious problem, and the fact Douglas paid McLaughlin only $2,000 to record both Devotion and My Goal’s Beyond , this album is chock full of wonderfully ominous riffs and sounds. Devotion is an overlooked landmark album. “Marbles" opens up the album and is truly an early fusion masterpiece. (Some CD reissues of Devotion have changed the order of the tunes...don't ask why). The catchy hook is infectious. Years later, McLaughlin would employ the same riff often while with Shakti. You should also check out Santana’s cover version on his hard to find album with Buddy Miles, Live. McLaughlin focuses more on tension and dynamics than on speed, and Larry Young plays mysterious and otherworldly chords. Miles keeps a constant thud-thud-thud churning throughout and Billy Rich effectively doubles McLaughlin’s themes. No slow ballads. No pretty melodies. This is just pure unadulterated jazz-grunge. Those familiar with the Mahavishnu Orchestra will enjoy picking out the passages that would later become signature tunes. Devotion is awfully messy at times, but you won’t mind cleaning up afterwards. (Note: beware of changes in track order. The Celluloid release CelCD 5010 has the order right.) Related link: John McLaughlin Reviews @ All About Jazz
John McLaughlin at All About Jazz.
Personnel: John McLaughlin- guitar; Buddy Miles- drums; Billy Rich- bass; Larry Young- organ Published: November 17, 2002
 Discuss
 More Articles by Walter Kolosky
Power, Passion and Beauty - The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra has been published by Abstract Logix Books. More about Walter...
CD Review Search
Upcoming events for John McLaughlin: |
Make a donation and support All About Jazz Contribute to the continued operation of jazz's most important online resource. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Privacy Policy | Dedicated Servers | All material copyright © 2008 All About Jazz and/or contributing writers/visual artists. All rights reserved. |
|