Search - John McLaughlin :: Essential John Mclaughlin

A Worthy Retrospective

B. Vercher | Baton Rouge, LA | 07/02/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I am practically an acolyte of John McLaughlin's work. I accept no substitutes and will defend it to the death. But this collection succeeds more in giving one a chronological tour of his work than actually gathering the best of his work. I laud the inclusion of some very rare (and astounding) material from John's early career as a sideman, but some tracks, such as "Marbles" from his late 60's album, Devotion, seem to be needlessly included for the sake of covering all ground, chronologically speaking. Contrarily, the only example of his groundbreaking and revolutionary work with Miles Davis is a 17 minute long edit of "Right Off". Don't get me wrong; I love the cut, but I think there are much more worthy efforts from this period that truly embody his personal approach to playing (the solo feature simply titled "John McLaughlin" from Bitches Brew, for example). Aside from these few perceived faults of mine, I have to say I love the collection and highly recommend it to any McLaughlin-ite or other curious party."

The Essential John Mclaughlin

William P. Carter | 09/16/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This anthology gave me a chance to get all of John Mclaughlin important music in one CD. I am not talking about a the best of CD because they are not usually as inclusive as this CD proved to be. The price on this CD may seem steep but once you play it, man are you getting your money worth."