Music Spoken Here - John McLaughlin

Mar

31

Music Spoken Here - John McLaughlin

≡ Category: 1980s, Fusion, Highly Recommended, Music Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

A companion piece to Belo Horizonte, Music Spoken Here is the second and final recording of McLaughlin’s fusion outfit comprised mostly of French musicians.

Critics accused the band’s earlier release, Belo Horizonte, of “smelling Spanish,” and they repeat the assertion concerning this release, albeit with more justification this time around.

McLaughlin brought in the two tunes Aspan and David, both of which have themes which are derived from flamenco and which McLaughlin explored the previous year with the guitar trio consisting of himself, Paco DeLucia (a famous flamenco guitarist), and Al Dimeola. It’s downright weird to hear how Katia LaBeque plays these tunes, with absolutely no flamenco feel whatsoever. Aside from these two tunes, the rest of Music Spoken Here is about as Spanish as a quiche.

As with Belo Horizonte, Music Spoken Here is European sounding electric fusion with John McLaughlin’s acoustic guitar at the center of it, and highly innovative.

There is, however, some bad news. Some of the Katia Lebeque’s synthesizer textures sounded cheesy back in 1983 and time has not been kind to them. Also, McLaughlin’s songwriting is weaker than on Belo Horizonte. Honky Tonk Haven is particuarly vapid. However, the two highlights of the date, Blues for L.W. (featuring a wild synthezier solo from LaBeque) and Brise de Coeur (an acoustic duet between McLaughlin and LaBeque) are as lovely as any compositions McLaughlin ever wrote.