JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
Rating: 
Natural Elements (issued on the CBS label) is the third and final Shakti release from the original group (John McLaughlin put together a new version of Shakti in the late 90s). It differs quite a bit from it’s predecessors in that the tune lengths are quite short. There is a lot going on here and a lot of variety, but in a compressed form.
More so than on the previous albums, McLaughlin uses Western modes and forms. The moods range from the pensive The Daffodil And The Eagle to the mournful Bridge of Sighs to the joyful Come On Baby Dance With Me — there’s even a touch of fury on Get Down And Sruti.
Natural Elements is also the most poppy of the three Shakti albums. Whereas in the previous releases, tunes would be developed slowly, like a raga, on Natural Elements McLaughlin and his group (L. Shankar on violin, Zakir Hussain and T.H. Vinayakram on various forms of percussion) get straight to the point. They play the forms, improvise on them and end the tune, much as in Western jazz. It’s just that the way that the tunes develop internally is deeply influenced by Southern Indian classical music.
Natural Elements may be the lightest of the three Shakti releases, but that doesn’t in any way make it inferior. It’s a joy from beginning to end.
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