John McLaughlin's guitar music and playing style was so influential to me and is the main reason I became a truck driver.

Good show. Thanks guys.

Thanks Pete, George, and Andy for another great SOT ranking show! This is a great way to start diving into the McLaughlin catalog, I've only ever skimmed the surface of the catalog.

"Phenomenon: Compulsion" is furious, compelling, powerful-- only John with Billy Cobham could accomplish this, it will always give me chills. VERY educational show-- thanks Pete, Andy and George.

As someone who knows him mainly through releases that aren't "John McLaughlin" albums- this is all the more so very informative and interesting. Many thanks to you 3!

Good show Pete, George and Andy. I have nothing by John McLaughlin. I have heard him on these long concerts that I have. Seeing him live you can tell he really gets into his music.

Amazing show..I learned so much about John Mclaughlin..I got a list of at least 10 albums I want to check out..My favorites are Love Devotion, Surrender, My Goals Beyond All 3 Shakti albums, Friday Night In San Francisco..Man what a catalog of material..I've got a lot of listening to do..Thanks Pete, wonderful and informative show..

I was blessed to see the Jimmy Herring/John McLaughlin “Meeting of the Spirits” show twice. I saw them in Austin and was so blown away I bought tickets for the final show of the tour and flew to LA to see it again. I was in high school when Mahavishnu came out and I became a huge fan. By the time I was eighteen, the band was no more and John had moved on to Shakti and didn’t play Mahavishnu music anymore. The opportunity to see those songs performed live was incredible! Now, that's not to disparage Shakti. I learned to love that music, as well. My first chance to see McLaughlin live was when Shakti performed at a local jazz club. It was mesmerizing.

“Electric Guitarist”, “Industrial Zen”, “My Goals Beyond”, “Love Devotion Surrender”, “The Trío of Doom”, “ A night in San Francisco with Di Meola and Paco de Lucia…tremendous and infliuential guitar player. With Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Shakti, and many more

Good show. You have me wanting to explore his solo works now.

Another fantastic discussion and overview. I thought I had quite a few of Mclaughlin’s works, but after this show so much more to explore. His new offering is a worthy addition to the catalogue of a ground breaking guitarist. Oh and you three are definitely not the Trio of Doom!

I have to check out his more recent albums, I haven’t heard any of them.

Can we get more reviews from this specific group? Great shit, Pete Andy & George.

One that seems to get overlooked is "Time Remembered (plays Bill Evans)". It is all acoustic and unusual in that he's using an ensemble of classical guitarists. The arrangements are spectacular -- the other guitarists are able to get amazing chord voicings that no one guitar could play -- and John's jazz soloing over each tune is just gorgeous. His other tribute album is "After the Rain" and it is an epic organ trio with Joey DeFrancesco on Hammond organ and Elvin Jones on drums.

Thanks for the John McLaughlin review / fan since 1972 and saw/ heard him countless times over the years - at the BN Eternity concert in NYC - Dec 2 1980 at Carnegie Hall with the trio and many other events - the # 1 is at St John the Divine church with Carlos Santana in front of the altar - with their wives a few India musicians

i got mahavishnu orchestra and john Mclaughlin with carlos santana love devotion and surrender album.

Great commentary on your choices!

Do wanna give a shout out to McLaughlin on Stanley Clarke's JOURNEY TO LOVE album..."Song For John (Coltrane), Parts 1 & 2". Bought this when electric Jazz Fusion was my thing...this is acoustic piano, bass, & guitar...Corea-Clarke-McLaughlin. Blistering.

Just subscribed to your channel, Andy. I’m definitely here for getting deep into jazz/fusion! Unfortunately, I don’t know John’s solo career very well, and the only one y’all listed that I own is “Love Devotion Surrender”, which I bought when I was maybe 19, and really getting into John’s playing, and fusion in general (for the first time.. I’ve gone through deep and long jazz binges every couple years since I was about 14). Aside from that album, I bought up the Mahavishnu stuff, and Mile’s electric period, so I felt I had a good enough collection of John’s music, and just never got around to exploring the rest of his catalog too deeply. I now feel that needs to be remedied immediately. Anyway, great work here, as usual. I look forward to digging into these, thanks again. ✌️

1. George - Industrial Zen 2006 Andy - Natural Elements 1977 Pete - Electric Guitarist 1978 2. George - Now Hear This 2012 Andy - Electric Dreams 1978 Pete - Love Devotion Surrender 1973 3. George - Live at the Royal Festival Hall 1990 Andy - A Handful of Beauty 1977 Pete - Friday Night in San Francisco 1981 4. George - Live in San Francisco 2018 Andy - Electric Guitarist 1978 Pete - Devotion 1970 5. George - Black Light 2015 Andy - Shakti 1976 Pete - Five Peace Band Live 2009 6. George - Floating Point 2008 Andy - My Goals Beyond 1971 + hon. mentions 'Follow Your Heart', 'Song of the Wind', & 'Motion' from Joe Farrel Quartet 1970 Pete - Live in San Francisco 2018 7. George - Belo Horizonte 1981 Andy - Extrapolation 1969 Pete - Electric Dreams 1979 8. George - The Heart of Things 1997 tied with The Heart of Things: Live in Paris 2000 Andy - Love Devotion Surrender 1973 Pete - Industrial Zen 2006 9. George - Electric Guitarist 1978 Andy - Live at the Royal Festival Hall 1990 Pete - Black Light 2015 10. George - Five Peace Band Live 2009 Andy - Five Peace Band Live 2009 Pete - Exrapolation 1969

Great show.I think that Shakti is the best thing that McLaughlin have done with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, so my ranking is obvious : 1- Natural Elements 2- A Handful of Beauty 3- Shakti Live With John McLaughlin 4- Love Devotion Surrender 5- Electric Guitarist 6- Belo Horizonte 7- Que Alegria 8- Industrial Zen 9- Electric Dreams 10- Extrapolation

The One Truth Band record is n°1 for me The Free spirits Tokyo live with Joey de Francesco and Dennis Chambers come close Devotion a dark raw and mean record Music spoken here superb band and an underrated period Any recent record on Abstract logic

For those of us who have the Mahavishnu albums but haven't really explored McLaughlin's other works, this is awesome. These conversations are my favorite from SOT. This may cost me some cash, but it will be well spent.

Excellent episode, great picks all around. But, George, no props for me having the Montreaux box set when Andy brought it up?😁

Great and thoughtful choices, guys. Thanks very much for this. And for those who haven’t heard the later stuff, ‘Floating Point’ is a blazing fusion album. I also agree with George that ‘Riff Raff’, off Now, Here, This, is phenomenal. The guitar playing is absolutely ferocious. And yes to Andy’s number one: ‘Natural Elements’ is simply one of the greatest albums ever recorded.

Live in San Francisco [2017] is a difficult one for me to digest. Yes, it was great to hear these songs again in a live setting but the fire was not there. And it was 2017. I had tickets but decided I didn’t want to go to San Francisco again and sold my tickets. I have the CD and the vinyl. I haven’t listened to the vinyl yet. That won’t help the performance but perhaps sonically it will help me listen to it more. Great job you guys! I can’t get enough of Johnny Mac!

Great discussion. I have several of the same albums, but have discovered some others here today that I will definitely be checking out in future: Electric Dreams, Industrial Zen, Electric Guitarist, and Live in San Francisco with 4th Dimension. Thanks for the excellent insights.

@Sea of Tranquility No the divorce was with first wife Eva, so marriage to Katia L could go ahead. Whatever, Carson was offended by JMs remark, banned him from the show - despite the audience & crew reaction to the music performance. I don't recall any music guest hitting harder in the history of late night - maybe James Brown, on Letterman. When Katia & Maria guested on Tonight Show a year later, Carson pretended he didn't know who JM was.

Love the site. Maybe you guys have already done it. If not, how about something like "Two and Through?" Bands that only managed two albums but both are fantastic. I'd nominate Mars Hollow. The debut and The World in Front of Me. Which is damn near perfect.

Looking forward to this, I need to build my solo McLaughlin collection, I only have Industrial Zen, good stuff! A lot of catching up to do

PETE that's karnakol that Barot is doing - please! Check the end of One Truth or Shakti shows with Shankar - it's a staple. Paris 78 bootleg now on YT is the best audience recording I have heard of any band

This was such an informative show for me...have about a dozen of the older, better known albums...looks like I need to revisit Electric Guitarist...I have no Shakti, need Heart Of Things Live, Industrial Zen, etc. IIRC, Heart Of Things (studio). > I thought the production was off. I'll give it a re-listen. Trio Of Doom...what coulda been. Kinda sad.

After The Rain with deFrancesco and Elvin Jones - same deep mood established on Belo or Visions or Trio Live - can anyone tell me an artist with better more careful use of reverb? I can't. Moodiest JM piece ever? Power Of Love from Apocalypse. True to say the variety of this career defies an easy grasp.

Electric Guitarist is hard to beat. I'd also go for Que Alegria, with Live at the Festival Hall as a good companion.

I've been following JM since ""In A Silent Way." I even still enjoy "Devotion despite the horrible production.

Honourable mention: "Spaces" by Larry Coryell. John Mac on four tracks... with Cobham, Corea, Vitous...fantastic.

Could there be a list of the panels picks in the comments? I watched the whole video, which was great, but wasn't taking notes.

By the way, "Do you Hear the Voices you Left Behind?" is a reworking of John Coltrane "Giant Steps".

I was curious to know something Pete I can't go always to every single s o t episode. But I was rolling up to bowling Green Kentucky and I heard a Prog show on the local rock station and it was a band from oyster Bay New York. They were considered what they call Prog/ fusion have you ever spotlighted or done anything or heard of these guys they were really impressive I'm going to be checking out more of their stuff called TAUK

'Weighted' Results: 1. Electric Guitarist 1978 2. Industrial Zen 2006 3. Electric Dreams 1978 4. Love Devotion Surrender 1973 5. Live in San Francisco 2018 6. Natural Elements 1977 7. Live at the Royal Festival Hall 1990 8. Now Hear This 2012 9. A Handful of Beauty 1977 10. Friday Night in San Francisco 1981 11. Black Light 2015 12. Five Peace Band Live 2009 13. Devotion 1970 14. Shakti 1976 15. Floating Point 2008 16. My Goals Beyond 1971 17. Extrapolation 1969 18. Belo Horizonte 1981 19. The Heart of Things 1997

1. Love Devotion Surrender 2. Friday Night in San Francisco 3. Belo Horizonte 4. Electric Guitarist 5, Natural Elements 6. My Goals Beyond 7, Devotion 8. Extrapolation 9 Saturday Night in San Francisco 10 Electric Dreams

Amazing presentation once again. If anyone is interested in Jazz with cross border fushion then the Shakti albums with Mandolin Srinivas and LShankar are super super awesome . It is technical superiority at its peak if that is not Prog then don't know what is ....

I love the early Mahavishnu stuff but haven’t actually checked out anything else John has been involved with. There is a ton so it’s nice to have some ideas of where to start. Thanks guys!

Great discussion! No love for Trio Of Doom, though?

Great choices! I have to get caught up on post-90s work. I was lucky enough to see him four times. >With "Shakti" warming up Weather Report (1st tour with Jaco) >The One truth Band "Electric Dreams" tour (he does play the six string banjo) >Bela Horizonte band/tour >The John . Paco, DiMeola trio I'm with George regarding Vocals + Fusion (Except Brand X "Product")

Live at the Royal Festival Hall ranks number one for me. Can't stand that it's not on Spotify. I had just started playing bass and saw a review in Bassplayer magazine. It was my introduction to Trilok and Kai Eckhardt. Went to see the trio at the Strand in Redondo Beach expecting to see Kai Eckhardt and it was Dominic dipiazza instead. I meant Victor Wooten Bela Fleck and the Flecktones that night. They were sitting in front of me. I think I was Victor's first autograph outside of one of their shows because he didn't think I knew who he was. When I said s*** Vic you're one of the baddest motherfukers on the planet the band said oh s***! went crazy and started pushing him around. It was pretty funny. Que Alegria is 2 for me. I guess I just prefer the trio setting and acoustic guitar.

I'd like to second Hussain's album Making Music, nice acoustic guitar by Mclaughlin and unusual tone from Garbarek's soprano sax that adds to the Indian feel, similar to the Remember Shakti albums, very beautiful record. Garbarek also did an excellent album with Adrian Belew using a similar tone but very different guitar sounds.

The Montreux box set is a monster listen on so many styles and needs a review all of it's own. I fortunately own a copy after me and friend bought a new one in a sale half price for £70, he was happy to copy the files and I kept the box set....great deal for me! Love Andy's deep love of Shakti and gotta agree it is some of John's greatest ever playing. Luckily saw them on the Handful of Beauty tour in 1977. I love the wonderful Making Music album too.....So many albums with John on...

I own many JM cd's, but was never a fan of his electric tone in the 90s to now. The CD with Jimmy Herring with the MO stuff on it is my #1 outside of his original MO stuff. Not sure if that qualifies.

Not an easy job picking a top ten let alone a favourite, today I'd probably plump for Electric Guitarist, though on another day could just as easily go for Industrial Zen or Black Light even his latest Liberation which this late in any artists career just shouldnt be as damn good as it is - then again its McLaughlin, who for someone who has been going for as long as he has has rarely made a weak or bad album - Fuse One may fall nto that category, though its still a listenable album, qute mellow and Fuzakish in places though. Sorry Andy as I have that McLaughlin box set - came out when I first started getting seriously into McLaughlin so just had to persuade the missus that that had to be my xmas resent of that year,and yes its great.

Not a popular opinion; I think his best album is Belo Horizonte. Acoustic, breezy, tastefully produced AND a guest spot bij Paco de Lucia!

Shakti !

What was Andy’s last hidden gem album. During honorable mentions. With his accent I couldn’t understand who the collaboration was with??????

I think those first 4 Mahavishnu Orchestra albums are hard to beat.

Music Spoken Here...

That banjo solo is the ultimate debunking of those saying that technical skill and does not go hand in hand.

Love and understanding stopped me listening to side two of Electric dreams for years.

Anyone enjoy a band called Oblivion Sun?

McLaughlin is (obviously) one of the great guitarists of all time. Pretty good lineup of panelists here. So for him there's a lot to rank, I've got looks like 29 solo albums (counting the best of's & live albums plus the guitar trio stuff/Santana collabs & excluding Mahavishnu/Miles, but also excluding guesting spots he did with the likes of Hadrien Feraud, Gary Husband, Chick Corea, Fuse One, etc). Here goes my Top 10 ranking (actually 7 buckets, no best of's) & rather than do a separate HM list I'm putting the albums into "buckets" : 1. Friday Night In SF - with the trio, easily one of the two/three best live acoustic albums ever recorded. I don't know how this one isn't #1 (unless you're excluding McLaughlin's work with the trio). Simply jaw-dropping playing, check out the various videos of the three playing. seeing them play just adds another dimension to the awesomeness of this record. "Guardian Angel" & "Fantasia Suite" are my two faves 2. John McLaughlin Montreux Concerts - fantastic live package, this covers 1978 - 2016 on 17 (!) cd's. Everything you'd ever want to hear from John live (besides Friday Night). Acoustic, electric, some Mahavishnu but mostly solo stuff. Some of it's quite jazzy but other numbers rock out. Great variety. The live "Radio Activity" smokes 3. Now Here This/Floating Point/Black Light/The Boston Record - honestly I like Black Light a bit more than the other three but it's close. "Kiki" is cool & "Here Comes The Jiis". Now Here This features "Echoes From Then" & "Trancefusion" (great name) 4. The Boston Record/The Guitar Trio/ Passion Grace And Fire/A Live Supreme - Brothers Of The Spirit (With Carlos Santana)/Invitation To Illumination: Live At Montreux 2011 - more acoustic greatness from the trio plus some live Santana collabs & good live McLaughlin solo stuff (including some Mahavishnu tracks). Love the live "Echoes From Then". Santana shows off his fusion chops which are noteworthy (they have to be to not get totally swamped by McLaughlin's playing) 5. To The One - "Recovery", "Discovery", "Lost And Found" - good stuff 6. Liberation Time/Industrial Zen/Electric Guitarist/Devotion/Compact Jazz/Que Allegria - basically two good songs per, these are OK albums. Some of this is too laid back/jazzy for me, I'm looking for guitar fire when listening to McLaughlin. Liberation Time has "Lockdown Blues". "Devotion" from that album cooks, early stuff from 1970 7. Extrapolation/Five Peace Band Live/Live In Paris The Heart Of Things/Live At Ronnie Scott's/'Mediterranean' Concerto/Promise/Tokyo Live/Promise - a bottom of the barrel catch-all, basically only one tune I like from each. "English Jam" really rocks though (from Promise). Extrapolation is early stuff from '69 ("Arjen's Bag" is cool) Plugging a very good best of package: The Essential John McLaughlin

As to rankings did agree with George that Belo Horizonte belongs in the top 10 and agree with Andy My Goals Beyond warrants top 10 ranking disagree with Andy that side Peace 1&2 is not high caliber-the exploration of India music permeates his work thereafter was a precursor to Shakt and Pail McCandles has said that was a catalyst for Oregon

Is that Geddy Lee? LOL

There's no f in his name

Mac Lofflin with Try-Lock Gurtu 🤭

His "flamenco" period is largely ignored in all the rankings. My personal point of view choosing an album from each period is: Extrapolation, My goals beyond, Birds of fire, Natural elements, Electric guitarist, Belo horizonte and Industrial zen. His acoustic trio period (Trilok, Kai Eckart, DiPiazza) seems to me the least interesting of all, as well as the organ trio and the experiment with Dimeola and Paco DeLucía. In any case, we are talking about one of the most original musicians that have existed and from whom it is difficult to choose something, since everything is of extraordinary value.

❤️🤍👍🏿

7:45 "Try-lock?" TRY-LOCK?? Go to your room, sir!!

He doesn’t stick with anything is for sure George, he has been married 4 times. Lol

I really hate this channel. My Bank Manager wants a meeting lol

28:45 Shakti Live. If you think the sound quality of the vinyl is bad, don't get the CD. Flat sounding. No dynamics. Like the CD of Between Nothingness And Eternity. ...horrible.