| Can I Come Look At These Items? | | This online store is in association with Amazon.com, so these great, high-qualiy products will come from their warehouse or from other partners. Thanks for shopping! |
|
|
|
Floating Point | 
 enlarge | Artist: John Mclaughlin
Label: Abstract Logix
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $12.30
You Save: $6.68 (35%)
New (21) Used (3) from $12.30
Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 2371
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 827912075106
EAN: 0827912075106
ASIN: B00158K146
Release Date: May 20, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
|
| Tracks:
| • | Abbaji (For Ustad Alla Rakha) | | • | Raju | | • | Maharina | | • | Off the One | | • | The Voice | | • | Inside Out | | • | 14U | | • | Five Peace Band |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
2008 release from guitar legend John McLaughlin. John has already said Floating Point 'may be the best record I ever made.' That's really saying something when you consider McLaughlin's prolific and trailblazing career. The guitarist and composer has appeared on some of the most important jazz-rock and world music albums in the last 40 years. For Floating Point, which was recorded in India, McLaughlin used several of the best Indian musicians in the world. McLaughlin calls these players the 'young lions' of India. They include keyboardist Loiuz Banks, drummer Ranjit Barot, electric sitarist Niladri Kumar, flautists Shashank and Naveen Kumar, percussionist Sivamani, vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, electric mandolinist U.Rajesh, and Hindustini slide guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya. Joining them were other Western stars, saxophonist George Brooks and bassist Hadrien Feraud. With a line-up like that, you would expect a very Indian experience. But, McLaughlin says not necessarily so. 'Now while this CD features predominantly Indian musicians, we are in quite another form compared to the group Shakti,' McLaughlin says. 'The music is for the most part 'Jazz-Fusion' if a label has to be put on it. But with the musicians involved in this project, it has also a 'world' kind of atmosphere.' McLaughlin adds, 'I really am happy with the outcome of this CD which actually came about quite spontaneously and without any real planning. You can hear in the music where I am in my development, and in which directions I'm moving. It was a real thrill to play with these players, and I offer my thanks to them for their unique contributions. I truly wish and hope that it brings something to the listeners. I also offer my deep thanks to them for their continued support to my dedicated work.'
Album Description
John McLaughlin (guitar) and Shankar Mahadevan (vocals), Debashish Bhattacharya (slide guitar), U. Rajesh (electric mandolin); Naveen Kumar (bamboo flute), George Brooks (soprano saxophone), Loiuz Banks (keyboards, Hadrien Feraud (electric bass), Ranjit Barot (drums), Shashank, Sivamani (percussion) and Niladri Kumar.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 What was he thinking? July 3, 2008
"This may be by far the most exciting album I've ever made"(paraphrased) What was he thinking? This does not even come close to his best work. I've been a JM worshipper for decades, but unless I'm missing something this is a mediocre performance. It's missing the fire he had on Industrial Zen. This cd sounds like a casual jam session to me.
 go ahead john, go for the payday. June 28, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
john, please dont resort to this type of slock, i mean realy, this sounds like that same impotent garbage that bob james puts out, all be it ,more chops,but at least 3 of the songs are getting close to that over produced smooth psuedo jazz , god i long for the days that john puts together an album with some bite,i mean the last album was a step in the right direction, but this is a travesty,and for him to pump this up like this is a slap in the face to a true mahavishnu fan, extrapolation, my goalsbeyond, shakti,miles albums ,lifetime,you name it. this guy may be the most important jazz rock guitarist of all time ,dimeola in recent years has produced much better quality music, it realy is a shame that john has degraded himself so much,now if you like over produced slick neofusion thats easily digested, then have at it ,you'll revel in it.ughh!
Worth getting June 17, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This album takes awhile to fully sink in (there's a lot going on), but I personally enjoy it more than Industrial Zen, even though it is in the same general sonic ballpark. It sounds more cohesive, to me. Working with a mostly Indian group of musicians in a 'fish out of water' jazz context seems to have inspired McLaughlin, since he plays some wonderful solos on this album.
Having said that, this is much more of a 'textural' album than a balls-out guitar album. If you want Mahavishnu-style intensity, get the live recording from the 2007 4th Dimension tour--that features a much more intense John McLaughlin than you'll find here. On Floating Point, John's solos are full of melodic invention, wonderful use of space, and yes, plenty of finger-twisting difficulty. But it's not going to tear your head off and isn't supposed to. Besides, didn't he already tear our heads off sometime around 1973? :)
The one downer on the album for me, as a guitarist, was John's choice of guitar synthesizer sounds. Unlike on Industrial Zen, John uses the guitar synth mostly just for solo parts (don't worry, he also recorded several of the solos with regular guitar sounds), leaving the synth background parts to keyboardist Louiz Banks. However, the synth sounds that John uses are too soft and indistinct to work in such a heavily percussive atmosphere as this album--to the point that many of his synth solos don't stand out very well against the background and don't have equal force when he's trading solos with other musicians. In quieter moments, his guitar synths do a lot better.
Had I produced this session, I would have had John try out more percussive, brighter synth sounds (which I admit can be problematic and glitch-prone to use with a guitar controller), or more likely mixed in real guitar sound along with his synthesizer sounds to provide more body and "snap." This seems like a technical point, but it really does impact my enjoyment of this otherwise splendid album, unfortunately.
Stop - Please stop! June 13, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have no idea what happened to the guitarist known as John Mclaughlin. It seems as if his compositional skills have gone the way of the dodo. All that is left are generic compositions that, while maintaining technical merit completely lose the true essence of what this man once was. What was he you ask? One of the baddest guitar players to have ever lived. How is it that this is the same man that made classic albums such as The Inner Mountain Flame, Between Nothingness and Eturnity, Que Alegria, Lifetime, The Promise, The Mediterranean, My Goals Beyond, Belo Horizonte, Friday Night In San Francisco is now putting out albums like this? A BIG part the problem is how he is recording these days. He records every instrument in a seperate room and at different times and then mixes them together. Part of the thing that makes "Jazz" music so special is the interaction that the players have with one another. Well, with the record and splice together method that John is using that type of interaction is impossible. John do us all a favor and just get back to playing Jazz. You have removed yourself so far from the Jazz idiom that it seems as if you are playing muzak now. He should just grab his guitar get an amp (not that laptop that he's been paling out of for years) and get three, four or perhaps five guys in a room TOGETHER and just wail! Michael Brecker use to do this (Tales From the Hudson, Pilgrimage) and Pat Metheney does it (Trio 99, Question and Answer, Like Minds) when he doesn't play with The Pat Metheny Group. Maybe John is suffering from what I call "George Lucas Syndrome" which means that he has obtained such a high level of statis in the musical world that all he has around him are a bunch of Yes Men. AKA- people who tell him that everything he does is wonderful. No one had the guts to tell Lucas that Star Wars Episodes I-III sucked and no one had the guts to tell John that this isn't the way to go. I still gave this album two stars because it's John and he has devoted his life to making music, but in all honesty if this album didn't have his name on it I'd probably give it no stars.
John you're better than this!
Had a lot of promise. June 13, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
With a lineup like this, there was great promise, maybe bordering on over-expectation, however John McL has played so many times with similar lineups time and again since the 1960's that there's no question about his ability to craft cohesive, organic masterpieces of mind-blowing awesomeness.
The first time I heard this album, I did so after a very long hiatus from his music. I kept listening, and listening, and listening, waiting for "that" cohesion of the different musical pieces, waiting for things to fall neatly into place. It was like listening to a very extended intro but no main piece.
Agreed, these guys are all maestros with their own instrument, but the playing sounded like each one was trying to show off his skill, with no real togetherness, richness or depth to the songs. The music, except for some small pieces, lacked soul and warmth.
This is not even in the same league as some of his other works such as Natural elements, A handful of beauty, or Saturday night in Bombay, or for that matter some of his MVO albums like Between nothingness and eternity, The inner mounting flame, Apocalypse, or his Montreux music. In these, the music truly gels together and come across with such cohesive intensity they just blow your mind, and transports you to an alternate reality.
I'm truly surpised at John McL's statement that this may be the best record he ever made. It honestly rates a 0.5 star to me but I simply can't give it less than 2 stars, out of a profound sense of respect and gratitude for John - his earlier albums and solo works were my acid, crack, speed, and adrenaline all rolled into one for many many years, and in the years to come.
|
|
|
| |
News 
