CARLOS SANTANA & JOHN MCLAUGHLIN: LOVE DEVOTION SURRENDER

When I saw the album cover with the title "Love Devotion Surrender" and the picture of John and Carlos walking along talking in their white suits I thought this was going to be one of those mellow spiritual acoustic records. Not ! These two legendary guitarists with the same religous beliefs got together (bringing some of their band mates with them) to create some original music and at the same time pay homage to John Coltrane. The wild card of the group was Larry Young from TONY WILLIAMS LIFETIME. Interesting that Jan Hammer is here but just to play some percussion, Larry would handle the keyboards. I should also mention that Carlos was a big fan of MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA and John McLaughlin, he saw them play live in concert many times, in fact Carlos would be changing his bands style to that same Fusion flavour.

"A Love Supreme" and "Naima" are both John Coltrane songs. The first one opens with noisy guitar sounds coming in all directions (haha). Not very melodic but it settles down with percussion and organ. McLaughlin and Santana start to trade solos 2 minutes in until 5 minutes in. Amazing stuff. Organ and percussion continue as we get some almost spoken vocals. Such a trippy groove to the end. Great track ! "Naima" is filled with intricate acoustic guitar melodies throughout. "The Life Divine" is a McLaughlin tune and my favourite. The guitars sound much better here and I like the vocal line that is spoken over and over. "The love divine is yours and mine". Check out the guitar after 3 minutes ! The drumming is prominant after 5 minutes as the guitars rip it up. So emotional. Organ before 8 minutes.

"Let's Go Into The House Of The Lord" is led early by guitar, organ and bass. Drums come and go.The first part of this song isn't very melodic. That changes after 3 minutes thankfully. Excellent section until around 7 minutes. Organ before 7 1/2 minutes comes to the fore. So much going on. Melodic guitar 9 minutes in until after 12 minutes when they turn aggressive. "Meditation" is a McLaughlin tune with keyboards and acoustic guitars leading the way on this short track.

It's almost a dream to have these two guitar masters playing together along with many of their band-mates. Easily 4 stars.