NATURAL ELEMENTS

In my mission to conquer all the subdivisions of prog listed on ths sight I bought this album listed as Indo- Prog/Raga Rock. I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard: A group of talented musicians successfully fusing Western and Eastern traditional music.

'Mind Ecology' is simply wonderful. It is a tour de force for McLaughlin and some of the best playing he'll deliver on this album. Very good start. 'Face to Face' is more average, but still good. 'Come on Baby Dance With Me' is a piece solely composed by Shankar and features the most frantic violin I've ever heard. 'The Dafodil and the Eagle' is longer and gives it chance to build more melodies and textures and is a very atmospheric piece of music. 'Happiness is Being Together' is a nice little piece with some wordless vocals. 'Bridge of Sigh' as its title suggests is more mellow, before a second long piece, this time a quite fast one with very, very fast percussion and some unusual Eastern scat singing! Everything is wrapped up nicely with another mellow piece.

This album will not change your life, but if you want to try a piece of Indian culture played by virtuosic musicians then this a brilliant album to listen to. Four well deserved stars.