INDUSTRIAL ZEN

Expanding on the neo-bop fusion that he began inventing on his Heart Of Things album back in `97, McLaughlin achieves a lucid future/past conviction on Industrial Zen with the aid of self-programmed expansive phantom-like synth backdrops. Spiritual inferences also lurk everywhere throughout the disc with homages flowing to everyone from the 14th Dali Lama to the late Jaco Pastorious which are alluded to by the conundrum in the album`s title. It is also very rhythm laden with double drummers on several tracks that include the impossible talents of Dennis Chambers on three of them along with McLaughlin`s Shakti sideman Zakir Hussein on tablas. Featuring different lineups on every track and recorded with different engineers at different locales from NYC to London to McLaughlin`s Monaco abode, the production on Industrial Zen is nothing short of pristine which guarantees that this McLaughlin album will certainly sound fresh for some time to come. Although not lacking in variety from an overall standpoint, McLaughlin`s synth programming tends to sound generic at times but works well in reinforcing and maintaining the future/past countenance and provides a camvas for the masterful talents of his guest musicians over which to add their individual colouring.

And he`s selected his partners in crime for this caper with just prudence. The redoubtable Gary Husband doubles on synths and drums on almost every track with blistering sax work from Bill Evans on the electro-jazz rave up " Just So Only More So " and the quick & tricky "For Jaco" that personifies the late bass player by concluding with a passage from "Continuum" . He gives way to the internationally acclaimed Ava Rivatti on the Wayne Shorter salutation "Wayne`s Way " where she provides some intricate soprano sax dueling with McLaughlin. Another guitarist, Eric Johnson , best known for his `91 grammy winning guitar instrumental, " The White Cliffs Of Dover ", appears with McLaughlin on " New Blues Old Bruise " and provides an interesting contrast to McLaughlin`s more fluid and synth-interfaced guitar with a perfect fuzz tone setting. My personal favourite on the album is " Senor CS " dedicated to long time friend Carlos Santana, that builds up into a formidable jam. There is some really impressive interaction between double drummers Mark Mondesir and Dennis Chambers along with bassist Hadrien Faraud here, but once the quartet starts to really smoke it cops out into a fade out. Aaaarg!!! Reminds me of the "English Jam" blowout on `96`s " The Promise " that lasts about a minute and ten seconds before it quits. More recently, he has also included it in his live sets with Chick Corea in the Peace Band. The Michael Brecker eulogy, " To Bop Or Not To Be ", has Dennis Chambers flailing like an octopus on the drum kit holding everything together here admirably with Billy Cobham inspirations in evidence along with Zakir Hussein on mad tablas.Certainly the most complete track on the album resurecting an old guitar hook from " Honky Tonk Haven " from McLaughlin`s `82 " Music Spoken Here " album and a fitting tribute to the great saxman.

Although his composing and soloing contains the indo-jazz casts which might not be new for long time devotees it is arguably some of his best since 97`s Heart Of Things album and contains welcome echoes and intentions of his seventies work with the firebreathing Mahavishnu Orchestra.

However....... the two tracks which contain voicings by Shankar Mahadevan, " Dear Dali Lama " and " Mother Nature " , baffle me somewhat. Nothing wrong with the wonderful vocals but they are just out of place within the context of the other 6 pieces. First off, unless I`m missing something here, one would expect a musical letter to the illuminati of the Buddist faith to contain meditative passages complemented by subtle, soothing environmental effects such as birds chirping and waterfalls. This is what I had expected. Instead McLaughlin presents a disjointed composition that begins with chanting that reminds me of the beginning of the 1973 horror film, The Exorcist, which morphs into a jam not unlike the one heard on his `78 " Electric Guitarist " album Phenomenom : Compulsion with Billy Cobham slashing away on the kit. Don`t get me wrong this section of the piece is spectacular, go ahead crank it to eleven. Hussein and Chambers are brilliant here. It just doesn`t complement Ada Rivatti`s solemn tenor sax work and other sections of this rather muddled piece which seem to be misplaced here. Along with new age ruminations that appear on the concluding track " Mother Nature ", which has some potential with an all too short fretless guitar passage that could have saved the day, McLaughlin could have saved both for another project . They are just too far off track and because they occur later in the track sequence leave the listener hanging, causing the album as a whole to lose some of it`s cohesiveness. I dunno, maybe I`m missing something really profound here.

Notwithstanding some copositional irregularity, McLaughlin is to be complemented here for the most part. He nods to the past stylistically while producing a very forward looking work. His guitar playing is graceful & fluent without any mindless shredding and all the guest musicians turn out absolutely stellar performances. With apologies to the Dali Lama, Mother Nature and vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, John could have pulled off a five star masterpiece here if it weren`t for those two earthly rave ups. Overlooking these two anamolies it is arguably his finest work since his compelling 1992 " Que Alegria " album with McLaughlin blasting into the future once again.