JOHN MCLAUGHLIN — Devotion (aka Marbles) (review)

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN — Devotion (aka Marbles) album cover Album · 1970 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Sean Trane
Do you ever get the feeling some albums are simply a free for all for shady and less shady labels? I have seen this album released in at least a dozen different versions on some of the most dubious label with different artwork, none fitting the original one. And of course as you’d figure when such is the case, the Charly label is involved, and it is the version I have, graced with a picture of John in the mid-80’s. This is really a bit sad because this album is a real scorcher, one of the rockier releases of McLaughlin’s lengthy career.

And believe me, when I say scorcher (but not flawless), this is a real one keeping in mind that we are in the jazz-rock mould, but sometimes it sounds like jazz-metal. John has assembled a stellar cast around him including Buddy Miles (Santana, Hendrix etc…), Larry Young (the great organist in Tony Williams’ Lifetime, whom he hooked up with after his two album stint with them) and lesser-known Billy Rich. Jerry Goodman (ex-The Flock and future-MO) is also helping out after the previous My Goal’s Beyond. But these guys rock your brains out even if there are some lengths. This album comes also after the two albums he’d done with Miles Davis (Bitches Brew and Tribute To JJ). However at the speed these guys were recording albums (three solo for McLaughlin this year, plus his other projects), there are some misses and the messy (shoddily recorded) Siren is just one example. A torrid piece, but wasted by inappropriate recording.

Tracks like the 11-min+ title track are awesome in its power and tension and not a second is wasted. Clearly on all tracks, virtuosity is the key word, but no one commits the blunder of indulgence either and the whole group maintains a much-needed tightness when this type of music is recorded. If Dragon Song is yet another hard-driving guitar track, the following Marbles is a more reflective one where Young’s organs plat first role with McLaughlin’s lightning fast guitars having trouble to surface, but the interplay between the two is awesome. The rest of the tracks are still of the same calibre of the first few on the first side of the vinyl.

I have heard some purists dismiss this album as a collection of jams (some of the song’s abrupt ends and sudden shifts give this theory some credibility), and if such was the case, these guys were among the bests ever. McLaughlin’s next step was to form the superb and famed Mahavishnu Orchestra, which would keep him occupied for a while. But while this album is miles away from MO, it is no less essential for McLaughlin fans.

Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

6 Eclectic Fusion
KROKOFANT
Buy this album from MMA partners
Spring In Stockholm Live At Konserthuset, 1959 Cool Jazz
GERRY MULLIGAN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Mikolaj Trzaska, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Paal Nilssen-Love : The Last Temple vol.3 Avant-Garde Jazz
MIKOŁAJ TRZASKA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Mikolaj Trzaska, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Paal Nilssen-Love : The Last Temple, Vol.1 Avant-Garde Jazz
MIKOŁAJ TRZASKA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Mikołaj Trzaska / Ingebrigt Håker Flaten / Paal Nilssen-Love : The Last Temple Vol.2 Avant-Garde Jazz
MIKOŁAJ TRZASKA
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

FASCINATING RHYTHM - The Amazing Keystone Big Band feat. Neima Naouri
THE AMAZING KEYSTONE BIG BAND
snobb· 1 day ago
Alicante
RENAUD GARCIA-FONS
js· 1 day ago
She's Forty with Me
WILTON CRAWLEY
js· 1 day ago
Tall Tillie's Too Tight
WILTON CRAWLEY
js· 1 day ago
Rhoda Scott Ladies and Gentlemen - special guest : David Linx
RHODA SCOTT
snobb· 1 day ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed