ELECTRIC DREAMS

3.5 stars really!!!

I was never quite sure what McL tried to do with his One Truth Band, given that the musician list playing on Electric Dreams being roughly the same (taken a few away) than his previous Electric Guitarist album. And if I thought Guitarist lacked any direction, the same can almost be said of Dreams (I think a good part of both albums come from the same sessions), and it is not the B&W artwork floating kitchen utensils photo that will make much a difference, but the tracks are less disparate in this one.

After an acoustic guitar/violin ditty, the album plunges into red-hot fusion batch that takes us to the Bitches Brew and MO days, aptly titled Miles Davis, but the following title track doesn't give a Fahrenheit of difference in terms of fusion heat, just slower and sounding more Weather Report, if you'll forget McL's Spano-Indian guitar in the closing section. The lengthy closer Desire is more in the Pastorius-era of Weather Report with this jazz-funk track taking its sweet time before finally settling in a groove

L&U opens the flipside, taking a while to build up, but once Narada starts singing, the track loses all interest (IMHO, but I never liked sung JR/F), even if buddy Carlos plays a few sliding lines. After the short dronal distortion of Singing Earth, Dark Prince develops more on the ultra-demonstrative RTF (Romantic Warrior-era) with all of the flaws as well as the pure virtuoso performances. The closing Unknown Dissident starts with an ambulance siren driving away, leaving a lost sax (Sanborn) looking for company over Rhodes lines, FretlessJaco-like runs and when finally finding McL's guitar in a syrupy slow jazz, it draws Uncounted Dividends being locked away in the safe in the outro, walking away and getting shot. Well that's my alibi and I'm sticking to it..

While not exactly an example of cohesive album, this is much better than the previous EG, but we're a far cry from the unity of MO albums. Nevermind those considerations, ED is a good jazz fusion album, a product of its time and this is still before McL's wish to investigate modern technology as he would with the horrible Synclavier. Last recommended stop in McL's solo discography.

This album was not a bad bounceback after the dismal final Mahavishnu Orchestra album, Inner Truth. While the album is not perfect, and does not have the majesty of the great MO albums, it does have some fine music, and excellent performances on it.

There is more jazz than rock here. I would categorize the album as something similar to Larry Coryell's excellent Spaces record (which happened to feature McLaughlin). It tends to be more in the vein of Miles Davis' early, somewhat spacey jazz rock fusion.

The only bad track on the album is Love And Understanding. Really, who was making all those great jazz musicians add simpering vocal songs to their albums? But otherwise, you get a fine batch of jazz weighted fusion here.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

There was a time when the mention of jazz-rock meant much more than another prog-related branch of the tree. These guys were fighting their own battle, taking no prisoners. Later, history disavowed them, but not before they leave a legacy behind. I think this album is a significative part of it, that doesn't race with the advantage of being akin to, let's say, King Crimson, like Mahavishnu Orchestra does, but rather being a thoroughbred fusion creature, with no parts resembling the corpses where they come from. That is so much its virtue as its sin, the question is: there are people willing to forgive and listen?

The laconic but magnificent "Guardian Angels" shows John's acoustic side in full brightness. "Miles Davis" shows The One Truth Band in great form, moving confidently in a space visited also by the likes of Jean-Luc Ponty and Al Di Meola. In "Electric Dreams, Electric Sighs" there's plenty of room for subtle soloing by electric guitar, violin and keyboards. In "Love And Understanding" we find soul-tinged vocals in the style of, let's say, Stanley Clarke with Return To Forever, but with tons of symphonic atmosphere.

What else? Oh yes, the great David Sanborn for the finale.