John McLaughlin, Devotion

It is with the greatest of pleasure that I find myself able to rewrite my none-too-complimentary review of the Fuel 2000 release of Devotion. This has now been made possible by receipt of the authentic remastered CD from Fuel 2000, so, thanks go out to Len Fico. It has undoubtedly been a painful experience for both JM fans and Fuel 2000 alike. What actually happened in the interim between the versions from Fuel 2000 remains a mystery, but Fuel 2000 does have an invitation to right of reply via this website, and now the desired result has been achieved, and it is indeed a pleasure to listen to a competently remastered copy of this classic album.

I say "competently", and yet press play on your CD player and the heart drops as instantly you are met with analogue hiss. Not as bad as my wellworn vinyl copy of this cherished album, and not as bad as the hapless imposter posing as a remastering for the previous release. But some hiss is there which is unfortunate in the few seconds of introduction to the title track, before Buddy Miles' rimshots build into a concrete backbeat, and that is where disapointment flies from your soul and out of the window.

All noise is smothered and what you are left with is pure joy. The drums crack with a new life. Sharp and precise and with a new range that I have not heard in this recording before now. You can feel the skins being slapped. The bass has been expanded and pushed into every corner of the stereo field. On other recordings I always had the vision of Billy Rich literally being sat on by Buddy Miles, the bass seemed so oppressed and washed out by the drummer's pedals. Did you know that there's actually quite an impressive flurry of notes from Rich, quite high up in the register, skipping through the heart of this song?

It's hard to say whether there has been much of an effect on the magnificent Larry Young's organ. It's just one of those sounds that seems to pervade everything else in any case. The shrill bits are still piercing and haunting and lovely, and there may be some improvement to the robust lines that he squeezes out with his left hand. The balance to the guitar tracks is excellent, placing them cleanly into right and left field pockets, clearly illustrating the multitracking and overdubbing that was used.

It is a good remastering job when you can actually decipher the studio techniques, and when you consider that what you are listening to was mostly manifactured by Alan Douglas from rough drafts in JM's absence (After I recorded it, I went on tour with Tony Williams, and when I came back, he had finished the album, mixed it, cut this out and that, and there were parts in it which I didn't recognize any more as part of our music. I was in total shock), to gain a slight insight on edit points and postprocessing by necessity takes you closer to the original recordings and what was actually intended by the musicians. Perhaps this, plus the consistant voluptuousness that has been imparted to the overall sound dynamic throughtout the CD's length reinforces this album's classic status and makes this remastered version well worth waiting for.

If you purchased the original Fuel 2000 release then please return just the CD to them (keep the jewel case and covers) and they will replace it with the correctly remastered version.