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==Compositions==
==Compositions==
The first track, "A Love Supreme," is a version of the Coltrane composition "Acknowledgement" from the 1964 landmark album ''[[A Love Supreme]]''. It features McLaughlin and Santana, both playing [[electric guitar]], in an extended, improvised trading of bars. For the most part, Santana is [[Panning (audio)|panned]] to the left channel and McLaughlin to the right.<ref name="palmer"/> As with the original, toward the end a chant of "A love supreme" is heard. (Only [[Armando Peraza]] is credited as a singer.) "[[Naima]]" is another Coltrane composition, played on [[acoustic guitar]]. First appearing in 1959 on Coltrane's ''[[Giant Steps]]'', it is a gentle song played in a straightforward manner.<ref name="palmer"/> "The Life Divine" again returns to Coltrane's ''A Love Supreme'', opening with the chanted phrase "the love divine"--which one writer referred to as "bovine chanting."<ref name="stump"/> The song's first part is extensive, high-tempo improvisation by Santana, alternating between quick phrases and long, [[sustain]]ed notes (including one that runs from 3:30 to 4:03). Midway through the song and introduced by the "life divine" chant, McLaughlin takes over with mostly high-speed staccato bursts and riffs. The chant returns, incorporating "it's yours and mine," and Larry Young's [[Electronic organ|organ]], with percussion, provide the [[outro]]. "Let us Go Into the House of the Lord," an almost sixteen-minute long set of improvisations on "a long sequence of chords"<ref name="stump"/> is credited as "traditional," but Bob Palmer, writing in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', thinks the arrangement close enough to [[Lonnie Liston Smith]]'s "to be described as a cop."<ref name="palmer"/> The final track, "Meditation," is a "pretty but light McLaughlin composition"<ref name="palmer"/> on which McLaughlin plays [[piano]] and Santana the acoustic guitar.<ref name="stump"/>
The first track, "A Love Supreme," is a version of the Coltrane composition "Acknowledgement" from the 1964 landmark album ''[[A Love Supreme]]''. It features McLaughlin and Santana, both playing [[electric guitar]], in an extended, improvised trading of bars. For the most part, Santana is [[Panning (audio)|panned]] to the left channel and McLaughlin to the right.<ref name="palmer"/> As with the original, toward the end a chant of "A love supreme" is heard. (Only [[Armando Peraza]] is credited as a singer.) "[[Naima]]" is another Coltrane composition, played on [[acoustic guitar]]. First appearing in 1959 on Coltrane's ''[[Giant Steps]]'', it is a gentle song played in a straightforward manner.<ref name="palmer"/> "The Life Divine" again returns to Coltrane's ''A Love Supreme'', opening with the chanted phrase "the love divine"--which one writer referred to as "bovine chanting."<ref name="stump"/> The song's first part is extensive, high-tempo improvisation by Santana, alternating between quick phrases and long, [[sustain]]ed notes (including one that runs from 3:30 to 4:03). Midway through the song and introduced by the "life divine" chant, McLaughlin takes over with mostly high-speed staccato bursts and riffs. The chant returns, incorporating "it's yours and mine," and Larry Young's [[Electronic organ|organ]], with percussion, provide the [[outro]]. "Let us Go Into the House of the Lord," an almost sixteen-minute long set of improvisations on "a long sequence of chords"<ref name="stump"/> is credited as "traditional," but Bob Palmer, writing in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', thinks the arrangement close enough to [[Lonnie Liston Smith]]'s "to be described as a cop."<ref name="palmer"/> The final track, "Meditation," is a "pretty but light McLaughlin composition"<ref name="palmer"/> that McLaughlin had previously recorded as a solo for exclusive use by the New York radio station [[WNEW-FM]]. McLaughlin plays [[piano]], and Santana the acoustic guitar, on ''Love Devotion Surrender'''s version of the tune.<ref name="stump"/>


Criticism of the compositions and their execution is varied. Besides the noted suspicion that "Let us Go" is more or less plagiarized, Bob Palmer referred to the "superficial treatments" of Coltrane material,<ref name="welcome"/> while McLaughlin biographer criticizes such elements as a "plink-plonk conga-heavy foursquare vamp all too typical of Santana" in "A Love Supreme."<ref name="stump"/> Thom Jurek is much more positive, praising, for instance, "The Life Divine" as "insanely knotty yet intervallically transcendent."<ref name="jurek"/>
Criticism of the compositions and their execution is varied. Besides the noted suspicion that "Let us Go" is more or less plagiarized, Bob Palmer referred to the "superficial treatments" of Coltrane material,<ref name="welcome"/> while McLaughlin biographer criticizes such elements as a "plink-plonk conga-heavy foursquare vamp all too typical of Santana" in "A Love Supreme."<ref name="stump"/> Thom Jurek is much more positive, praising, for instance, "The Life Divine" as "insanely knotty yet intervallically transcendent."<ref name="jurek"/>

Revision as of 18:41, 14 July 2011

Untitled

Love Devotion Surrender is an album released in 1973 by guitarists Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin, with the backing of their respective bands (Santana and The Mahavishnu Orchestra). The album was inspired by the teachings of Sri Chinmoy and intended as a tribute to John Coltrane. It was certified Gold in 1973.[3] In 2003, Love Devotion Surrender was released on CD with alternative versions as bonus tracks.

Background

Both men were recent disciples of the guru Sri Chinmoy, and the title of the album echoes basic concepts of Chinmoy's philosophy, which focused on "love, devotion and surrender."[4][5] The album was created as a tribute to jazz pioneer John Coltrane and contains two Coltrane compositions, besides two McLaughlin songs and a traditional arranged by Santana and McLaughlin. Sri Chinmoy himself spoke about the album and the concept of surrender:

Unfortunately, in the West surrender is misunderstood. We feel that if we surrender to someone, he will then lord it over us....But from the spiritual point of view...when the finite enters in the Infinite, it becomes the Infinite all at once. When a tiny drop enters into the ocean, we cannot trace the drop. It becomes the mighty ocean.[6]

Both men had recently become followers of Sri Chinmoy, and for both the album came at a transitional moment spiritually and musically,[7] and Love Devotion Surrender was a "very public pursuit of their spiritual selves."[8] Carlos Santana was moving from blues toward jazz and fusion,[9] experiencing a "spiritual awakening,"[10] while McLaughlin was about to experience the break-up of the Mahavishnu Orchestra after being criticized by other band members.[11][12] Santana had been a fan of McLaughlin,[13] and McLaughlin had introduced Santana to Sri Chinmoy in 1971, at which time the guru bestowed the name "Devadip" on him, and the two had started playing and recording together in 1972.[1] According to his biographer Marc Shapiro, Santana had much to learn from McLaughlin: "He would sit for hours, enthralled at the new ways to play that McLaughlin was teaching him," and his new spirituality had its effect on the music: "the feeling was that Carlos's newfound faith was present in every groove."[14]

Compositions

The first track, "A Love Supreme," is a version of the Coltrane composition "Acknowledgement" from the 1964 landmark album A Love Supreme. It features McLaughlin and Santana, both playing electric guitar, in an extended, improvised trading of bars. For the most part, Santana is panned to the left channel and McLaughlin to the right.[7] As with the original, toward the end a chant of "A love supreme" is heard. (Only Armando Peraza is credited as a singer.) "Naima" is another Coltrane composition, played on acoustic guitar. First appearing in 1959 on Coltrane's Giant Steps, it is a gentle song played in a straightforward manner.[7] "The Life Divine" again returns to Coltrane's A Love Supreme, opening with the chanted phrase "the love divine"--which one writer referred to as "bovine chanting."[1] The song's first part is extensive, high-tempo improvisation by Santana, alternating between quick phrases and long, sustained notes (including one that runs from 3:30 to 4:03). Midway through the song and introduced by the "life divine" chant, McLaughlin takes over with mostly high-speed staccato bursts and riffs. The chant returns, incorporating "it's yours and mine," and Larry Young's organ, with percussion, provide the outro. "Let us Go Into the House of the Lord," an almost sixteen-minute long set of improvisations on "a long sequence of chords"[1] is credited as "traditional," but Bob Palmer, writing in Rolling Stone, thinks the arrangement close enough to Lonnie Liston Smith's "to be described as a cop."[7] The final track, "Meditation," is a "pretty but light McLaughlin composition"[7] that McLaughlin had previously recorded as a solo for exclusive use by the New York radio station WNEW-FM. McLaughlin plays piano, and Santana the acoustic guitar, on Love Devotion Surrender's version of the tune.[1]

Criticism of the compositions and their execution is varied. Besides the noted suspicion that "Let us Go" is more or less plagiarized, Bob Palmer referred to the "superficial treatments" of Coltrane material,[15] while McLaughlin biographer criticizes such elements as a "plink-plonk conga-heavy foursquare vamp all too typical of Santana" in "A Love Supreme."[1] Thom Jurek is much more positive, praising, for instance, "The Life Divine" as "insanely knotty yet intervallically transcendent."[2]

Critical reception

Fans of Santana were, apparently, disappointed; according to Thom Jurek, Love Devotion Surrender was a "hopelessly misunderstood record in its time by Santana fans,"[2] though Marc Shapiro's biography of Santana suggests otherwise.[16] Even Paul Stump, author of Go Ahead John, a McLaughlin biography, is outright negative about the album's execution and direction, saying it was, "in retrospect, a spiritually-hobbled album," alternately criticizing Santana's tone and McLaughlin's "technophiliac tendencies" and "electronic gimmickry."[1]

Thom Jurek, reviewing the album for Allmusic, praises the album highly: "After three decades, Love Devotion Surrender still sounds completely radical and stunningly, movingly beautiful."[2] Robert Palmer, writing for Rolling Stone, is ambivalent about the album, calling it "loud and insistent...depend[ent] on monochord drones and simple modes for its structure and on sheer screaming force for much of its effect." He thinks more highly of Carlos Santana's playing than of McLaughlin's, which he suggests lacks feeling and relies on technicality: "Here, at his most inspired, McLaughlin is exhilarating if a bit monolithic."[7] Later, in a positive review of Santana's Welcome (1974), Palmer said the album "was simply a series of ecstatic jams on Coltrane and Coltrane-influenced material."[15]

Interestingly, many reviewers especially praise organist Larry Young. Thom Jurek says Young is the gel that holds the two very different guitar players together[2]; Robert Palmer says "that the sensitive organ solos on Love Devotion Surrender were the best things on that album."[17] Paul Stump, in Go Ahead John, makes similar remarks: "Young's organ playing here [in "Let us Go Into the House of the Lord"], incidentally, with its overlapping flurries of triplets, is a moment of pure genius, worthy of mention in its own right, a musical equivalent of a swarm of surreally coloured butterflies."[1]

Remix

In 2001, Bill Laswell, responsible for remixes of albums by Bob Marley and Miles Davis, mixed and remixed excerpts of Santana's Illuminations and Love Devotion Surrender,[18] on an album called Divine Light.[19]

Track listing

  1. "A Love Supreme" (John Coltrane) – 7:48
  2. "Naima" (John Coltrane) – 3:09
  3. "The Life Divine" (John McLaughlin) – 9:30
  4. "Let us Go Into the House of the Lord" (Traditional) – 15:45
  5. "Meditation" (John McLaughlin) – 2:45
  6. "A Love Supreme (Take 2)" (John Coltrane) – 7:51
    • Alternate Take, only in the CD version.
  7. "Naima (Take 4)" (John Coltrane) – 2:51
    • Alternate Take, only in the CD version.

Personnel

Production

  • Mahavishnu John McLaughlin - producer
  • Carlos Santana - producer
  • Glen Kolotkin - engineer
  • Ashok - album design & cover photo
  • Pranavananda - photography
  • Sri Chinmoy - essay

Charts

Year Chart Position
1973 Pop Albums (U.S.) 14[20]
Pop Albums (UK) 7

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Stump, Paul (2000). Go ahead John: the music of John McLaughlin. SAF Publishing. pp. 61–65. ISBN 9780946719242. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e Jurek, Thom. "Love Devotion Surrender - Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  3. ^ "RIAA - Gold & Platinum". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  4. ^ Kilgannon, Corey (2007-10-13). "Sri Chinmoy, Athletic Spiritual Leader, Dies at 76". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-06-24. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Chinmoy, Sri (1983). Songs of the Soul. Aum Publications. pp. 39ff. ISBN 9780884977384. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ Quoted in Reynolds, Simon (1996). The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion, and Rock 'n' Roll. Harvard University Press. p. 183. ISBN 9780674802735. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ a b c d e f Palmer, Robert (1973-08-02). "Rev. of Love Devotion Surrender". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2009-06-23. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  8. ^ Prown, Pete (1997). Legends of rock guitar: the essential reference of rock's greatest guitarists. Hal Leonard. p. 138. ISBN 9780793540426. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Woodstra, Chris (2007). All Music Guide Required Listening: Classic Rock. Hal Leonard. p. 1324. ISBN 9780879309176. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Perna, Alan Di (September 2007). "Peace, Love and Überjamming". Guitar World. 28 (9): 45–46. ISSN 1045-6295. Retrieved 2009-06-23. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) [dead link‍]
  11. ^ Snyder-Scumpy, Patrick (November 1973). "John McLaughlin & The Mahavishnu Orchestra: Two Sides to Every Satori". Crawdaddy. Retrieved 2009-06-23. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ Menn, Don (1992). Secrets from the masters. Hal Leonard. p. 141. ISBN 9780879302603. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  13. ^ Fusilli, Jim (2004-02-12). "The Mystical Journey of Carlos Santana". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2009-06-24. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  14. ^ Shapiro, Marc (2002). Carlos Santana: Back on Top. Macmillan. p. 145–46. ISBN 9780312288525. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  15. ^ a b Palmer, Robert (1974-01-03). "Rev. of Santana, Welcome". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2009-06-23. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  16. ^ "Carlos was thrilled when feedback indicated this [sic] his old Santana fans were finding much to like in the music as well." Shapiro, Marc (2002). Carlos Santana: Back on Top. Macmillan. p. 148. ISBN 9780312288525. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  17. ^ Palmer, Robert (1974-02-14). "Rev. of Larry Young, Lawrence of Newark". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2009-06-23. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  18. ^ "DiscsEtc: Music CDs". The Independent. 2001-09-16. p. 14. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  19. ^ Broecking, Christian (2001-07-11). "Instant Karma: Sci-Fi-Jazz und andere Fusionen - Barbecue im Raumschiff". Die Tageszeitung. Retrieved 2009-. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  20. ^ "Love Devotion Surrender - Charts & Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
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