Customer Reviews
Shakti, Handful of Beauty - By: Robert Long, 30 Dec 2007 
I first heart this album on the Friday Road Show with Tommy Vancein the late 70's, It just flew me away, the music envelopes you, enters you, it's energy & power is just spellbinding.
You may not have heard of this album, but it really is one of the best albums ever produced with an excellent sound recording & mix - you feel you are there. There is one 15 minute tabla solo (Isis) that is so relaxing & calming yet so vibrant & energising, this album with leave you overwhelmed with it's beauty, you will not be disapointed if you buy it.
The most beautiful music in the known universe - By: M. Adams, 09 Nov 2005 I too bought this on vinyl when it was released. I no longer listen to Genesis, Thin Lizzy, Lynyrd Skynyrd or Steve Hillage, but 30 odd years later, this one, I still do.
Tranquililty, astonishing virtuosity, hypnotic rhythm, introspection, joyfulness, timelessness, peace. You sort of immerse yourselfin it, rather than listen to it.
I have bought literally thousands of LP's/CD's down the years. This is one of the two or three greatest. You should buy a copy.
The finest improvisatory music made by anyone, anywhere. - By: John Ferngrove, 11 Mar 2005 Bought it when I was 15 & it remainsin my top two or three albums more than thirty years later, despite having bought an awful lot of music, of all kinds since. And for improvisation it remains unsurpassed. Never have passion & precision, power, beauty & blistering intelligence been so perfectly & consistently blended, & this for each of the four players concerned. I wept the day I heard this band had split, & although they all went on to do often great & always interesting things, for me this was their finest hour.
At this time McLaughlin used a specially made acoustic guitar that involved an additional set of sympathetic strings, somewhat along the lines of a sitar. It sounded like no other acoustic guitar before or since, & was I astonished to read years later that it eventually just got 'lost'. With this guitar McLaughlin played with a fire & venom that he's never,in my humble opinion, quite got back since those days. The guitar also facilitated outrageous bending, again more like a sitar, that allowed him to throw a single note all over the place. Of course there was speed, but it was the actual notes he was playing that made it so electrifying. He wasn't just blindly shooting up & down scales, but rather he was executing the most sophisticated phrasing that truly captured a unique syncretism of east-west language. It was also just how hard, & indeed softly, he was hitting the notes, each one ringing out with absolute clarity. I've loyally followed John's work over the intervening years & allthough it has remained profoundly intelligent, it has become more urbane & airy. The music of a contented man rather than one who was reaching for the furthest attainable excellence.
The violinist L Shankar is another world musical prodigy. He too was at a pinnacle of excellence & explorationin his career at this stage. At his best he was clearly among the finest violinistsin the world, made most apparent on his later solo album Pancha Nadai Pallavi.
Zakhir Hussain is always astonishing, defying the laws of physics with the speed of his playing & endlessly rhythmically inventive. He is complemented by Vikku Vinayakram whose Gatam (claypot) playing has just got to hurt.
BUY THIS DISC - By: Mr. P. Owen, 25 May 2004 I bought this on vinylin the mid seventies.
When it graced my turntable I couldn't believe my ears.
Intense structured layers of John's strange acoustic guitar fused withL.Shankars VIOLIN,the percussion on this is amazing with Zakir Hussain on TABLA AND T.H.VINAYALARAM on GHATAM,MDIDANGRAM.
The four of them creatad a masterpiece here its fast & uplifting much better than NATURAL ELEMENT their 2nd disc buy both.
the title says it all - By: , 26 Jul 2001 this is really beauty at its most.since the first piece it is really joy, & dreams. mclaughlin's guitar is now based morein the musicality thanin the virtuosism, allowing shankar make a dissertation of how a ciolin should be played.
in resume: a great album containing extremely beautiful music, & played by tremendous musicians.
