Though this fitfully inspired yet always intelligently musical record is an electric album,
McLaughlin is more often heard on acoustic guitar in something resembling his electric manner, along with more pronounced classical and flamenco influences. This quintet, along with bass and drums, contained two keyboard players,
Francois Couturier and the noted classical pianist
Katia Labeque (who was
McLaughlin's companion).
Labeque, seated at a Synclavier and a grand piano, has acres of technique and almost no feeling for jazz, though she is adept at providing moody backdrops, and her rapid-fire synth runs and
Jarrett-like etudes on the Steinway aren't too far away stylistically from
McLaughlin's helter-skelter flurries. In a continued homage to
McLaughlin's once and future employer
Miles Davis, "Blues for L.W." brazenly quotes "Blues for Pablo," and sometimes the music texturally resembles the heavily synthesized things that
Miles would soon be putting out. ~ Richard S. Ginell