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A Handful of Beauty
 
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A Handful of Beauty

~ John McLaughlin, Shakti
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
Price: £4.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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A Handful of Beauty + Natural Elements: Limited Edition + Shakti and John Mclaughlin
Price For All Three: £14.94

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Product details

  • Audio CD (3 May 1999)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Sony Jazz
  • ASIN: B00000JM4S
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 25,193 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

    Popular in these categories:

    #24 in  Music > Jazz > Folk Jazz
    #27 in  Music > Jazz > Fusion > Guitar
    #52 in  Music > Jazz > Instruments > Guitar

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Samples
Song TitleArtist Time Price
Listen  1. La Danse Du BonheurJohn McLaughlin 4:50£0.69
Listen  2. Lady LShakti;John McLaughlin 7:29£0.69
Listen  3. IndiaShakti;John McLaughlin12:38£0.69
Listen  4. KritiShakti;John McLaughlin 3:00£0.59
Listen  5. IsisShakti;John McLaughlin15:13£0.69
Listen  6. Two SistersShakti;John McLaughlin 4:43£0.69

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Shakti represents one of the peaks in East-West collaboration. Between 1975 and 1977 the quartet set new standards in multi-faith, multicultural instrumental fusion music. A Handful of Beauty is the efflorescence of Shakti's trinity of Sony albums. The Shakti concept in Hinduism embodies feminine creativity and power (and did it millennia before "girl power" wanly shone forth). Shakti by 1976 had settled into the decade's most satisfying line-up of tabla nawaaz (maestro) Zakir Hussain (son of Ravi Shankar's long-standing tabla player Alla Rakha, the player who converted more people to the intricacies of Hindustani rhythm than anyone in history), the guitarist John McLaughlin (former Miles Davis alumnus and leader of the Mahavishnu Orchestra), the Karnatic (South Indian classical) violinist L. Shankar and the Karnatic percussionist T.H. Vinayakram. Together they bind together three improvisation-based traditions, respectively Hindustani, jazz and Karnatic music with the natural accent on melodic and rhythmic extemporisation. Harmony plays a less than minor role in this music. This glory's pieces radiate acoustical energy and vitality, scotching any suspicions of heresy arising from the appropriateness of their name. --Ken Hunt

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The most beautiful music in the known universe, 9 Nov 2005
By M. Adams "Markdoma" (London England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
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 yourself in 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.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars the title says it all, 26 July 2001
By A Customer
this is really beauty at its most.since the first piece it is really joy, and dreams. mclaughlin's guitar is now based more in the musicality than in the virtuosism, allowing shankar make a dissertation of how a ciolin should be played.

in resume: a great album containing extremely beautiful music, and played by tremendous musicians.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The finest improvisatory music made by anyone, anywhere, 11 Mar 2005
By John Ferngrove (Hants UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Bought it when I was 15 and it remains in 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 and precision, power, beauty and blistering intelligence been so perfectly and consistently blended, and this for each of the four players concerned. I wept the day I heard this band had split, and although they all went on to do often great and 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, and was I astonished to read years later that it eventually just got 'lost'. With this guitar McLaughlin played with a fire and 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 and 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, and 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 and although it has remained profoundly intelligent, it has become more urbane and airy. The music of a contented man rather than one who's reaching for the furthest attainable excellence.

The violinist L Shankar is another world musical prodigy. He too was at a pinnacle of excellence and exploration in his career at this stage. At his best he was clearly among the finest violinists in 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 and endlessly rhythmically inventive. He is complemented by Vikku Vinayakram whose Gatam (claypot) playing has just got to hurt.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Shakti, Handful of Beauty
I first heart this album on the Friday Road Show with Tommy Vance in the late 70's, It just flew me away, the music envelopes you, enters you, it's energy and power is just... Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2007 by Robert Long

5.0 out of 5 stars BUY THIS DISC
I bought this on vinyl in the mid seventies.
When it graced my turntable I couldn't believe my ears. Read more
Published on 25 May 2004 by Mr. P. Owen

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