Packing up the past

With this move, I’ve had to pack away the music I’ve been collecting since the mid-60s. It’s mostly albums – I’ve only ever bought a handful of 45s – and although I’ve digitised most of my music, I’ve kept a lot of my vinyl because I just can’t bear to part with it. Digging through the shelves and starting to pack for my move has turned into an emotional journey.

Old favourites keep resurfacing: Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band, early Hendrix, Miles Davis… all those records that shaped how I hear music. But there’s one name that still stops me in my tracks and, if I’m honest, can bring tears of joy: John McLaughlin.

The moment it all changed for me was in the mid-to-late 70s. I walked into a record shop in London to order some music I’d heard: Al Di Meola’s “Flight Over Rio” from Elegant Gypsy and Billy Cobham’s “Heather” from Crosswinds. After placing my order, I picked up a John McLaughlin album purely because the cover grabbed me and I just couldn’t put it down. The staff put a few tracks on over the shop system, and that was it – something clicked. I was hooked. Three albums that quite literally changed my life, and I still play them to this day.

That chance encounter opened a door to a whole new world: Mahavishnu Orchestra, the 4th Dimension, Shakti, Fuse One, the trio with Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucía – and, of course, those intense, spiritual collaborations with Carlos Santana. From that day on, McLaughlin’s playing has been part of my musical DNA.

So once my new studio is up and running and the boxes are finally unpacked, a John McLaughlin special is very much on the cards. I want to revisit that first moment in HMV and follow the thread through the albums, the bands, and the live recordings that have meant so much to me.

More on that once the studio lights are on and the turntables are spinning again.