Nothing I have ever heard compares to the over the top exuberant madness of this performance of the traditional Christian hymn 'Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord.' The beautiful core of the song is reprised by Carlos in the audio blurb available here. The same blurb establishes, after a long introductory section,the nifty bass line as well as the beautiful voice of Armando Peraza's bongos which are the true root of the performance.

McLaughlin paints wonderful figures behind the Santana front and then he takes over with an ax attack which is awsome, and indescribable. Into the mix are two, possibly 3 drummers, it is difficult to tell but the liner notes mention Jan Hammer, Billy Cobham and Mike Shrieve and Larry Young's organ flittering around between the rhythm and the music.

The result can best be described as an assault on the senses. After 26 years I still find it exciting, uplifting and beautiful.

Two other songs in the same vein and a quiet guitar duets by the boys are fine also. The duet, Namia and the first song on the album, A Love Supreme are of course by John Coltrane. It is probably fair to say he is the inspiration behind these performances.

My love of this record is undoubtably highly ideosyncratic and I doubt 1 in 100 will get it at all. While the record is classified as fusion it is something else perhaps, something unique, and as I said, unmatched ever since it was made 26 years ago.

I have always wonderd what John McLaughlin thinks of this work now. If anyone has a clue drop me a line.

The first time I heard this CD I was blown away, my teacher at the time, Daryll Dobson(another great guitar player,)played it for me and I had to have it. Carlos Santana had begun a journey that was both spiritual and musical. For those who are really familiar with Carlo's music you first heard hints at a new musical direction with the tune called, Incident at Neshabur, (from Abraxas, not on this album like many people state.) The following albums; Santana 3, Live with Buddy Miles, and Caravanserai showed more and more the direction Carlos was to take. With each of these albums you can clearly hear his playing improve and expand, which no doubt came from playing constantly with the young firey Neal Schon,(note their playing on Live with Buddy Miles and Caravanserai) and of course Carlos had begun listening intensly to Coltrane and Mahavishnu. By the time Santana joined up with Mahavishnu for this album in 73,Carlos was ready to take the next step.

Listening to this record you hear both Mclaughlin and Santana reaching and pushing, at times almost crying out, I.E. their playing on The Love Devine, (listen to the way Mclaughlin caps of his solo.) Although Mclaughlin was a much more technically advanced player, Carlo's beautiful tone and creative combination of bends and holds make him just as great. Although L.D.S. is not the most "listener freindly" album it does contain two beautiful ballads in Naima and Meditation. After this album Santana toured with Mahavishnu for many years and recorded again on the Santana album Welcome,(the tune is called Flame Sky and it too is amazing.) The following albums through the seventees although never recieved as much attention and were even somtimes critized, contained what I beleive to be Carlo's best and most complex playing,(for the other reviewer who commented that Zappa quipped about Carlo's earlier solos, believe me Zappa could only dream of playing as good as Carlos, especially after his Mahavishnu days.) As for Mclaughlin, his future Mahavishnu albums were great, it's too bad they didn't put out some more with the original line up.

Love Devotion Surrender was a beautiful union of amazing players all at their peak. Carlos and Mclaughlin complemented each other beautifully, Mclaughlin had more technique and power, and Santana had more passion and soul, together their playing was unique and has left this music fan longing for more.

If ever there was a case to not 'Judge a book by its Cover', it'd be this album. A dubious looking photograph of 'Carlos Santana' & 'John McLaughlin'. Two of the most recognised and accomplished guitarist that the Jazz-rock field (McLaughlin), and Latin-rock (Santana), seemingly looking like something out of a bad clothes catalogue brochure. I myself admit, that I saw this album in my second-hand music store for months, with the cover being enough to (wrongly) convince me that this was some ill-conceived 'Vanity' project for both artists, and where the music would be one long ego trip for both musicians involved. But if you are prepared to look past the initially off-putting cover, you'll actually discover (like I did), an album that remarkably isn't mentioned more widely when referring to either artists work. Maybe this is possibly because it's more likely considered an album of music, that merely takes the existing work of 'John Coltrane' & 'Pharoah Sanders', and reinterprets them, into stunning Jazz-Rock, Fusion & Latin rock tracks, rather than an original body of work.

John Coltrane's legendary signature track "A Love Supreme" is cast within an elaborate and fiery burst of sophisticated Jazz-rock improvisations, that remain dynamic and wonderfully capture the energy of John original work, and although hearing the work, reinterpreted via the use of guitars is at first intitally disorientating, repeated listens reveal a understanding and complete respect for the original work and yet somehow manages to offer something new, in that the influence of jazz-influenced improvisation runs strong through, but that it's matched with precision elements of studious rock compostion, that only guitarist's (or indeed musicians), of this calibre could so wonderfully balance. and more importantly neither musician, dominates the music with their contributions, and instead draw on that level of studied passionate spirituality, that made up such a large part of Coltrane's later work, and when the vocal chants of "A Love Supreme" begin to waft into view, it all begins to feel like a fantastically explored progressive sound, that you can't help but feel, that John himself would have thoroughly approved of.

"Naima" is another of Coltrane's pieces that has been transposed from Jazz, to fit with in the freewheeling Blues/Latin-rock, and Fusion template here, but whereas the previous track was far more intense and confident, with it approach and excellently mixed up the spiritual with the confident and exuberant to startling effect, "Naima" is but complete contrast a much softer and more inward looking track that, has an emphasis on the use of slide guitar to relay the more organic and subdued nature of the track, and the hushed instrumentation is indicative of the contrasting and ultimately pastoral nature of the Coltrane original. And such is the delicate lushness of this track, that you'll feel a sense of disappointment that it's very brief 3 minute running time leaves you wanting more.

"The Life Divine" sees McLaughlin take on more of the arrangement and compositional duties here, as this is a sound that seems more akin to his remarkable first couple of albums with "The Mahavishnu Orchestra", and so the sound is one of the complex and electronic innovations of the guitar Jazz-fusion, that they became famous for, it certainly a energetic and invigorating piece that has that sublime improvisational fusion that served McLaughlin well, in his time as a "Miles Davis" sideman on his "Bitches Brew" and "Jack Johnson" sessions. With the heavily rhythm-orientated progressive rock, and freeform Jazz arrangements running strongly throughout the track. This track will undoubtedly appeal most to those that enjoyed the shimmering funkiness, and moody electric ethereal rhythms, and slightly aggressive tones and textures of his Jazz-rock work.

"Let Us Go into the House of the Lord" is a song that I was performed by 'Pharoah Sanders' (although I don't believe his is the composer), and at a lengthy 15 minutes, it's by far the longest track on the album, and undeniably one of the greatest compostions, and oddly it this track feels as though Carlos Santana has had more of a hand in this track, and it feels in parts closer to the ethnic and almost bluesy approach, that probably has more in common with the summery psychedelic and the playful and confident Latin-rock/Afro-Cuban, by which Santana became synonymous with. And it here that this track feels more like a Santana production because it has that feel of multiple influences: Rock, Jazz, Salsa, & Blues, all subtly texturing the sound, and making for gripping performance, especially when the two guitarist begin to start weaving some sublime guitar interplay, between the both of them. Cerebral in tone and loaded with some excellent percussion, it can at times be a very melodic and lush sounding track, and at other times remarkably technical and movingly poigiant.

This is one of those albums, that I can imagine, when it was released over 30 years ago, divided fans of both artists fanbase, as it was a wasn't quite what the fans back then were expecting from both artists (an album of mostly Jazz classics reinterpreted into Jazz Fusion??). And for those fans nowdays, that probably only know Santana through his recent albums, that feature a multitude of vocalists / Collaborators, this will undoubtedly leave most listeners scratching their heads in bemusement. But for those that are familiar with the original tracks that these versions are taken from, or indeed welcome (and indeed Love) the whole Jazz-Fusion / Jazz-Rock genre, this is a truly stunning album, that actually sounds a lot more relevant in this times of musical multi-genres, and is arguably a one-off stunning pairing of arguably two of the rock genres finest statesmen, but more importantly an amazing jam session by two exceptionally gifted guitarists, who made a unique album of intense, passionate and beautifully realised musical explorations that sound even better now, than it did back then.

Buy it!

If you are a guitar student or an expert ...see the two finest guitar players of the 1970's and maybe all time reach "Nirvana"

This is the guitar album to own!

Listen to the tone of Carlos and Johnny Mac it is unbelievable!

I strongly suggest purchase of this cd as well as Mahavishnu's " Inner Mounting Flame " own these two cd's and you will attend the finest guitar university known to man!

Best enjoyed by those who are fully au fait with John McLaughlan and Santana, this music reflects the journey of search and discovery that Carlos (more so than John) was undertaking at the time. Musically Carlos finds himself on McLaughlan's turf here, but fortunately not fully out of his depth. It is interesting to note the difference in styles between the two, yet at times they are almost indistinguishable.

Radically different for Santana fans, but more familiar sounds for McLaughlan followers, this is not an easy album to digest for the average listener, as this is "devotional" music by two soul brothers experiencing life and spirituality to the fullest. No matter what one may think of Guru Sri Chinmoi and others like him, Carlos' and John's intentions were sincere. This is an important album because it is a snap shot of Carlos' evolutionary path from his fiery debut album, through his spiritual and musical development to this day.

Critics of Carlos Santana often complain that he's drifted from his roots, the music that made him famous (Santana, Abraxas, Santana III & Caravanserai), forgetting that he's no ordinary musician, possessing extraordinary emotions that crave for beyond the material. As such Santana is compelled to explore, change, experiment and indulge. Indeed this album has been at times described as an indulgent jam session, but such a statement one suspects can only be made by someone lacking in understanding of what Santana and McLaughan are (or were) all about.

Comprising of five tracks, this album is a little short-lived. The last track "Meditation" can only be described as beautiful, and should have been stretched further especially in an album of this nature. The second track is a sensitive rendition of John Coltrane's "Naima", softly played on acoustic guitar serves as a good lead-in to "The Life Divine" which is a rather intense piece.

Published in June 1973, this album quickly went gold and includes Billy Cobham, Armando Peraza, Don Alias, Larry Young, and Doug Rauch, but you will not see these names on the CD sleeve.

Excepting for the track titles, the CD sleeve is devoid of any useful information or credits.