Dueling Guitars

 

Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco De Lucía - Saturday Night In San Francisco [0217243EMU DEU 2022 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC]

Friday Night In San Francisco by Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin & Paco De Lucía is widely accepted as one of the finest live albums of the last fifty years. Recorded with multiple microphones at The Warfield Theatre in December 1980 to capture the full atmosphere of the event, what wasn't known until recently was that the same mobile recording team had also captured the following night's performance to tape.

Now comes the intriguing part... if you read the current marketing from quality label Impex Records, you will be told that the label baked and transferred the tapes found Al Di Meola's basement at Skywalker Studios and asked Bernie Grundman to cut an all analogue lacquer for a new release. On the very same release day, Ear Music Records in Germany released a different mix (by Di Meola) of the album cut and pressed at Optimal Media in Germany. The setlist had been whittled down in length to fit one 33rpm record, however the German version has one additional track. 

It has transpired that Di Meola had already transferred and mixed the tapes which were 'rejected' by Impex and the American label asked Roy Henderson at Spin Studio to produce a new mix as they felt the original Di Meola mix lacked the live experience of the Friday night's recording. This raises a few (as yet) unanswered questions about provenance and the timeline of the transfer for each release. For instance, how many times can you bake a reel? There are gaps in both timelines which will eventually be uncovered as one story seems to contradict the other. 

The German release sells for half the price of the Impex version and as it is all about the music, I think it sounds fantastic and although this would not normally be the kind of music I buy -  this is music to fill the room. Whilst it is only an American, a Brit and a Spaniard onstage with acoustic guitars, the magical feeling of a live performance by three virtuosos is truly something to enjoy.

I now want to hear the Friday night, we are promised a 2x45rpm repress of the Impex deluxe version of that release, at the moment I cannot stretch myself to the 125 quid which copies are demanding on the secondary market for originals.

A1 Bill Graham Introduction

A2 Splendido Sundance

A3 One Word

A4 Trilogy Suite

A5 Monasterio De Sal

B1 El Pañuelo

B2 Meeting Of The Spirits

B3 Orpheo Negro