32 of 33 recommend this SA-CD
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Label:
   Columbia - http://www.columbiarecords.com/
Serial:
   CS 65168
Title:
   Di Meola/McLaughlin/DeLucia: Friday Night in San Francisco
Description:
   "Friday Night in San Francisco"

Al Di Meola
John McLaughlin
Paco DeLucia
Details:
   1. Mediterranean Sundance/Rio Ancho
2. Short Tales of the Black Forest
3. Frevo Rasgado
4. Fantasia Suite
5. Guardian Angel
Genre:
   Jazz
Content:
   Stereo
Media:
   Single Layer
Recording type:
  
Recording info:
   Recorded Live at The Warfield Theater, San Francisco, California on Friday, December 5, 1980 (except for "Guardian Angel", recorded and mixed by Ron Carran at Minot Sound, White Plains, New York)

Executive Producers: Philip Roberge and Barrie Marshall
Original recordings produced by: John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucia
Recorded by: Tim Pinch Recording
Engineers: Tim and Tom Pinch, Rex Olsen
Mixed by: Ray Bardani at Minot Sound, White Plains, New York
Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk, NYC
Produced for reissue by Bob Belden
Engineered for SACD by Mark Wilder, Sony Music Studios, NYC
Note:
   SRGS4512 in Japan.
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Related titles: 4
 
Reviews: 6 show all
Review by JW May 22, 2003 (8 of 8 found this review helpful)
Performance:  Sonics:
Whip out the ol' credit card, steel the proceeds of your garage sale, do whatever, but get this JSACD :-)

Is this the best guitar recording ever? John McLaughlin, Paco DeLucia and Al DiMeola play trios and duets live in concert, offering up a menu of flamengo music and Latin/Spanish tunes with a jazzy influence.

If you know this album from CD but always thought something was missing, well this is the one you've been waiting for. If you want to hear a guitar 'light up your room' look no further. You can hear EVERYTHING. You can hear when the pick hits the string. You can hear when the steel E-string hits the fretboard when really plucked hard. The sound reaches out at you and it's so palpable that you want to try and grab them.

I have never heard this performance at this level. My reference is the old redbook CD. There is a complete absence of treble harshness. No listener fatigue with this disc at high volumes. And this disc is best listened to at higher volumes in my opinion. It really gets you 'there'. What this level of quality brings to the listening room is very important. I felt transported to the performance. The microdynamics on this disc allow you to hear the interplay between these guys. The slight hesitation before the next note is played in order to keep the tension, the solo that goes on just that little too long sometimes.

This is a live performance and you can hear it. It's a bit 'showy' at times. Too many tricks some peple might say, but hey, who's complaining... I remember Mclaughlin saying in an interview once that he felt they were doing something special that night and that he was especially pleased with his solo work on the 'Frevo Rasgado' track (I think this was an interview in Guitar Player, not sure).

Gripping stuff!

Jw

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Review by Marc P March 1, 2003 (5 of 5 found this review helpful)
Performance:  Sonics:
What can one say about this album except that it is a classic?
Man one can only think what it must have been like to see these guys play live. It must have been a trip. Three great guitar players all at their peak, and performing live on the same stage.

The first time I ever heard this album was at my local audio store. The guy who owns the store knew I was into guitar music and was mostly rock oriented. I told him I liked all kinds of music but I just didn’t know what to look for.
Well he had a copy of the Mastersound Gold CD series and he played it for me. I thought I died and gone to heaven. This was amazing, and it opened up a whole new musical world to me.
The album has been a favourite of mine for about ten to fifteen years. And I was very happy when my JSACD arrived. Playing it gave me the same feeling it always does, in one word “Wow”.

Sound quality is amazing. It’s one of the best live recordings I own.

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Review by der inschinör May 18, 2006 (3 of 4 found this review helpful)
Performance:  Sonics:
For years I owned the "standard" CD. I listend it after buying and then it went into the drawer.
When searching for SACDs I remembered this CD and bought it as SACD.

What can I tell you about it?
This SACD is absolutely fantastic.

The livelike feeling is brought through your stereo as if you would be there in San Francisco.

My recommandation:
Buy this SACD, take a good glass of wine and take place in front of your stereo.
You will feel like a time traveller!

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