At first when I saw the post of this show by carlthulhu I got all excited and thought I had
found a different source and maybe completer one than this is, and it now seems that recording
may have come from this one, which comes from my friend's master tape (same source as the
Mahavishnu 10/19/73 post). It was recorded very close up, unfortunately it's missing about a
half hour or so in the middle of the show. apparently carlthulhu's post has fallen off the tracker,
and if by any chance there is some difference in it he could repost his, but it does seem after
further review that his post comes from my recording, which I've traded some on cassette copies
but never posted before... until now, 35 years after the show.
better 35 years late than never.
John McLaughlin- guitar
Carlos Santana- guitar
Larry Young- keyboards
Doug Roach- bass
Jose Chapito Arias- congas
Billy Cobham- drums
Boston Music Hall
Boston, Mass.
August 28, 1973
Recording quality: B/B+ (recorded close to stage)
Performance quality: A (I'd say a burnfest)
runtime: disc 1: 54:13
disc 2: 39:58
(this is not the whole show. The actual performance time
was about 150 min.!
lineage: Sony ECM 50 microphone > Sony TC-55 mono cassette deck >
Scotch Highlander and Low Noise cassettes >
soundforge 4.5 > CD > CD extractor (all files verified OK) >
FLAC (all files verified OK) > torrentially yours.

setlist: (disc 1)
1: moment of silence
2: flame sky
3: a love supreme (John Coltrane)
4: taurian matador (incomplete, spliced at 9:36)
(disc 2)
5: the life divine
6: (encore): let us go into the house of the lord
comments:
This tour features a hornless band paying tribute to John Coltrane,
one of the greatest saxophone players ever.
A rather odd plan, but it sounded pretty damn good.
This torrent is what has survived of a master recording
from the Love Devotion Surrender tour stop in Boston Music
Hall. This tour lasted 14 or so nights stretching across
the USA east to west, there is a sbd floating around from
the 9/1/73 Chicago concert, this one was 3 days before that.
the recording is unfortunately incomplete, but thankfully unlike
the Maha. 10/19/73 show on the B sides of these master tapes,
recorded on the exact same deck and microphone, this one doesn't
have any bad speed flaws. The source of both of these made a very
nice remaster of the Maha. show, but some of it was tracked out of
order, so he's going to try again and then we will be ready to share
that one. Meanwhile, this is one of 2 very hot Carlos Santana shows
in Boston from 73. The other (I have not heard) was with his band
touring Caravanserai and the material heard on the live in Japan 73
"Lotus" release. 73 was a very hot period for both John and Carlos.
For those not familiar with the Love Devotion Surrender tour, I've
heard basically 2 kinds of reviews on it. Group A believes this was
what happens if you take Mahavishnu's most powerful roots- Billy
Cobham and John McLaughlin, and throw them with Carlos Santana and
his great percussion section- high intensity guitar jamfest with 2
of the very best at it. Group B can't handle the intensity overload.
Too much jamfest. The songs are way too long. I saw this concert,
the 1st time I ever saw Carlos in concert. It was about my 5th time
seeing John. Mahavishnu Orch. with their original band was a show
I would catch at every opportunity and every single time leave thinking
I really wish I had a tape recorder for this! So too this show, but
I did find a fellow about 28 years ago who did have one and recorded
this thing. There is in our estimation about 30-40 minutes missing in
this recording. I think the first 2 songs and the encore are w/in seconds
of complete, and the encore runs almost half an hour (all 1 song). We are
not sure exactly where in the show the missing parts are sequentially,
but my guess is most of the missing part is just prior to the encore.
There's a flip-cut in the middle of Taurian Matador, maybe a minute or 2
missing there if not less, the songs on this recording are essentially all
there. The tour is called "Love Devotion Surrender", but the song of same
name was not played in it. The shows did vary some in setlist, this was a
rather standard set for a LDS concert, but not a standard performance.
If you go see a band with Carlos and John in it you want lots of long songs
and hot playing, and that's what you get here. Probably the closest thing to
Billy Cobham sounding like he does in Maha. Orch. with a band other than the
Maha. Orch. This recording has seen some circulation on tape but this is a
first time seed from this master tape source, partly because anything from
John McLaughlin in 1973 is of high priority to my ears, and partly because
the same holds for 73 Carlos Santana. This was a great year for fans of either
one. The Flame Sky song was later recorded in studio and put on Santana's
"Welcome" album. This tour was a rare chance to see 2 great guitarists in
peak form, side by side with a great band. For awhile I referred to this as
the Santanavishnu tour. Some folks seem a bit down on the Love Devotion
Surrender album. I think this tour was meant to be a tribute to John Coltrane,
who composed and played the original "Love Supreme" and was a significant
influence for many of this group. Part of the missing segment is another
Coltrane classic, "My Favorite Things". Some folks seem to think any tribute
to Coltrane without a saxophone or even a horn player is missing something big.
Hard to argue with that, but I enjoyed this show. Maybe one of the 10 best
shows I ever saw, especially the guitar and percussion. This was when John
& Carlos were into the Sri Chimnoy religious movement, and both wore all
white chothes for this concert as seen on the LDS album cover. John's guitar
was black, I think a Les Paul. I think Carlos' was too, but I don't remember.
I do remember it being one of the best dual-guitar bands I've ever heard or seen.
Do not sell this recording.
Trade freely and losslessly.