„Thank you for advising me how to judge music, with patience and enough listening sessions! Never had this idea :( What you call „sheer lyricism“, I would call „sterile lyricism“. A bag of cliches. And I don‘ t want to challenge your opinion either.
I can love a lot of music that is not groundbreaking. Let‘ s say it this way: the last albums of John contain nearly all the things I don’t like at all in this post-or-not-post-fusion-area. Fine you detect so many subtleties here. For me the magic factor comes dangerously close to zero. But, as an old Zen teacher said, enlightenment can even happen when being confronted with unbearable boredom. So if I get my mini-satori, I will let you know immeditately.“
(These lines contain a strong warning to buy McLaughlin’s new album called NOW HERE THIS.)