Psychedelic guitar sold separately.
The Boston Record is a 2014 Live Album by John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension, a jazz-rock group. Recorded at Berklee College in June 2013, The Boston Record features the 72-year old guitarist revisiting seven of his past compositions along with "Echoes From Then" and "Call & Answer" from the band's 2012 album, Now Here This. Heavier than the rest of the band's output so far, it sonically resembles McLaughlin's early work with The Tony Williams Lifetime and his own Mahavishnu Orchestra.
Tracklist:
- "Raju" - 8:36
- "Little Miss Valley" - 9:21
- "Abbaji" - 6:53
- "Echoes From Then" - 8:15
- "Señor C.S." - 2:49
- "Call & Answer" - 9:17
- "Hijacked" - 4:56
- "Maharina" - 6:45
- "You Know You Know" - 6:11
The Boston Record demonstrates the following tropes:
- Call-and-Response Song: One piece is actually titled "Call & Answer". The device is also very prominent on "You Know You Know".
- Call-Back: The album is a callback to McLaughlin's older albums.
- Design Student's Orgasm: The psychedelic album cover.
- Epic Rocking: Only "Señor C.S." and "Hijacked" clock in at under six minutes long.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: It's a Live Album recorded in Boston.
- Fanservice: Non-sexual example (thankfully, given the leader's age) - the concluding "You Know You Know" is the only Mahavishnu Orchestra piece of the evening, and McLaughlin throws various
famous riffs into the call and response section - among them "Foxey Lady", "Jean-Pierre", and "Mountain Jam". The crowd responds as expected - he knew they'd know, you see. - Funk Rock: "Little Miss Valley" qualifies as jazz-funk-rock.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: One song, "Abbaji", is titled after the Hindu for "father".
- Instrumentals: Only two songs have vocals.
- Scatting: "Echoes From Then"
- Lead Drummer: Ranjit Barot may not have his name in the band title, but he has plenty of soloing space and handles all of the vocal duties.
- Limited Lyrics Song: "Abbaji" has only two lines - "love and understanding" and "love is understanding".
- Live Album: All tracks are live
- New Sound Album: Inverted - here, the band moves back towards McLaughlin's old sound.
- One-Man Song: "Señor C.S."
- One-Woman Song: "Little Miss Valley".
- One-Word Title: "Raju","Abbaji", "Hijacked" and "Maharina".
- Rearrange the Song: Most of the songs are treated as harder rock pieces in the live setting.
- Shout-Out: "Señor C.S." is a tribute to Carlos Santana, one of McLaughlin's occasional bandmates.
