John McLaughlin - Music for Abandoned Heights

John McLaughlin — Music for Abandoned Heights

Guitar Maestro's spectacular 2025 album on 180-gram vinyl!

Recorded and mixed by Grammy winner George Murphy at Eastcote Studios, London

Mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering

Pressed at RTI for quieter surfaces, extended freqency response and incredible musical detail!

Deluxe booklet with studio photography and new notes by John McLaughlin and music journalist Walter Kolosky

Music for Abandoned Heights is a 2025 film score album by guitarist John McLaughlin, released on the Impex label. The album is a blend of hot fusion and ballads, with McLaughlin's guitar work supported by collaborators such as Gary Husband (drums/keyboards) and Julian Siegel (saxophone).

McLaughlin has one of the richest artistic legacies in modern music, not only due to his unmatched technique, but also his boundless curiosity. From early masterpieces Extrapolation and Love Devotion Surrender (with Carlos Santana), to the genre-bending invention of Mahavishnu Orchestra and the blistering acoustic explorations with Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucia, John has always sought for the new and transcendent. His 2020 soundtrack Music for Abandoned Heights is for the New York-based film noir by the same name, directed by Jack Stallings. Now reissued for 2025 on HQ-180-gram vinyl, the album is mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

Compositionally, McLaughlin poured his imagination into the film's script to craft a rich blend of hot fusion and pensive ballads. He describes his writing process: "In my mind I would interact with the different personalities and situations and wait for my imagination to come up with themes, atmospheres and emotional ‘colors' that echoed the drama and action." The resulting musical explorations give the album a muscular, turbulent beauty reminiscent of McLaughlin's electric fusion classics Inner World and To the One.

McLaughlin's searing electric and mellifluous acoustic guitar lines are assertively supported by virtuosic performances from frequent collaborators Gary Husband (drums/keyboards), Julian Siegel (saxophone), Misha Mullov-Abbado and Etienne Mbappé (bass). These industry vets gracefully spark fire on heavier tunes like "The Scene" and introspective delicacy on the ballad "Nathaniel and Christine."

 

Side A

1. The Scene

2. Curaçao Dream

3. Will & Elijah On the Train

4. Elijah in DC

5. Malcolm Fitzgerald

Side B

1. DC Basketball

2. Nathaniel & Christine

3. Nathaniel Drives to New Jersey

4. One Step Out

5. The End

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