Ravi Shankar - Shankar Family & Friends (IEX) (Indie Exclusive, 180 Gram Vinyl, Limited Edition)

'Out of Print for Nearly Five Decades, a Lost Classic Returns: Ravi Shankar and George Harrison's Shankar Family & Friends Weds Eastern and Western Music. Sourced from the Original Master Tapes and Limited to 3,000 Numbered Copies: Mobile Fidelity's 180g Vinyl LP of 1974 Album Features Remarkable Tonalities, Airiness, and Aura. 1/4' / 15 IPS analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe. Out of print as a standalone release for decades since it's original 1974 release, and produced by George Harrison, Shankar Family & Friends is an almost-forgotten masterwork - an emotional and sonic pact on which two like-minded souls unite musical styles, cultures, and sounds in wondrous fashion. It's also the second album Harrison's Dark Horse Records released, setting the tone for the label and precedent for a friendship that lasted the remainder of Harrison's life. Sourced from the original analog tapes, pressed at RTI, and limited to 3,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's 180g LP presents the album in restored sound that illustrates the beauty of the playing, compositions, and chemistry. This reissue makes available on vinyl a title that hasn't been on LP since 1975. Yet it does so much more in the transparent way it showcases the textures, spiritualism, and breadth of compositions primarily recorded by Harrison, Shankar, and an array of distinguished guests at A&M Studios. The inviting aura, generous spaciousness, and well-defined tonalities on this pressing combine to take the music to transcendent heights. Then there's the brilliant playing itself. Memorable contributions from an A-list of American and English musicians - Ringo Starr (drums), David Bromberg (electric guitar), Billy Preston (organ), Nicky Hopkins (piano), Jim Keltner (drums), Klaus Voorman (bass), Robert Margouleff (Moog), Malcolm Cecil (Moog), Tom Scott (saxophone) included - add to the richness of a set that melds Eastern and Western traditions. These 'names' mesh with a host of Indian virtuosos - Alla Rakha, Ashish Khan, Kamala Chakravarty, Hariprasad Chaurasia included - who turn Shankar Family & Friends into a journey laced with percussive, string, and vocal components that aren't soon forgotten.