RFD, S/D: Recent (past 10 yrs, say) John McLaughlin projects

Remember Shakti is a truly remarkable recording. I've never heard anyone integrate Indian and Western music so seamlessly. There are no compromises whatsoever - the tracks are massively long even by the standards of Indian classical music. And JM doesn't hog the spotlight at all, allowing Chaurasia lots of the space he deserves. And when he does play, it's a revelation. Mahavishnu felt horrible to me in the sense that all the subtlety and delicacy of Indian classical music was somehow reduced to bludgeoning progmetal flash (even the Beatles' and Zeppelin's appropriations of Indian music didn't seem to butcher so badly) to my ears. (Maybe this could be a good thing somehow. It wasn't in that case for me.) But JM seems to play with much more sensitivity on this while still being able to bring the intensity. Partly it might just be that I like the clean chorused reverberating tone a lot more. I also like that he uses a more textural jangly kind of approach much of the time - I don't know if he got that off Andy Summers or what but he uses it well while still being able to do the lightning runs and making them fluid and beautiful rather than showy.

(And I do like the 70s Shakti too, I should add - in fact I like everything I've heard by JM except IMF. But this seems to take it even further than the 70s group did.)

Also, Live In Paris: The Heart of Things is really nice - I like his sound a lot with more modern effects and with the electronics. And I think his older and slightly more mellowed out side works better for me.

How are his other recent things? How's Thieves and Poets?