Customer Rating: 
Summary: sacd and dvd audio whole new world
Comment: Dito to everything I read. I realise most people are clueless to what all this is but when I play it for them they marvel. I aggree the industry should know the difference and at least give us the imformation we need to decide on our purchaces. I'm selling CD's left and write to make way for more sa and dvd audio. If the idiots writng the reviews are this stupid I am available and would increase sales so much the corperate winnies would pee themselves.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous Recording with Playful Musicians
Comment: Undoubtedly one of my favorite recordings in SACD format, I only wish there was video as well, because it would be great. These gentlemen truly understand the music and their improvisational skills are fantastic, as they're able to play along with each other and the audience, the latter which seems to be thouroughly ecstatic. Unfortunately this is not a hybrid recording, which means if you want to transfer it to a portable device or play it in your car, it requires tremendous effort.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Stereo SACD, not Multichannel!
Comment: This is a great performance. My review is mostly based on the fact that this is a stereo SACD, not multichannel. I am learning more about SACD every day, but was very disappointed that it is only presented in stereo.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "Too Many Notes..."
Comment: That was Emperor Joseph's simple-minded estimation of any music he didn't understand in the Academy-Award winning movie "Amadeus." I never thought I would ever find music that would actually fit that description... until now.If you think this is some sort of super-charged California Guitar Trio or a Narciso Yepes-type forray into flameco-guitar, forget it. That is not to say most every review you see here is wrong. In fact, they are all correct about these guys being virtuoso guitarists.
However, songs that consist almost entirely of 32nd and 64th notes are at first impressive, but very quickly become tiresome. And this isn't an album full of "songs" so much as it is a forty-some-odd-minute-long jam session featuring testosterone-fueled duels and improvs with a Flamecan flare.
So if you're a guitarist who thrills to the repeated use of the same techniques over and over for close to an hour, this is a great album for you. If you're a normal guy just trying to find some high-fi SACD pyrotechnics, maybe this is still for you. But if you're just someone looking to be entertained, this may disappoint.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing, amazing, amazing
Comment: "Friday Night in San Francisco" is one of those rare CDs you'll listen to and just laugh out loud from sheer amazement at the virtuoso guitar work of Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucia. Here are three friends, all guitarists, who are clearly having the time of their lives showing off their astonishing instrumental skills and jamming together on, well, a Friday night in San Francisco back in the 1980s. I was lucky enough to be introduced to this album by a cousin many years ago, and after having treated myself to it, I played it on at least a weekly basis for months. Far from getting sick of it eventually, I found myself noticing new things almost every time I played it. Of course it's wonderful to listen to yourself, but there is also a profound pleasure to be had in introducing a novice to the album. Watch their eyes widen and their jaw drop as they turn to you and say, "Who IS this? I gotta have this!"
All three men share composition credits on the album. "Mediterranean Sundance/Rio Ancho," the song that opens the album, is a Spanish-influenced piece that sends notes scattering like raindrops on a sunny day--the aural effect is one of sparkling light. Chick Corea's song "Short Tales of the Black Forest" gets a work-out here, and McLaughlin and DiMeola do it proud as they build the musical tension to an almost unbearable point before exploding into the heart of the song a minute or two into the piece. "Frevo Rasgado," an Egberto Gismonti piece, is a complex song which swings effortlessly back and forth between major and minor keys, and McLaughlin and DeLucia go along for the ride with a kind of manic joy in their playing.
The three men don't all play together until the final two songs. On "Fantasia Suite," a DiMeola composition, they follow the notes but go further into that realm where they are in their own little universe, egging each other on and on until the music reaches an almost sublime climax. On "Guardian Angel," much the same thing happens and it's a privilege to hear this kind of creative collaboration in action. If you haven't already, make room on your CD shelf for this outstandingly great album!
