I first heard sitar master Ravi Shankar live at the Jubilee Auditorium in 1973. The music was hypnotic and the performance electrifying. This recording is the first in a projected multi-volume series of rare and previously unreleased recordings selected by Shankar from his massive performance archive. The major work on this disk readily transports the listener back to Shankar's early days. "Raga Gangeshwari" (essentially three fourths of the duration of the album) was recorded live at an outdoor concert in a temple on the banks of the River Ganges outside Allahabad, India in 1968. Although recorded on primitive equipment, it still has presence and character not unlike Shankar's 1973 concert. The brief liner notes are by Shankar himself, allowing him to express his artistic and musical philosophies as well as general aspects of his compositional process. This is a MUST for Shankar aficionados.