Jewel boxes were not possible, so to accomodate the three albums in the box set plus Niyati and the DVD, all the discs
come in cardboard sheath versions of the original packaging. The personal messages and dedications in the liner notes to the
first album, Remember Shakti, were sweet but they never achieved much towards annotation of the music. The box set version
omits this text but does retain the track listing, personnel and recording details.
The Believer is more of a compromise losing the triple-gate format of the Special Edition. Again, tracks and tour
details are given but the fold-out liner notes including tour photographs and text by Jacques Denis are lost. Jacques Denis'
liner notes are also lost from Saturday Night In Bombay, however, and it may be a function of the translation from
Monsieur Denis' mother tongue, but his writing is innacurate as in this description of Saturday Night In Bombay,
"an encounter in the Himalayas where only playing is at stake and virtuosity always rhymes with sensuality"
[although Mumbai is arguably closer to the Himalayas than Paris it is not typically thought of being Himalayaan] and vacuous "So we must give this new album all our attention,
and listen carefully to this well-named 'The Believer' ... Here they come together for an instant during the recent tour that
saw the quartet travel around the world. We should take the time to savour this instant, because the music inspired by these themes
demands this distance, this effort.". Ce qui?
Perhaps not such a great loss afterall.
The liner notes that come with the box set are contained in a single CD-size five-gate pamphlet. This is stylish and contains an array
of concert photos with text by John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain, plus a short acknowledgement by manager Christian Pégand.
This time the text is more explanatory. Zakir Hussain comments on the role of Shakti in "world music" and John McLaughlin
fills three sides with intelligent contextual notes about Shakti's birth and rebirth; from the drug culture of the 60's and George Harrison's
popularisation of India, to world economics, anthropological literature, L.Shankar's missing of the 1997 tour and this simple message,
