stylistic:style_transfer
1980s

The Guitar Trio continued touring in 1980, with Larry Coryell being replaced by Al Di Meola in 1981. De Lucía reportedly suffered from headaches and backaches while performing because he found it difficult to improvise and follow McLaughlin and Coryell's advanced knowledge of jazz improvisation. Paco professed, "Some people assume that they were learning from me, but I can tell you it was me learning from them. I have never studied music, I am incapable of studying harmony—I don't have the discipline, playing with McLaughlin and Di Meola was about learning these things."

Also in 1981, The Guitar Trio released one of their most successful records, Friday Night in San Francisco, which sold over 1 million copies and generated a significant interest in flamenco music in America and Europe. It featured an extended combination of " Mediterranean Sundance " and " Río Ancho "; this became arguably the piece most associated with the musicians. De Lucía also formed the Paco de Lucía Sextet in 1981 (which included his brothers Ramón and Pepe), and released the first of its three albums that same year. On 30 August 1981, de Lucía performed a solo set at St. Goarshausen in Germany, where he performed "Monasterio de Sal" and "Montino" among others and later performed with The Guitar Trio. The event was broadcast on national WDR television.

In 1982, de Lucía put on a series of concerts with jazz pianist Chick Corea. Corea was a considerable influence on him in the 1980s and he and McLaughlin adapted a version of his piece " Spain ", performing it live together several times in the mid to late 1980s. He released a "Golden" double compilation album in 1982, La Guitarra de Oro de Paco de Lucía, covering de Lucía's earliest recordings with Ricardo Modrego of Federico García Lorca songs to date, and featured two siguiriyas, a flamenco form in which he had not indulged in his recordings since 1972.

In 1983, the Guitar Trio released Passion, Grace & Fire, and he had an acting role in Carlos Saura 's highly acclaimed film Carmen, for which he was also nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for Best Score. De Lucía composed original film scores for several films in the 1980s, including The Hit, a 1984 film in which he provided the soundtrack with Eric Clapton, with a minor contribution by Roger Waters.

On his 1984 album, Live... One Summer Night, de Lucía not only played guitar, but also filled the role of producer. Paco de Lucía has also appeared as himself on television in documentaries and TV shows and accepted a position as a judge at Seville's 1984 Bienal de Flamenco.

By the mid-1980s, both the Sextet and the Guitar Trio had reached its plateau and stopped performing together, although de Lucía would continue to perform with McLaughlin as a duo across Europe in 1986 and later. In a 1986 interview with DownBeat magazine, Di Meola said that the reason for the breakdown was that their performances were designed to "drive the audience berserk" with a display of astonishing virtuosity and that they had run out of new spectacular fast runs to impress the audiences. Di Meola remarked that the music had become too "wild and crazy" and that he preferred to explore the quieter side of music, something Paco also felt, saying that he preferred "controlled expression to velocity." In May 1986, he performed at the Centro de Bellas Artes Rock music festival alongside the likes of Earl Klugh, Spyro Gyra, and Dave Valentin.

In 1987, de Lucía performed for the first time in the Soviet Union, and went back to his roots with his highly successful release, Siroco. Siroco is often cited as his best album and one of the greatest flamenco albums of all time.

His compositions "La Cañada", the opening track, a tango called " La Barrosa ", an alegrías named after the Playa la Barrosa in the province of Cadiz, and " Gloria al Niño Ricardo ", a soléa, received considerable attention and are considered modern flamenco classics. Eric Clapton and Richard Chapman described "La Barrosa", a sweet alegrías played in B major, as, "full of effortless delicacy with cascading phrases." "Gloria al Niño Ricardo" is dedicated to Niño Ricardo who was de Lucía's "first hero" of the guitar. Several of his compositions from Siroco formed the staple of de Lucía's later concert performances, and he often began his concerts with "La Cañada".

In 1989, de Lucía refused to perform at the bullring in Seville with Plácido Domingo and Julio Iglesias.