Guy Berger Posted June 4, 2006 Report Share Posted June 4, 2006 (edited) The Inner Mounting Flame is still a pretty remarkable piece of work. I love McLaughlin's guitar tone here, Billy Cobham is incredible, and Jan Hammer's ring-modulated electric piano playing is great. "Meeting of the Spirits" is such a great way to kick things off and "The Dance of Maya" is still a mindfuck. And "Awakening", jeebus. Birds of Fire is slicker and not quite as good as the debut -- some lightweight filler compositions alongside some of their best (title track, "Miles Beyond", "Sanctuary"). Between Nothingness and Eternity is weaker compositionally than the first two albums but on the intensity scale, DAAAAAAAAMN. I've listened to other guitar-fusion outfits and they seem to lack the bullshit-free musical approach of these guys. (e.g. Return to Forever) I'm not crazy about the second incarnation of the group. Apocalypse just isn't very good. Visions of the Emerald Beyond is better if not on the level of the first three albums. Inner Worlds has some cringe-inducing music. I haven't heard the 80s version. Edited June 4, 2006 by Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evonce Posted June 4, 2006 Report Share Posted June 4, 2006 Certain tracks from Birds of Fire are my very favorites - Hope, Resolution, 1000 Park Island. The debut knocks my socks off, and I really dig the first three tracks on the Lost Trident Sessions (the same tunes that wound up on the live album). Jan Hammer's "Sister Andrea" is terrific - love the off center vamp and the Moog solo. The first M.O. I ever heard was Visions of the Emerald Beyond, so I have a soft spot for that one. I remember playing it over and over, and it restored my faith in chops guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 (edited) The Inner Mounting Flame is still a pretty remarkable piece of work. I love McLaughlin's guitar tone here, Billy Cobham is incredible, and Jan Hammer's ring-modulated electric piano playing is great. "Meeting of the Spirits" is such a great way to kick things off and "The Dance of Maya" is still a mindfuck. And "Awakening", jeebus. Oh yes... Birds of Fire is slicker and not quite as good as the debut -- some lightweight filler compositions alongside some of their best (title track, "Miles Beyond", "Sanctuary"). Between Nothingness and Eternity is weaker compositionally than the first two albums but on the intensity scale, DAAAAAAAAMN. I've listened to other guitar-fusion outfits and they seem to lack the bullshit-free musical approach of these guys. (e.g. Return to Forever) I love Birds of Fire. This was the first Mahavishnu I heard, I used to listen to it in the school library over and over on head phones and read the Lord of Rings. I was a 13 year old Mahavishnu fanatic. Between Nothingness and Eternity is intense. I never thought too much about the compositions. I'm not crazy about the second incarnation of the group. Apocalypse just isn't very good. Visions of the Emerald Beyond is better if not on the level of the first three albums. Inner Worlds has some cringe-inducing music. Apocalypse I was excited about, for me it was the "NEW" MO album, so I dug it and still do. It was also first rock concert I went to. Visions of the Emerald Beyond suffers from funk. There must of been a virus going around at the time. I have to give it a fresh listen, it's been a while. Inner Worlds may suffer from some sappy songs, but there was some real far out Jams with JMcL road testing an early guitar synth. I haven't heard the 80s version. I have, but it's been so long since I've heard them, I can't really comment. Edited June 5, 2006 by 7/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted June 5, 2006 Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 Put me on record as liking Visions of the Emerald Beyond. It's a fun album with some great playing. I think it was the second MO I'd heard after Birds of Fire. p.s., I had a couple of music lessons at MSU with Ralph Armstrong, the Detroit bassist who played on Visions. He stressed reading a lot. He was very encouraging to Jim and myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeith Posted June 7, 2006 Report Share Posted June 7, 2006 I pretty much agree with most of what Guy said. I love the Inner Mounting Flame but felt it was all down hill from there, except for the occasional flicker of brilliance. So rather than listen to the later Mahavishnu Orchestra, I prefer McLaughlin's other stuff: the brilliant Extrapolation, or Where Fortune Smiles, My Goal's Beyond, and some of the Shakti stuff. and I am sure I am forgetting something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted June 7, 2006 Report Share Posted June 7, 2006 I heard that band twice in early '70s and they were cracklin' (much more than either INNER or BIRDS might indicate). Oh yes, the live recordings are amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted June 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2006 There's apparently a new book out about these guys: link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeith Posted June 10, 2006 Report Share Posted June 10, 2006 I saw them live once in 1972 and I always thought that Inner Mounting Flame came closer to what I saw than the live albums that came out in the 70s. I guess there were personnel changes and all and the music changed. What are the good live ones then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted June 10, 2006 Report Share Posted June 10, 2006 Those must be boots. I really loved "From Nothingness to Eternity" when it first came out. I had the previous two as well. And I love JM with Miles. . . . I just don't get much out of these lps any longer. (Nor have I followed JM much since, I got the MO albums up to the official end I guess, and the first Shakti ones, the "Electric Guitarist," but not much else has ever made me buy them.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aftab Posted June 10, 2006 Report Share Posted June 10, 2006 Put me down as a Visions . . . lover. Man, that opening riff just kills, that tasty roll up to the snare-kick 'blikum' - love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted June 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2006 Narada Michael Walden's drumming is annoying. It seems the guy had only two styles: overplaying, and REALLY overplaying. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted June 10, 2006 Report Share Posted June 10, 2006 Narada Michael Walden's drumming is annoying. It seems the guy had only two styles: overplaying, and REALLY overplaying. Guy Dude - it's the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Everything was on "10". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted June 10, 2006 Report Share Posted June 10, 2006 Narada Michael Walden's drumming is annoying. It seems the guy had only two styles: overplaying, and REALLY overplaying. Guy He started a trend in fusion. But I love his playing. Too bad drums aren't his focus anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILLYQ Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 I saw the original MO in '72 & '73 at Central Park and they were mind-blowing both times! In '72 I was 16, and this was a great departure from the rock/blues I dug. As it turned out, MO opened the door to Miles and that opened the door to everything. In '72, I had bought the Inner Mounting Flame based on a reviewer in the Village Voice calling it the 'album of the year' . I played it nearly every day and it didn't click, even though I knew there was something of substance there. Go to the concert, and BANG- it all made sense. The show I went to in '73 was one of the nights that became the live album. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Farbey Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 I pretty much agree with most of what Guy said. I love the Inner Mounting Flame but felt it was all down hill from there, except for the occasional flicker of brilliance. So rather than listen to the later Mahavishnu Orchestra, I prefer McLaughlin's other stuff: the brilliant Extrapolation, or Where Fortune Smiles, My Goal's Beyond I very much go along with all of this but would add that as far as the IMF was concerned this was a paradigm shift for jazz perhaps even more than Miles' BB and Lifetime. Trouble is once the floodgates opened for this a lot of stuff that succeeded IMF and not just from JM was more parody than paradigm. Some of it was just awful. The sampler album 'Fusion 101' is an example of utter headache-inducing jazzrockfusion blah blah. Oh, and I like jazz rock fusion by the way (when it's good). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 I wonder why nobody mentions this one: I find this to be an excellent album - it completes the picture and makes one wish the original band had continued. Although I'm a big fan of the comlicated rhythms they used, I found them a little too hard to take back then. Now it's easier for me to appreciate the rock side. Still, a more relaxed pace would make it timeless, just for my personal taste. Jan Hammer was and is my favourite from the group ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 FWIW, here are the three covers of the three LPs of the first band, which to me is the one and only Mahavishnu Orchestra - the succeeding lineups never lived up to them: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted April 16, 2010 Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 Benn listening to MO this week, there's been a flood of recordings on Dime recently. The BOF cover artwork still blows my mind! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted April 16, 2010 Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 Do you have it on LP? It's not on the usual slick cover paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted April 16, 2010 Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 Do you have it on LP? It's not on the usual slick cover paper. I still have that too. I should get it out an prop it up on a shelf. Yeah, I remember the non-glossy paper! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted April 16, 2010 Report Share Posted April 16, 2010 It greatly enhanced the "feel" of the artwork, that paper did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILLYQ Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 The live album was recorded over two nights at Central Park in 1973 and I was at one of those nights. I was 17 and it was a mind-altering experience, even though I had seen them the year before there. Mahavishnu led me to Miles, then to everybody else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 The live album was recorded over two nights at Central Park in 1973 and I was at one of those nights. I was 17 and it was a mind-altering experience, even though I had seen them the year before there. Mahavishnu led me to Miles, then to everybody else. Bruce from DMG was just telling me yesterday, he was at that show too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 The live album was recorded over two nights at Central Park in 1973 and I was at one of those nights. I was 17 and it was a mind-altering experience, even though I had seen them the year before there. Mahavishnu led me to Miles, then to everybody else. I read that August 5th, 1973 was the primary date for the album. Which just happened to have been my 3rd birthday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 The live album was recorded over two nights at Central Park in 1973 and I was at one of those nights. I was 17 and it was a mind-altering experience, even though I had seen them the year before there. Mahavishnu led me to Miles, then to everybody else. I read that August 5th, 1973 was the primary date for the album. Which just happened to have been my 3rd birthday. Nope. It was a 2-night gig. I was at the one on 8/18/73, which provided a lot of the album, including "Dream." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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