Track Listing

1. Birds Of Fire
2. Miles Beyond
3. Celestial Terrestrial Commuters
4. Sapphire Bullets Of Pure Love
5. Thousand Island Park
6. Hope
7. One Word
8. Sanctuary
9. Open Country Joy
10. Resolution

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35279 in Music
• Released on: 2000-08-07
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
After mastering bebop in London in the 1960s, guitarist John McLaughlin took a sharp left turn in 1969-70 when he recorded with Miles Davis and Tony Williams. By 1971 he was seeking a little stadium rock action with a group of likeminded virtuosos in the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Despite its bravura juxtapositions of hard rock, raga, classical music and assorted time signatures, Mahavishnu lacked the harmonic depth of the jazz McLaughlin had relinquished. It was left to others, such as Weather Report and The Brecker Brothers, to keep alive the harmonic richness of jazz in fusion, but Mahavishnu took to heart the early 70s idea that everything could--and should--be mixed with everything else. "Open Country Joy", leaping violently from laidback country to frenzied rock, is a case in point. This reissue comes with a handsome, well-illustrated booklet containing a new essay on the group. --Mark Gilbert

From Amazon.com
If not for the Mahavishnu Orchestra's first album, The Inner Mounting Flame, this second, 1973 outing might well be considered the greatest of all jazz-fusion essays. Both are staggering calls to celestial coursing and reckoning, and to resolution. All is breathtakingly purposeful and assured, with vast group cohesion, and phenomenal contributions by keyboardist Jan Hammer, violinist Jerry Goodman, bassist Rick Laird, torrential drummer Billy Cobham, and foremost, by the leader, guitarist John McLaughlin. One hears all the elements of his musical makeup: Tal Farlow; Django Reinhart's stunning single-note runs; flamenco guitar; sophisticated Delta blues; way-over-the-top arena-rock distortion, feedback, and power amplification; and Indian classical and folk music. All that, plus childhood lessons in classical piano and violin and recent studies with spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, set the cosmic stew to boil. -- Peter Monaghan

CD Description
Guitarist John McLaughlin was in on the birth of jazz-rock fusion, having played with both Miles Davis and Tony Williams' Lifetime in the early '70s. McLaughlin applied what he'd learned from these artists to his own pioneering fusion band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra. This second effort is the Orchestra's definitive recording. The tempestuous mix of jazz, rock, and Eastern influences is at its height here, and all of the players in this notoriously ego-plagued group challenge themselves--and each other--to push the envelope.
The themes, generally stated by McLaughlin and searing electric violinist Jerry Goodman, sound regal, unfolding in an elegant, magisterial way. Drummer Billy Cobham (another Miles alumnus) provides pounding polyrhythms over which McLaughlin and Goodman mix it up with keyboardist Jan Hammer. Hammer's synthesizer solos blazed a new trail for the synthesizer as a leadinstrument, particularly in his guitar-like use of pitch-bend. The pastoral, acoustic strains of "Thousand Island Park"provide a brief respite before the listener is hurled back into the firestorm. "Hope" could be a distant cousin of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir", while the closing "Resolution" bears similarities to RED-era King Crimson, making it plain that BIRDS OF FIRE takes both sides of the jazz-rock sound seriously.

Customer Reviews

The Mahavishnu Orchestra at its best
'Birds of Fire' was the Mahavishnu Orchestra at its peak. It's more polished than its predecessor, 'The Inner Mounting Flame', while lacking none of that raw, visceral energy. To some ears it will still sound a little rough compared to what has happened since in the fusion area, but there is more than enough heart in it to compensate. It makes so much other fusion music seem, while technically adept, calculated and clinical by comparison. The rapport between the five players is truly remarkable, especially when McLaughlin, Hammer and Goodman trade ever shorter bursts of improvisation, in the manner (though not the style!) of Indian musicians (eg, 'The Word'). If you enjoy instrumental improvisation at the highest level within the big rock sound world, this album is a must-have. It's been remastered very nicely too, so everything is as clear as a bell - or as clear as it can be among all that heavy distortion!

Truly amazing
This is, in two words, virtuoso musicianship. The ability to just pick a time signature out at random and play it is something only the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Weather Report can do well.
Mc Laughlin's woozy guitar and Cobham's lightning speed drumming are the force behind Birds Of Fire, Mahavishnu's best album. It knocks The Inner Mounting Flame and Inner Worlds for six. As I am only 14, I wasn't around when Mahavishnu were in full flight, but I can imagine the impression this record made.
If you want to try something modern in a similar vein, try "Deloused In The Comatorium" by The Mars Volta. This is an awesome record and they follow a lot of Mahavishnu's playing styles.
So, Birds Of Fire, awesome, five stars.

Loud, energetic but spiritual ... Mahavishnu in full flight
John McLaughlin's five-piece Mahavishnu were really flying when they made 'Birds of Fire', a record that brings together the power of rock with the swing of jazz (Rick Laird had a pure jazz pedigree) and a lightness of lyrical touch that was almost Celtic.

There was a spontaneity and an experimentation about this music that carried on the spirit of Miles' 'Bitches Brew', a record on which McLaughlin made a distinctive contribution and which hinted at so much that was to come.

But 'Birds of Fire' has a coherence to it, as well, that a lot of electric jazz from that time lacked. There was always a huge integrity and effort in what McLaughlin did, even when playing at 120 miles an hour with drummer Billy Cobham powering through and Jan Hamer's electric keyboards slicing through the octaves and the ozone.

Loud, energetic but somehow spiritual music. Blew me away when I heard it in the early 1970s and still gives me the shivers.