Product 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.

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: #11517 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

Customer Reviews

35 Years later and it's got better
When it came out in 1973 this was one of those 'never heard anything like it before moments'. I was aware of the previous The Inner Mounting Flame which had felt somewhat bitty and disconected to me (but maybe it's time I gave that another try too), but nothing prepared me for the sheer venomousness of this album. I've ummed and ahhd about reacquiring it for a while, but it arrived yesterday, and as it hit my deck it immediately plastered me to to the opposite wall.

At the time McLaughlin was an anomoly. While everyone else wore jeans and raggy tea-shirts and had hair down on their shoulders, this guy dressed in white and had a crew cut that made him look like a suspiciously friendly marine. In an age where anyone with a brain was 'looking for something' John was considered the archetypal 'spiritual' musician. One of those who'd seemed to have found what the rest of us were 'looking for'. Even then though, there was such a clear contradiction - how does such a spiritual man compose and play such utterly demonic music? It certainly caused me to rethink what the term 'spiritual' might actually mean.

Buy it
The most under-rated band in the history of music. this album proves how incredible these musicians are and shows that music can be good. the ignorant masses are fed the biggest load of tripe these days off the radio and reality shows. WHERE DID THE MUSIC GO!?

buy this album to experience real music.

Even better than I remember it.
Probably because I'm listening on a much better sound system. The coolest album I have ever heard.