01	Birds Of Fire						05:47
	02	Miles Beyond						04:42
	03	Celestial Terrestrial Commuters						02:53
	04	Sapphire Bullets Of Pure Love						00:23
	05	Thousand Island Park						03:22
	06	Hope						01:58
	07	One Word						09:56
	08	Sanctuary						05:05
	09	Open Country Joy						03:56
	10	Resolution						02:12

Digitally remastered directly from the original analog Tapes, 1998

Birds of Fire
Date of Release 1972

Emboldened by the popularity of Inner Mounting Flame among rock audiences, the first Mahavishnu Orchestra set out to further define and refine its blistering jazz-rock direction in its second - and, no thanks to internal feuding, last - studio album. Although it has much of the screaming rock energy and sometimes exaggerated competitive frenzy of its predecessor, Birds of Fire is audibly more varied in texture, even more tightly organized, and thankfully more musical in content. A remarkable example of precisely choreographed, high-speed solo trading - with John McLaughlin, Jerry Goodman, and Jan Hammer all of one mind, supported by Billy Cobham's machine-gun drumming and Rick Laird's dancing bass - can be heard on the aptly named "One Word," and the title track is a defining moment of the group's nearly atonal fury. The band also takes time out for a brief bit of spaced-out electronic burbling and static called "Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love." Yet the most enticing pieces of music on the record are the gorgeous, almost pastoral opening and closing sections to "Open Country Joy," a relaxed, jocular bit of communal jamming that they ought to have pursued further. This album actually became a major crossover hit, rising to number 15 on the pop album charts, and it remains the key item in the first Mahavishnu Orchestra's slim discography. - Richard S. Ginell

1. Birds of Fire (McLaughlin) - 5:50
2. Miles Beyond (Davis) - 4:47
3. Celestial Terrestrial Commuters (McLaughlin) - 2:54
4. Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love (McLaughlin) - :24
5. Thousand Island Park (McLaughlin) - 3:23
6. Hope (McLaughlin) - 1:59
7. One Word (McLaughlin) - 9:57
8. Sanctuary (McLaughlin) - 5:05
9. Open Country Joy (McLaughlin) - 3:56
10. Resolution (McLaughlin) - 2:09

Jerry Goodman - Violin
Jan Hammer - Synthesizer, Piano, Keyboards, Moog Synthesizer
Rick Laird - Bass
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Producer, Performer
John McLaughlin - Synthesizer, Guitar
Ken Scott - Engineer
Billy Cobham - Percussion, Drums
Mark Wilder - Mastering
Jim Green - Engineer
John Jackson - Production Assistant
Seth Rothstein - Project Director
Howard Fritzon - Reissue Art Director
Randall Martin - Reissue Design
Urve Kuusik - Photography

2000 CD Columbia/Legacy 66081
1973 LP Columbia 31996
CD Columbia CK-31996
CS Columbia PCT-31996

Birds of Fire
Columbia ()
USA 1973

John McLaughlin, guitar;
Jerry Goodman, violin;
Jan Hammer, piano;
Rick Laird, bass;
Billy Cobham, drums

Tracklist:
1. Birds of Fire - 5.41
2. Miles Beyond (Miles Davis) - 4.39
3. Celestial Terrestrial Commuters - 2.53
4. Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love - 0.22
5. Thousand Island Park - 3.19
6. Hope - 1.55
7. One Word - 9.54
8. Sanctuary - 5.01
9. Open Country Joy - 3.52
10. Resolution - 2.08


jon b

Mahavishnu Orchestra is one of the original fusion bands, breaking new ground and setting a standard for the genre that survives and influences to this day. This is my first exposure to the band, and I am very impressed with what I hear. While not a structured or well developed as some of the other fusion (or Canterbury prog) bands of their day, Mahavishnu still produced a album full of great work.
Because I got the albums at the same time, my urge is to stack up Mahavishnu with 70s fusion counterparts Return to Forever. While I won't try and match them up and come up with a "winner", I think they're differences show through in the music. For example, where Return to Forever was more of a group compositional process, Mahavishnu's sole writer (at least on this album) was guitarist John McLaughlin. As you might expect, then, the sound here is very guitar heavy, with McLaughlin and violinist Jerry Goodman sharing the leads and the spotlight.

The songs themselves are also less ambitious in scope than Return to Forever's. Most of the tracks here, with the exception of "One World" are short works which seem to be based around riffs and repeated patterns by the various band members. I imagine that was an intentional design to use as a basis for extended improvs in a live setting. Many of the songs are still compelling, however, from the intense and driving title track to the fun laid back "Open Country Joy". It would be nice to see some further development of some of the ideas presented here, however.

When I started my exploration of fusion, Birds of Fire was on the top of my list as must a must have album. And while I can see why it has reached classic status, it doesn't quite rank at the top of my own private list. That being said, however, it's still a great disc with a lot of good music. Its influence is well deserved.


sean

The Mahavishnu Orchestra's second album sees a band which is essentially unchanged from before. The only real change from the first album is Jan Hammer's move from only playing piano to a number of keys including moog. The general modus operandi is the same, though; in fact, the make-up of the title track which opens the album is much like that of The Inner Mounting Flame's opener ("Meeting of the Spirits").
Other neat things would have to include the trading off of the melody line between guitar and violin on "Celestial Terrestrial Commuters", and the dire progression on "Resolution", which is a nice switch from the band's usual "happier" sound, as well. I have to say I could do without the drum solo in "One Word", though. On top of my fairly consistent lack of interest in drum solos, the fact that this one takes place on a studio album and with fairly mediocre sound quality doesn't help.

course, what fusion fan wouldn't already own this?


eric

Two words best sum up the sound of this band to me..."raw power". The word "rock" also firmly applies - I sincerely hope that this band was not ignored by rock audiences during their time, because I can't imagine rock fans of the 70's with bands like Zeppelin, Deep Purple, etc., not embracing this music. Goodman and McLaughlin pound out furious riffs at breakneck speed, while still giving the whole band plenty of room to operate. It is remarkable to me that for studio recordings, everything I have heard has that feel of being played without a net. At any second you could expect to hear a bum note, and this seems to add to the excitement, as if at a live performance. Given the fact that so many of the melodies are played in unison, these songs had to have been meticulously arranged and practiced (I would guess) before being committed to tape. That just raises the bar a few notches in my book that they are able to keep such fire in the songs.
"Thousand Island Park" is one of the prettiest things the band ever did, and Hammer brings out the piano which sounds so full and rich in comparison to the spacey Fender Rhodes sound. McLaughlin also joins in on acoustic guitar with a blazing array of single string flourishes. My favorite track is "One Word"; it unites all elements, speedy licks, funkiness, spacey interludes, and each musician gets to show his wares. As with every Mahavishnu release, Birds of Fire continues to enchant me with every listen. Would it be too forward of me to request a reunion tour?









The Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire




Take it you analogue bitch!



Modern Jazz and Prog. Prog and Modern Jazz. Somewhere in the murkier, steamier depths of Satan's colon - beyond the fetid crevice which first spawned Britney, the winnet-filled wrinkle whose scrapings gave forth to Garth Brooks, and even beyond the moist pool of rancid sprout juice from which evolved Steve Hogarth - was borne this unholy wedlock of the unlistenable and the unloved, the unloved and the unlistenable.

For the parallels between modern jazz and prog are indeed striking. Just check out the audience demographics, for a start. There are some tell-tale character traits. Vinyl obsessiveness; masculinity (at least in the strictest biological sense of the word); exceedingly bad dress sense; a fondness for intricate rhythmic interplay and foolish time signatures, natch; and a record collection capable of sending your bird out of the nearest 4th floor window... I could go on.

Of course, there is one major difference. And no, it's not the obvious one i.e. colour. Modern jazz, by dint of its relationship with earlier, more melodic strands of the genre, is deemed 'cool', not least in the fevered imaginings of those happy to sit through 3-hour glockenspiel solos in a freezing Oslo basement featuring a one-off appearance by an all-star Nordic jazz trio of bearded fisherman who listen to Chick Corea between shoals.

But I ask you: is modern jazz really that cool? Look at it this way. If Ascension had been recorded by a bunch of middle-class, white, would-be accountants from a public school in Surrey, would it now be rated as a seminal, cool as anything, avant-jazz classic? Would it fuck! It would just be classified as semenal: a load of unlistenable, pretentious wank with a nice cover. Yet, as it was recorded by John Coltrane, heroin addict, too-soon-dead Shaman, sax God and all round dude - and a black dude to boot - hey, it's a vitally authentic artistic statement! COOL!

Well, here's the bullet: it ain't. It's shite. Self-indulgent, unlistenable twaddle by a guy so way past caring about tunes and swing he was solely interested in making his sax sound like a Yak being rear-entried by a horny Tibetan herdsmen. (And did I ever tell you about my year in Tibet with Richard Gere? Really, we must chat about it sometime...)

And let us not forget that the Sun Ra 'Arkhestra' was named after the Egyptian deity who only achieved full-blown God status after a particularly fine hand-shandy.

So, modern jazz = wank. Glad we got that sorted out...





Vultures circling the jazz-prog corpse


All of which makes 1973's Birds of Fire by the Mahavishnu Orchestra something of a miracle. That a record bringing together the unlistenable and the unloved could be so musically satisfying, innovative, well-structured and God-dammit uplifting is, frankly, both stupefying and stupendous. Allow me to summarize:

IN THE JAZZ CORNER!: we have John McLaughlin, a guitarist who makes Yngwie Malmstien sound like a restrained parishioner strumming his favourite four acoustic chords at the local Christian youth club. Never happy to play 4 notes when 379 will do, his musical offerings should have been an unmitigated travesty, and often were. Meanwhile...

IN THE PROG CORNER!: we have... Jan Hammer! No, really! Jan Hammer, synth pop 80s 'legend' responsible for such bowel-strainingly reprehensible 'tunes' as Crockett's Theme (aptly named, given its crock-of-shit like status) and the theme from Miami Vice. So how shocking to learn that he had a previous incarnation as a moog-doodling, Fender Rhodes-dabbling keyboard wizard. The West Coast's answer to Keith Emerson? You get the picture.

And yet - this record is a joy to behold. Whacked together with the aid of bassist Rick Laird, fiddler Jerry Goodman and 'help - I'm in the wrong band' drummer Billy Cobham - a black guy who makes Chester Thompson sound whiter than late-90s Phil Collins - it's a totally glorious jazz-prog blur of funk, country, psychedelica and balls to the floor atonal riffing. Think Larks Tongue and 21st-Century Schizoid Man blended with Miles Davis's In a Silent Way (played at 45 rpm) plus a smattering of Zappa-esque noodling, and y'all be gettn' along there. Yes, it really is that good.

Things get under way with a great big gong on the title track. Hooray! Sadly, Roger Waters was unavailable to guest as gongist, but, as the electronically treated metallic haze shifts into McLaughlin's intricate arpeggiations, an insistent bass and violin riff cycling 4 over 5 starts up, and an ear-bleeding yet mercurial guitar melody slams in over the top, you really won't care. It's jazz-prog heaven! There's even a middle 8 with a 12/8 feel to keep the neo-proggers happy. They thought of everything! Next up is Miles Davis tribute Miles Beyond, and you won't believe its Jan Hammer playing at the start, as his Fender offers an aural equivalent to that first calming toke of the day in the staff toilets. And it just gets better and better, genuinely melodic but with an ascerbic violin line adding just the right amount of bite.

Celestial Terrestrial Commuters - yes, that really is a title - starts with another riff of stonking wankfoolery before Jan introduces the squelchiest moog break in the history of recorded sound. Think Rick Wakeman on the bog after 15 pints of mild and an undercooked Vesta vindaloo.

Nice.

Later tracks continue the blend of foolishness and sonic, erm, invention, with Thousand Island Park - part King Arthur styled medieval ballad, part Spanish porno soundtrack - being one of the loveliest things I've ever heard. Better even than Sea Airs. McL's acoustic work, twinned with Jungle Jane's shimmering piano textures are spine-tinglingly good.

Side B gets underway with Hope, and more-jazz-tinged TomFrippery, as a dirty atonal riff gradually ascends to the spheres. One Word, meantime, is priceless. Wrapped up in some freak-out Floydianisms - think Meddle remixed by Focus - it builds a tremendous head of frothy steam before the tempo suddenly plummets and - hey, it's porno time! You wanna see my organ. Sure, you can play with it. Use the bellows. Ooh yeah, baby...

Where wss I? Oh yes...

OK, so, side B does get middle-side spread, its share of unlistenable fret-wanking and a hefty drum solo - although worth pointing out that this guy makes Bill Bruford sound like the special needs student keeping time for the school band on the triangle whilst simultaneously remaining true to the strange rhythms in his head - but do we really need 4 minutes of it? I think not. Fortunately, the beautiful and atmospheric Sanctuary - all swooshing cymbals and pulsing violins, plus a mournful and achingly beautiful guitar melody - follows. This is the proggiest track, and sounds almost Swedish, with some storming chordal manoeuvres in the 'chorus'. Roine Stolte should cover it - goose bump central, man.

But where's the comedy, you cry! Open Country Joy, my friends. Tammy Wynette could almost croon over the first couple of minutes of this seemingly shockingly misguided C&W track - until, that is, it gets down and dirty with some serious tumbling riffage and porno stylings. Another freak out, but tellingly structured. Closer Resolution, meanwhile, uses a menacing pedal point to power a final ascent into the attic of jazz-prog glory, and a symbolic (one hopes) moment of release for the whole band. Which, of course, should segue into track 4, Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love, a 30-second burst of white noise symbolizing another white substance. It may of sounded good on LSD, but to my ears this reference to the colour your spunk turns after the 8th drug-fuelled toss of the day is a touch too close to the truth for comfort.

Still, like I said, modern jazz = wank. I rest my case!!!

Glitzy Ratings

Music - Jazz prog at its rarest i.e. finest. A classic.

Lyrics - None, and with titles like Terrestrial Celestial Commuters, be bloody thankful...

Likely band hobbies - Collecting Don Johnson memorabilia and wearing designer stubble to deflect attention from your tasteful comb over.

Best listening environment - Background music for rootin' your who' after that NWA gig, muthafucka, etc.


Walmanwee




Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Release Date: 1972
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Track Listing
1) Birds of Fire (McLaughlin) - 5:50
2) Miles Beyond (Davis) - 4:47
3) Celestial Terrestrial Commuters (McLaughlin) - 2:54
4) Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love (McLaughlin) - :24
5) Thousand Island Park (McLaughlin) - 3:23
6) Hope (McLaughlin) - 1:59
7) One Word (McLaughlin) - 9:57
8) Sanctuary (McLaughlin) - 5:05
9) Open Country Joy (McLaughlin) - 3:56
10) Resolution (McLaughlin) - 2:09

Member: Sean 6/02/03

If The Inner Mounting Flame was ground zero for the fusion explosion, Birds of Fire was the next logical step for the Mahavishnu Orchestra. An evolution of sorts and a cooling at the same time.

Birds of Fire is a much different album than it's predecessor. Inner was a virtual explosion of sound coming at the listener. Some find that quality to be Maha's best feature and regard Inner as the band's pinnacle. Others see it more as a bit of a wankfest, an album that fatigues the listener after three or four numbers. If you fall into that category, or anywhere close to it, Birds will strike your ears very differently. This is a very dynamic lp. The arrangements on this album are the bands most intricate- but they are not claustrophobic. A big step forward?? I'd like to think so.

Sure there is plenty of muscular chops flexing going on, but on this album each member has more room as they solo, rather than everyone going at it all at once, ala Inner. Because of this what we get is a more balanced album, still firey, but tempered. This album introduces dynamics into the band's vocabulary, something only hinted at in the onslaught known as The Inner Mounting Flame. Actually this album has more in common with an album a different version of the Mahavishnu Orchestra would make in a few years, Visions of the Emerald Beyond. They seem similar in countour and character, to this listener anyway.

There are some similarities between the compositions here and on the bands debut. The opener, "Birds of Fire" bears more than a passing resemblance to Inner's opener, "Meeting of the Spirits"- which is no doubt a template for many tunes to come. A odd chordal arpeggio gives way to some amazing linear lines on "Birds of Fire". This tune lives up to it's name. For me though, the next few tunes really allow Birds stand on it's own.

"Miles Beyond" is a cover of a Miles Davis number. Here it gets a reworking that makes it seem as if it is this bands own composition. The call and response parts here between violinist Jerry Goodman and guitarist John McLaughlin are breathtaking to say the least. "Celestial Terrestrial Commuters" continues this breathtaking ride. Keyboardist Jan Hammer spins some dazzling moog lines and spits solos back and forth between him and McLaughlin like hot potatos.

Next we get 30 secs of spacey noise known as "Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love", which signals that something different is coming. It arrives in the form of a duet between piano and acoustic guitar- "Thousand Island Park". I have heard more inspired acoustic shredding from JM, but this hits the spot at this point of the album. Nice change of dynamics.

I won't attempt to describe the rest of the tunes on here. Rest assured the remainder of this album serves up some of the groups best compositions and maybe one or two that are not- you decide. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of 70's fusion, this album is ESSENTIAL!

PS I can't close this without pointing out that drummer Billy Cobham absolutely smokes on this album! As per usual, but it all seems so much more when he has players like JM to play off of. And playing amazing compositions like the ones here on Birds of Fire.