Mahavishnu Orchestra

[Wooley]

What do you guys think about this early 70s fusion group?

I'm a pretty big fan so far.

After listening to Inner Mounting Flame until the CD melted, I have been listening to a bunch of live shows from the early 70s on Woflgang's Vault, and I just really dig what these guys do.

And as much as it's John McLaughlin, it's not all John McLaughlin, ya know. I mean all the instrumentalists seem pretty rockin'. Love the drummer.

Anyway, just wondering if there's anyone else out there who appreciates these guys.

[dkaplowitz]

You kidding? They were kings! Birds of Fire is a desert island CD for me.

I agree about Cobham's drumming. He's probably one of my favorite drummers of all time. He one of the first drummers I really "got" and enjoyed listening to and I still find his beats and his feel immensely listenable.

[erplander]

One of the best, period. A defining force in fusion. All monster players. Great tunes that still inspire to this day.

What's not to love?

According to my brother, they were the LOUDEST band ever (I'm jealous that I was a little too young when they were playing).

[les]

Love them!

The changed the playing field!

The wierd time signatures were great!

Cobham was unbelievable!!!

[Bluesbuff]

I remember going to see them when they first formed, they were opening for Miles. Totally blew me away. Miles was almost an anticlimax. Still one of may favorite bands You Know You Know was the first fusion song I learned, never very good at it though.

[Austinrocks]

are you kidding, really my first exposure to a great band, In concerts Mahavishnu orchestra, I recorded them off the FM radio, just amazing, though the stupid 14 year old in me could not understand how any one with such short hair could play worth a damn, still can't

birds of fire is my favorite as well, though the cd never really got it IMO, record was so much better, Inner mounting flame is amazing TBH but it has my favorite song ever

lilla's Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Miqd-htP2E&feature=PlayList&p=29B414B61A3949B6&index=12

actually saw this when MO was at montreaux 75 Apocalysis concert which they have some still from, like to find the live version, just an amazing band.

[TieDyedDevil]

Walked into a free concert the band played at the UMass/Amherst student union ballroom in the mid-70s. Had never heard of them before. Blew my mind.

[epluribus]

Had a ton of buds who loved this band, but they never clicked with me, esp MJM. Go figure. The weirder part is that IMHO the Mahavishnu Orch approach to fusion didn't really catch fire till the guys in the band went off on their alumni efforts. At that point, I really thought Mahavish fusion came of age. Ironically, MJM never quite clicked in the markets, but his protoge Mr. Santana took the Mahavishnu thing into the streets and made it live. What a wellspring of talent and influence that band was.

BTW, haven't heard that tune in forever. Nice.

--Ray

[Lespaulsignature 74]

The first concert I ever attended was at the Nassau Coliseum, in the early 70's. The bill was: Opening act..Michael Urbaniak, second act, Mahavishnu Orc., and the headliner was Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention. The Mahavishnu Orc. blew me away, as incredable as was John McLaughlins guitar playing ...I was totally amazed by Billy Cobham...I had never saw or heard a drummer play like him ...one of the all time greatist fusion drummers...IMHO!

[Ulysses]

I don't relate to them all as a "fusion" group. They were called "fusion" many years in retrospect. You really didn't hear that term at the time. Even though Miles and a few others (Soft Machine, Tony Williams Lifetime, Weather Report, etc.) were involved with jazz/rock experimentation, "The Inner Mounting Flame" was the album that single-handedly defined the genre and opened the floodgates for all that followed. The one thing that strikes me most about "The Inner Mounting Flame" and "Birds Of Fire" is they don't have the spirit of a "fusion" record at all. "Fusion" almost immediately became known for its focus on the technical and mathematical aspect of the music. There was something altogether different going on with these two recordings.

[Red Suede]

Get the live album and get "Visions of an Emerald Beyond" and listen to a cut called "On the Way Home to Earth" and prepare to go on a trip.

[Mondoslug]

What do you guys think about this early 70s fusion group?


:dude

[rh]

I spent two and a half years of my life learning every note on Birds of Fire and Inner Mounting Flame.

For their time, I think that MO and Weather Report were creating the most powerful electric-ensemble music on the planet. I feel extremely lucky that I was able to see both bands live.

[corn husk bag]

I saw them in Milwaukee in the early 70s, there was a tall chain link fence around the stage with with cops standing in front of it. After the music started the cops were so entranced that they literally did not notice the fence was slowly taken down before them in a non violent way and people just poured onto the stage and sat down to listen. All the fence parts were stacked in a neat pile. The cops relaxed too, it was unbelievable.

Anyone remember the old Alternate Site below the bluffs on the Lake front in Milwaukee. Man there was some battles for that turf!

I wonder if WZMF is still on the air?

Steve

[MarcJ]

I saw Mahavishnu at a outdoor festival back in '73 when I was a kid. I didn't know who they were or their music. I thought McLaughlin looked very strange with the short hair and white clothes. Well I can tell you that they absolutely played a incredible show. I knew I had seen something very special. I soon began to listen to their music. I now have all the albums on cd and listen to them regularly. In my opinion Mahavishnu was the greatest fusion band ever. I feel very lucky to have experienced their music live at a young age.

[DøøG]

I saw these guys so many times I can't remember. Saw the "Between Nothingness and Eternity" show in Central Park, wow, just wow.......Yeah, they were loud too, lol....

Love Inner Mounting Flame, I keep going back to that one....

All I can say, over my 52 years of age, these were some of the most intense shows I've ever witnessed.....

[goodtone]

When's the reunion ?

[Roark]

Check out Jan Hammer and Jerry Goodman's solo efforts after mahavishnu, good stuff as well. Billy Cobham also has some impressing solo stuff.

[jalford]

What a killer band! They're some of my favorite records to listen to on vinyl. I wish I could have seen them live. It's rare to have a band with no weak links. Check out "The Lost Trident Sessions" on CD. Although I doubt you'll ever see a reunion, there is a tribute band out there (can't recall their name) that I hear does an amazing job of covering those songs.

[66Park]

The Inner Mounting Flame was a life changing album for me. Jan Hammer, Billy Cobham, and Jerry Goodman were as amazing as McLaughlin! I saw them live several times. Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever with Bill Connors, and Weather Report were a major factor in my deciding to become a professional musician and to go to Berklee.

[fenderball]

trailblazers

[StompBoxBlues]

The first concert I ever attended was at the Nassau Coliseum, in the early 70's. The bill was: Opening act..Michael Urbaniak, second act, Mahavishnu Orc., and the headliner was Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention. The Mahavishnu Orc. blew me away, as incredable as was John McLaughlins guitar playing ...I was totally amazed by Billy Cobham...I had never saw or heard a drummer play like him ...one of the all time greatist fusion drummers...IMHO!

You just reminded me, I once went to a concert in the 70's in Chicago, Jeff Beck (wow!) but his band was second, the warmup band was Mahivishnu, and at the time I didn't know them all that much (later came to love "Birds of Fire") but my GAWD....they were loud.
The first 20 minutes, I thought my head was going to explode. I had ringing in my ears for a long time after, and it was just one huge wall of noise. About midway the sound man must have woken up or something because then it was listenable.

[fenderball]

i saw mcclaughlin early-mid seventies central park doing the acoustic thing,which was amazing

[diego]

Amazing. One of those bands that changed everything.

The book that's available about them on Abstract Logix site is a interesting read.

[musicofanatic5]

Saw the band several times from Boids o' Fire through the album with J L Ponty and Michael Tillson-Thomas. Used to start my day listening to MO for a long time. Dunno if I'd still have a taste for 'em; I'll have to give 'em a spin again someday.

[Wooley]

I don't relate to them all as a "fusion" group. They were called "fusion" many years in retrospect. You really didn't hear that term at the time. Even though Miles and a few others (Soft Machine, Tony Williams Lifetime, Weather Report, etc.) were involved with jazz/rock experimentation, "The Inner Mounting Flame" was the album that single-handedly defined the genre and opened the floodgates for all that followed. The one thing that strikes me most about "The Inner Mounting Flame" and "Birds Of Fire" is they don't have the spirit of a "fusion" record at all. "Fusion" almost immediately became known for its focus on the technical and mathematical aspect of the music. There was something altogether different going on with these two recordings.

Well, I couldn't agree with you more.

These albums are so full of passion and spiritual energy, it just blows my mind. Live is really the same, just amplified.

After listening to this, I understand why I haven't enjoyed "fusion" much before. Too "Mathematical" as you put it, too much cerebrum not enough coronary.

These guys, despite all their technical ability, just let it burst out of them.

Know what I mean?

[Jujo]

COMPLETELY. BAD. ASS. One of my favorite ensembles. Mind blowing.

[khromo231]

There was a period where they were constantly touring up and down the east coast. When asked about the hectic schedule JM said "The cities need light." I used to see them every month or two for a while!

They were so loud I could hear my eardrums clipping. They kept the musical gymnastics totally musical.

They had lots of chemistry problems, especially in regard to songwriting royalties. Too bad!

[Wooley]

BTW,

For all of you who want to hear them LIVE again:

Here are 26 LIVE Mahavishnu Orchestra shows!!!

http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/arr/mahavishnu-orchestra/4363.html

You can listen to them streaming FOR FREE or you can download them for $9.98 and keep them.

The very first one, Le Grande Theatre, Quebec, 1/23/73, is blowing my freaking mind right now!!!
The track "One Word" is just a diamond on top of a pile of gems.

Enjoy.

[RickC]

Amazing. One of those bands that changed everything.


+1000

There was a time when fusion wasn't a dirty word...

/rick

[johntoste]

I was at Boston University in the Fall of '71. A good friend introduced me to the music of Johnny Mac via his record called Devotion, which I still love, and The Inner Mounting Flame. It was like a shot of adrenalin to the heart.

In the Spring of '72, The MO were on a Columbia records package tour as the opening act for The Blue Oyster Cult and The Byrds.(!?) We hitch-hiked from BU to the University of Rhode Island for the show and the MO were incandescent.

I had to leave the hall during the BOC in order to absorb what I'd just heard but I did come back for the Byrds.

[Scott K]

You just reminded me, I once went to a concert in the 70's in Chicago, Jeff Beck (wow!) but his band was second, the warmup band was Mahivishnu, and at the time I didn't know them all that much (later came to love "Birds of Fire") but my GAWD....they were loud.
The first 20 minutes, I thought my head was going to explode. I had ringing in my ears for a long time after, and it was just one huge wall of noise. About midway the sound man must have woken up or something because then it was listenable.


I might have this show on CD. I'll let you know, if you're interested. I have to check my disc collection.


Also, I'm super jealous of you guys who got to see Mahavishnu. Billy Cobham will always be my favorite drummer. I still have a hard time wrapping my head, let alone hands, around JM's playing.

I like the poster who said he spent two years of his life learning Birds of Fire and The Inner Mounting Flame. I think I might do that, myself.

Great stuff. I also absolutely LOVE JM's playing with Tony Williams Lifetime. The first lick on Emergency still blows my mind.

:drink

[Scott K]

BTW,

For all of you who want to hear them LIVE again:

Here are 26 LIVE Mahavishnu Orchestra shows!!!

http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/arr/mahavishnu-orchestra/4363.html

You can listen to them streaming FOR FREE or you can download them for $9.98 and keep them.

The very first one, Le Grande Theatre, Quebec, 1/23/73, is blowing my freaking mind right now!!!
The track "One Word" is just a diamond on top of a pile of gems.

Enjoy.


I believe I've used etree.org to download most of these for free, too. The way it's supposed to be...

[dets1]

back in the early 70's ( i think) my brother and i were watching "in concert". for those of you too young, it was a weekly show that would show a piece of a concert from a few different bands every week. as we were watching mahavishnu, a closeup of rick laird came on the screen with his eyes closed and his head twitching, my mom yelled out "now you can't tell me that he's not on drugs!". we had to laugh because we had read that the band was heavily into meditation at that time. great band.

[Red Suede]

That's the one, Doug. One of my favorite albums of all time, "Between Nothingness and Eternity".That and "Visions Of An Emerald Beyond". The cut "On The Way Home To Earth" just does something to me whenever I hear it.

[AlChuck]

I owe a lot to my next-door-neighbor growing up, who inspired me to play the guitar, turned me on to Cream, and a bit later, to John McLaughlin. From those two bands, along with the Beatles, my listening bloomed and sent out tendrils in all directions.

I had the good fortune to see the original Mahavishnu Orchestra about 11 times in their brief incandescent run. Maybe three times in Central Park, including the Between Nothingness and Eternity show. Saw the show at Nassau Coliseum where they opened for Zappa (strange, I have no recollection of Michal Urbaniak being the opening act that night). Saw them at SUNY New Paltz and at Vassar College in gymnasiums. I think out of all those shows, maybe nine of them were just transcendant, and two were so-so, where the music just seemed to kind of mush together. (I always though their filmed appearance on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert came off that way, which disappointed me at the time.)

I agree with the guy that mentioned them in conjunction with Weather Report as being the quintessential "fusion" groups. (As it turns out, Weather Report was the group that I've seen perform the next most frequently -- 7 times, I think it was -- but that was also stretched across a much longer group lifespan.) Most of the others that popped up in their wake sure had amazing chops and sometimes more than that, but so few ever achieved the organic passion and group telepathy that these bands had, along with the incredible brilliance of their musical ideas. It's too bad that in those subsequent years "fusion" became a dirty word, which has perhaps kept many people from appreciating the brilliance of Weather Report and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

[DocRock]

One of my all-time faves for sure.

[Paul Conway]

Possibly the best band to have walked the Earth. :bow

[Marty s Horne]

I saw them live twice and they were awesome! John McLauglin is a monster player and an incredibly innovative musician. In the mid seventies I lived next door to Rick Laird (and 2 floors up from Blues Project guitarist Danny Kalb).

[townsend]

Several others have mentioned seeing them in the early 1970s.

I can't remember exactly what year it was (it was definitely after 1971), but once when I was home from college (go Red Raiders!), I saw Mahavishnu Orchestra at the Coliseum in Houston.

They were on a twin bill with The Allman Brothers. Not sure why these two bands were paired together.

To be honest, I couldn't truly appreciate MO. I thoroughly enjoyed the show, but their music was so much more complex than anything I had been exposed to at the time. I knew they were brilliant musicians playing on the edge . . . just nothing even remotely like them.