Fusion. Such a bad word, especially considering how bastardized
\nthe genre-bending style has become, manifesting itself and its long
\nevolution in today’s favorite workplace jam – smooth jazz. Now
\nconsidered the domain of cubicle hounds and imaginationless culture
\ndrones, fusion (ergo smooth jazz) at one time actually rocked. No,
\nit’s not the Rippingtons and it’s not Mr. G. What I’m talking about
\nis the stuff Miles Davis and his legion of true believers drip out
\nof your speakers, eliciting looks of either ecstasy or boredom,
\ndepending on your tolerance for free form.<\/p>\n
Consider the Mahavishnu Orchestra, a heady mix of rock, jazz,
\nblues, and musicianship. The M.O. took no prisoners and left no
\nsound unexplored.
\nBirds Of Fire<\/i>, by far the group’s most commercially
\nsuccessful venture, was released in 1972 during the maturation of
\nthe fusion revolution. While predicated on a pretentious (by modern
\nday standards) tabla of eastern philosophic guruism presented to
\nlisteners in the form of haughty song titles and liner note poetry,
\nat its essence this music takes bong-hit rock to the next level,
\nand depending on your perspective, to the next universe.<\/p>\n
Jan Hammer (electric piano, moog), Billy Cobham (drums), Jerry
\nGoodman (violin) and Rick Laird (bass) fill out the orchestra, and
\nthey literally lift Mahavishnu John McLaughlin to regions of guitar
\nplaying that to this day amaze even the most jaded Ibanez toting
\nJersey hair rocker.<\/p>\n
The title cut, “Birds Of Fire,” starts with an ominous gong
\ntolling, and is followed by the coolest 13\/8 guitar riff ever.
\nListeners used to the inherent rationality of a I-IV-V progression
\nmight feel nauseous after hearing these wicked chords played on the
\n12-string plank of a doubleneck SG. They won’t feel any better
\nafter the band comes in and launches McLaughlin into what is a most
\ninteresting guitar solo: a romp through pentatonic scales that are
\nso out of key they are in key, if you get my meaning. True
\nbelievers in the Davis way will be in a world of ecstasy, because
\nthis is the real stuff, as it was intended. This is not the
\norgan-dominated stylings of late comers like Return to Forever, or
\nthe overt slickness of Weather Report, two bands that might be
\n(incorrectly) considered by some to be the true representatives of
\nseventies fusion.<\/p>\n
The next piece, “Miles Beyond (Miles Davis),” is a favor
\nreturned to Miles, who included a track titled “John McLaughlin” on
\nhis legendary record
\nBitches Brew<\/i>. This one starts in Hendrix-land, if there is
\nsuch a place, and Jan Hammer’s playing on this opening electric
\npiano riff indicates the tightness of his technique. My favorite
\nmoment on the album occurs midway through the song; the main theme
\nbreaks down into a jam between Hammer and McLaughlin, and
\nMcLaughlin’s acoustic guitar picking exhibits some fiery yet
\nwithheld passion in the middle of an instrumental storm.<\/p>\n
“Celestial Terrestrial Commuters” captures all the manic
\nemotions of a morning spent behind the wheel. I’d venture to say
\nthis song is as formulaic as the Orchestra got, featuring a main
\nintro theme, followed by a moog solo, then back to the theme,
\nworking into a ridiculously talented duel between strings and keys.
\nThis song would be as comfortable on Mahavishnu’s first release,
\nInner Mounting Flame<\/i>, as it is on this album.<\/p>\n
I usually group the next two tracks, “Sapphire Bullets of Pure
\nLove” (“SBPL”) and “Thousand Island Park,” into one. While only 22
\nseconds long, “SBPL” is a cool experiment in sound that departs
\nfrom the absolute intensity of the first three tracks and prepares
\nlisteners for the less demanding middle of the sequence. The fact
\n“Thousand Island Park” is a mood piece with acoustic strings and
\npiano furthers this notion of an “eye of the storm”. It features a
\nbeautiful melody and delicate playing that works best as a contrast
\nto the rest of the album.<\/p>\n
“Hope”, the next cut, picks up the pace in a strong, repeating
\ntheme that builds towards McLaughlin’s vision of heavenly gates and
\nilluminated cloud tops. The ultimate in restraint occurs when the
\nlistener can hear McLaughlin really dig into the power chords at
\nthe very end of the piece, right as the fade out begins. Special
\nmention must be made of Billy Cobham, who maintains a sick beat in
\nthis song, as well as throughout the entire album.<\/p>\n
If you listen to only one track from this record, it has to be
\nthe piece titled “One Word.” And that word would be “badasses.”
\nThis song is so intense it still tightens my nerves, even on what
\nmust be the 300th listen. “One Word” builds and builds, until the
\ntension is released in a hair-raising solo section that features
\ninsane cutting between McLaughlin, Goodman and Hammer, and is
\nanchored by a solid bass line on top of funky drumbeats. The
\nplayers solo for diminishing measures until they all meet at the
\nend and the progression explodes into, you got it, a drum solo!<\/p>\n
“Sanctuary” is a quiet piece that revolves around a pulsating
\nminor progression, and really is a necessary moment of peace after
\n“One Word.” The next track, “Open Country Joy,” begins with a
\nZeppelin-esque chord progression played on the aforementioned
\n12-string, and continues through some sweet melodies until all of a
\nsudden the song drops out, and from nowhere an instrumental jam
\nappears. Don’t have this tune turned up too loud in the car, or the
\njam’s guitar intro might cause an automobile accident. “Resolution”
\nis an ascending progression that climaxes at its very end, which is
\nalso the end of the album.<\/p>\n
For listeners interested in consuming some terrifying yet
\ncompletely entertaining instrumental music that predates (yet is
\nfar more evolved than) modern “jazz” by 25 years, I highly
\nrecommend
\nBirds Of Fire<\/i>. If real musicians scare you, and you like
\nyour music canned and packaged for mass consumption, this is one
\nrecord that might leave you reeling in search of the stop
\nbutton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":24815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5989],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-36019","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-mahavishnu-orchestra","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36019"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36019"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}