Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds Of Fire

Mahavishnu Orchestra
Birds of Fire

Columbia, 1973

John McLaughlin - 6 string electric guitar, 12 string electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Jerry Goodman - violin
Jan Hammer - piano, electric piano, organ, synthesizer
RIck Laird - bass guitar
Billy Cobham - drums, percussion

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

Mahavishnu Orchestra was one of the first and most prominent jazz fusion bands, and one of several made up of musicians who had backed Miles Davis in the past.

The album gets off to a powerful start with Birds of Fire. Leading off with an ominous riff, McLaughlin and Goodman play the song's main theme in unison, and then everyone jumps back to give McLaughlin a blistering hot guitar solo (or two). While the music is technically called jazz fusion, these guys knew how to rock with the best of them. I can't see a fan of Jimi Hendrix not being able to get into that title track. Even on the slower numbers such as MIles Beyond and Thousand Island Park the various members of the band, especially McLaughlin, get the chance to show off their chops. The longest piece on the album, One Word is one of my favorites. It starts off with a lengthy bass solo over a jazzy and slowly advancing crescendo in the background. It then launches into what may be my favorite moment of the album, a three-way-duel between McLaughlin's doubleneck guitar, Hammer's Moog synth, and Goodman's electric violin with wah-wah. One again, while their playing jazz music, they style clearly says "ROCK!" (Sorry, I had to.) Cobham takes a long drum solo. This is the weak point on the song, even though he's very talented. I mainly say that because drum solo's usually work better in a live setting. After that you get the dark, brooding Sanctuary to cool you down, and the relaxing, but no less impressive, Open Country Joy.

This is a great album, and I can see fans of jazz fusion, jazz in general, or rock bands like The Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd at least appreciating some of this music. Guitarists should also hear this one, as John McLaughlin earns himself a slot in the list of bests guitarists, and proves that, sadly, he is overlooked far more than he should be.