VISIONS OF THE EMERALD BEYOND

"Visions Of The Emerald Beyond" features 13 tracks which are all relatively short. The longest track (and the highlight of the album) is "Lila´s Dance" with it´s 5:34 minutes long playing time. The music style varies greatly from fast-paced fusion with an emphasis on soloing, to shorter arranged pieces and even a touch of hard rock in the opening track "Eternity's Breath". As a new feature there is brass section playing on some tracks on the album. There are some spiritual sounding vocal parts on the album too but the music is predominantly instrumental. I prefer the shorter arranged pieces, but like the case is with most of Mahavishnu Orchestra´s material, I find the compositions sligthly underdeveloped. Listen to a track like "Faith" as an example of that. While what goes on in it´s 2 minutes playing time is intriguing enough, I want more when it ends. Why does it end just when it gets started? Unfortunately that´s the case with too many of the tracks on this album.

The musicianship is outstanding on the album and while I generally find the compositions underdeveloped, the high level of musicianship does work as a redeeming factor. The violin parts by Jean-Luc Ponty, the guitar parts (I enjoy his rythm work more than his soloing if I have to be honest) by John McLaughlin and the drumming by Michael Walden are all great assets to the bands sound. Bassist Ralph Armstrong and keyboard player Gayle Moran also contribute greatly to the wild instrumental excess that goes on.

The sound production is really strong and powerful although the guitar could have prospered from a better choice of sound.

If you don´t care much about developed, detailed and arranged compositions but put more emphasis on virtuosic playing this album is recommendable. Parts of "Visions Of The Emerald Beyond" appeal greatly to me, but there´s simply too much of an unfinished feeling about most of these compositions for me to call the album excellent. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

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