INNER WORLDS

I am tempted to give this record 4 stars, but I feel that doing so may misrepresent its quality in comparison to the earlier Mahavishnu records, which are far superior in every way.

Having said that, I feel that this is a worthy addition to the collection of anyone who enjoys good music, regardless of genre.

McLaughlin seems to be in an experimental period here, allowing the musicians with which he surrounds himself to define the direction of the music. The presence of drummer/vocalist/sometime pianist Narada Michael Walden is certainly felt here. There are three tracks which feature his smooth R&B singing, all of which are spiritual in nature. I find "River Of My Heart" particularly inspiring. "In My Life", however pretty, with McLaughlin's fantastic acoustic 12-string playing, isn't quite as convincing due to its rather corny lyrics. The other vocal track on the album, "Planetary Citizen", is pure funk. Bassist Ralphe Armstrong leads this one with his high falsetto "hey hey hey hey!" which, as Philo pointed out, was lifted for a later underground hit by trip-hop/electronic collective Massive Attack.

Other tracks on the album touch on the Mahavishnu fire we had come to expect, but never does it revisit the sound or overall mood that the original quintet was so good at. "The Way of the Pilgrim" takes the R&B influenced prog/jazz fusion that propelled Jeff Beck's work of this period and expands on it. It seems very genuine coming from Mr. McLaughlin and company.

The only truly "progressive" things you will hear here are the bookends of the record; "All In The Family", which pits McLaughlin's electric guitar vs his guitar synthesizer, amid backdrops of heavy percussion and marimba, and the closer, "Inner Worlds (part 1&2)", which in the former half is a mysterious, free-jazz freakout, and in the latter half becomes a beautiful finale, heralding the close of another era in Mahavishnu history.

The bottom line here is that this record is not inherently bad, just uneven, and not intended for fans of only one musical genre, as it encompasses many. If your love of Mahavishnu Orchestra begins and ends with "Birds of Fire", don't bother buying this record. However, if you liked the previous albums by the second version of Mahavishnu, "Apocalypse" and "Visions of the Emerald Beyond", then you may find plenty here to pique your interest.