ORIGINAL ALBUM CLASSICS

The Mahavishnu Orchestra took the music world by storm when they arrived on the scene at New York City's Gas Light Au Go Go club in the summer of 1971. A five piece instrumental firebreathing fusion monster led by guitarist John McLaughlin which incorporated jazz, east Indian and rock elements, their loud, fast and complex music caught the gaze of jazz purisists, fans of the fledgling early 70s progrock movement as well as the curious. Even Andrès Segovia sat up and took notice of the appearance of this spectacular musical phenomenom.

While this 5 CD offering of the band's most important recordings might seem to be a godsend at first glance don't expect anything beyond the otherwise exceptional music content of this assemblage. Part of a mass produced " Original Album Classics" series which includes a who's who of artists who have recorded with the Columbia label from Duke Ellington to Lou Reed, the packaging has something to be desired if you are a coniossuer of CD box sets. Completely devoid of album notes, the individual miniature original album sleeve reproductions don't approach the quality of similar Japanese sleeve replications. There are also several glaring credit errors on the main cardboard container that will be noticed immediately among afficionados. So, if all that you're after is the music itself, whether for nostalgic reasons or if you are one of the unitiated, then this is an ideal way to acquire the first 5 Mahavishnu Orchestra albums ( The Inner mounting Flame, Birds Of Fire, Between Nothingness And Eternity ( live), Apocalypse and Vision Of The Emerald Beyond ) at a bargain basement price. So, in this instance be my guest.

All five are also available individually with expert liner notes and in some cases with personal quotes from band members. If this is the case than I would highly recommend purchasing the discs separately. Personally I can't fathom why Sony Music didn't go the whole hog here and incorporate more extras here like they did with the exxcellent 2007 two CD Essential John McLaughlin compilation. From what I gather all other artists whose work is featured in this series suffer from the same aforementioned faults which makes them difficult to rate. Consequently, the five star rating given here refers to the exceptional value for the music contained on the 5 discs which is nothing short of stunning. Perhaps sometime in the future Sony Music will come to their senses and release a comprehensive Mahavishnu Orchestra box set.