BIRDS OF FIRE

I bought this album in 1973. It was one of those records that had a huge impact on anyone who listened to it. I read an invterview with Jeff Beck at the time and he declared the MO to be the best band in the world. Parts of Lark's Tongue in Aspic sound like a group that had overdosed on Birds of Fire. Beck himself started making jazz-fusion records.

To be honest, you either loved this music or hated it. At the time I thought it was incredible and very powerful. It was fast and disturbing. Since then, there have been many imitators so that some of the orginal magic has been lost. However I still believe this album to be a masterpiece.

For me it began a life-long love of jazz-fusion. I started to listen to Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Larry Coryell, Soft Machine, Nucleus and lots of others. The critics state that Miles Davis invented fusion but I think it was really McLaughlin (that's what Chick Corea says and he played with both of them). Davis' groups played music that was very abstract. Birds of Fire had a rock pulse.

The album also benefitted from Ken Scott a rock producer. Scott had produced and engineered records by David Bowie, Elton John, Beatles and Supertramp. The sound was a lot slicker than on most jazz records.