BIRDS OF FIRE

Birds of Fire was one of those albums that when I first bought it, it had a profound effect on me. What John McLaughlin did was to take three instruments that could bend the pitch: guitar, violin and moog. This came from his interest in Indian Music. The first two albums are a pitch-bending frenzy. The first album, Inner Mountain Flame, was wild and raw, badly recorded but oh, so wonderful. McLaughlin wrote the book on odd meters. This follow up is much more tame, but still as wonderful. The pieces ae much more lyrical. Of course the melodies are still angular as in the title track, which begins the album with a gong. The track One Word is one of my favorites. It begins with guitar, bass and Billy Cobham playing those wonderful pseudo- paradiddles that characterize his funky style. This continues for several minutes until the guitar solo enters. The guitar, violin and moog trade off solos that start at two measures and then slowly become more compact, one measure, two beats, one beat or one word. This ends with a screaming trio that breaks into a drum solo, quite dramatic and creative. I would not trade this for the raw craziness of the debut, but you don't have to. This isn't a desert island; you can own both.