VISIONS OF THE EMERALD BEYOND

Majestic piece of music. After the beautiful (semi-orchestral) album 'Apocalypse', the band somewhat returned to their 'Birds Of Fire-style'. Although this is not the classic line-up with Jan Hammer, Rick Laird and Jerry Goodman, the quality of this album's music is equal to their second record, for these musicians are extremely good. Narada Michael Walden is a monstrous drummer, Jean-Luc-Ponty plays the violin like it should be played..

The album starts off with a very powerful drum-part by Walden, to be followed by wonderful pieces like 'Lila's Dance' which is my favorite MO-track. Most of the pieces aren't that long, but this makes the album sounding very variated and colourful. Bass-player Ralph Armstrong was only 17 (!!!) years old by the time he played on this record. Note his great playing on the closer-track 'On The Way Home To Earth', where McLaughlin's guitar sounds very sharp and screaming. This album can be considered as a milestone in jazzrock-history. In my opinion, together with 'Birds Of Fire', MO's best work.

Album score: (0 - 50 pts.)

1. Eternity's Breath Part 1 | 45 / 50 2. Eternity's Breath Part 2 | 47 / 50 3. Lila's Dance | 49 / 50 4. Can't Stand Your Funk | 38 / 50 5. Pastoral | 40 / 50 6. Faith | 42 / 50 7. Cosmic Strut | 41 / 50 8. If I Could See | 30 / 50 9. Be Happy | 44 / 50 10. Earth Ship | 41 / 50 11. Pegasus | 35 / 50 12. Opus | 35 / 50 13. On The Way Home To Earth | 49 / 50

Total: 536 / 13 = 41,2 = 4 stars.