Mahavishnu

Chicapah wrote:   I can't believe you mentioned Sebeski's Giant Box.  I have always loved the version of "Song for a Seagull" on there.  I'm not sure that the double LP is available on CD so I treasure my vinyl copy.

I had a friend back in the 70's working a record department of a large Brit retailer. We were both fans of CTI Records, and he got to hear of them well before UK release dates, then order them in for our mutual pleasure. Giant Box  - with its veritable who's who of the early jazz fusion movement  - (and Grover Washington's Soul  Box, was another) got grabbed and greatly enjoyed. The previously mentioned Colin Towns/Billy Cobham HR BIg Band release, includes in its liner notes the statement that nobody had arranged MO for big band before - clearly unaware and poorly researched wrt Sebesky's Firebird/Birds Of Fire (and with Billy Cobham playing drums on that too!)

Giant Box  fits neatly into a single CD, and was released by CBS Records (off-shoot of Columbia Records) in the UK quite some time ago, catalogue no. EPC4505642

Their musicianship is truly superb. I have only Inner Mounting Flame so I should get more of their albums. Very exciting music but it demands a lot of attention. But that's not unusual for prog, I guess.

Tony K wrote: Ghandi 2 wrote: Tony K wrote: I really don't think they top Yes, and a whole slue of others... And yet I think every other classic prog group tops Yes (with the exception of KC because for some reason I never liked them at all, but I do love Relayer). Such is the power of opinion.   I really should get more into jazz-rock.     Wellm I guess Yes isn't as "extreme" as say ELP, but still, stuff like Close To The Edge, you can't deny how much talent that band has.

Skill of Mahavishnu Orchestra>>>>>>>>Skill of Yes

Inner Mounting Flame has some stupendous music on it - and some truly awful and ill-conceived guitar playing. McLaughlin stands out in his awfulness on that album - but the rest of the musicians are brilliant.

Edited by Certif1ed - April 19 2007 at 09:20

I'm just getting into MO - I've got Inner Mounting Flame, which I think is outstanding, and have recently ordered Birds of Fire.  I also need to start collecting some Weather Report, but that's a different thread.  The first two jazz-rock albums I've purchased were IMF and Romantic Warrior - they both offer such different styles such that it holds great promise for me getting into this genre, sounds like there's plenty of diversity of sound to be had.

Yeah really, I don`t know what kind of drugs he`s on but comparing Focus to the MO? My wife is a music prof and she EVEN likes it more when I listen to stuff like the MO or UZEB  which requires a lot  more  initiative in the playing.

Knowing I would be stuck on airplanes the early part of this week, I took along my freshly purchased Mahavishnu Orchestra biography, Walter Kolosky's Power Passion & Beauty (Abstract Logix). One objective was to compare this with the John McLaughlin biography by fellow PA member Paul Stump - Go Ahead John  (SAF).  And it made very good reading - indeed I most strongly recommend both books to provide details of music's evolution in 60's and 70's, as well as two author love and understanding of their subject. So reading Cert's  words within hours of completing the biography, I was wondering whether Cert had been referring to the same Mahavishnu Orchestra and John McLaughlin - especially being very familiar and originally gob-smacked with Inner Mounting Flame, from soon after its original release date (and familiar with John McLaughlin's earlier recordings), I don't recognise Cert's criticism.  Kolosky's initial approach to writing a biography is to interview musicians directly involved with the MO and those who were (and still are) impacted by MO's music. The comments provided are not 100% flattery, but none are at all are scathing of McLaughlin's playing on Inner Mounting Flame. 

I've always felt Birds of Fire is a much better starter than IMF for the average listener/proggie.. and Apocalypse is underappreciated.










Edited by Atavachron - April 20 2007 at 06:06

Ghandi 2 wrote: I dislike ELP more than I dislike Yes (because Yes still has Relayer--I actually forgot about ELP and Rush when I wrote that. I should be more careful), and I think CTTE is a lazy, uninspired, rambling mess. So there. :P   But let's think positive. :)

John McLaughlin is an underrated guitar player. Gary Boyle of Isotope is the same.  Al DiMeola is pretty amazing too.