APOCALYPSE

1. "Power of Love" (4:13) descending piano chords are soon joined by horn/wind section of orchestra sounding very cinematic. Classical guitar joins in around the one-minute mark and then Jena-Luc Ponty's heavily-treated electric violin as the orchestral strings swirl around the individual soloists quite magnificently, repeating the same ascending melody line. Sounds like a dream come true: guitar, violin, and piano power trio with London Symphony Orchestra. Wow! So beautiful! I could/should loop this on an eternal repeat! (10/10)

2. "Vision Is a Naked Sword" (14:18) crescendoing cymbals precede an ominous bowed-bass intro over which dynamic drumming of Narada Michael Walden joins in. At the 1:25 mark the horn-led full orchestra joins in spouting out a continued ominous chord progression. It's furious and powerful, it's bold and beautiful. Then things settle down in the fourth minute for a bit while Jean-Luc begins his time up front, but the orchestra swells again before dropping off, leaving an open space that drummer Walden gladly fills. A whole-band primordial soup then ensues in which all of the individuals are arpeggio-riffing with no apparent coherent goal until the Orchestra jumps in and starts doing its own version of arpeggio riffing, trampling over the individual soloists for a bit. In the middle of the seventh minute the two sides (orchestra and individualists) seem to reach a balance as all members' inputs are being heard. The eighth minute unveils a surprising change of pace and motif as playful bass and very playful funky rhythm guitar establish the grounds for Michael and Jean-Luc to play over. It's one big happy playground! Since there is so little egocentric flash and flare here, this makes me think that this is quite possibly the best Mahavishnu composition I've ever heard. John's interesting muted "rhythm lead" guitar is given the front for the tenth and eleventh minutes before teaming up with Jean-Luc and Gayle to release a spray of bullets in tandem before the orchestra jumps in to take over. But then, at 12:50, the rock band takes over gelling in a cool weave of fertile soil over which the Orchestra rises to the front as the soloist! The finish is typical Mahavishnu flare but it's brief and conclusive. A surprisingly egalitarian composition! (28.5/30)

3. "Smile of the Beyond" (8:00) Gayle sings in her beautiful operatic voice with the accompaniment of the London Symphony Orchestra for the opening four minutes. It's quite lovely if a little protracted! Then, as if another song, the band launches into a very pop-sounding rock form built around the melody of Gayle's vocal (which is continued internittantly in the background by a Gayle Moran-led choir), guitar, drums, bass, and violin all firing at high speed. But then, in the seventh minute, the rock elements disappear whereupon Gayle and the LSO return as the sole musical elements to the finish. Interesting blend; I'm not sure it worked, overall. (13.125/15)

4. "Wings of Karma" (6:06) full orchestra (mostly strings) takes the first two-minutes before the Fender Rhodes-led chords introduce a moderately-paced song form, but then when everybody in the Mahavishnu Orchestra joins in it becomes a very odd almost-disharmonious mix of incongruous playing--almost as if every individual is flying off in their own directions with little guidance or adherence to the keyboard pace and melodies. The instrumentalists are all very impressive (especially, I have to say, the young drummer), but I'm not sure it all works--this despite the song's title. The band once again drops off in lieu of Michael Tilson Thomas closing out the song with an all-orchestra finish. Not my favorite. (8.75/10)

5. "Hymn to Him" (19:19) a pretty orchestral opening is blended (finally!) with the rock and electric instruments from the very beginning--which is the way it should be--with the rock quintet emerging with the song's dominant form only in the fourth and fifth minutes, finally establishing ascendency at 5:10. The way the orchestra has been interwoven up to this point in a give-and-take kind of way is absolute perfection--nothing short of amazing! The barrage of instrumental fireworks (from John and Michael, at first, with a little craziness from Ralphe Armstrong, then Jean-Luc in the eighth minute) that ensues is is nicely balanced by Gayle's patient Fender Rhodes chords and occasional LSO flares. In the seventh minute John produces an absolutely amazing rock guitar solo. At the eight-minute mark, however, there is a total changeover into what feels like an orchestra-less jazz-rock motif. This is nice, with Gayle's Fender Rhodes getting some lead time and John's eccentric electric wah-ed guitar strumming in support in their usual fascinating way. (The man is truly an unheralded genius at accenting rhythm guitar support.) Ralphe gets the next extended solo in the tenth and eleventh minutes--a solo that seems to just keep on going even when Jean-Luc takes over in the front-and-center position. At times on this album it feels as if Jean-Luc is convinced that he needs to come from more of a blues-rock orientation. This is unfortunate because, in my opinion, he is much more noticeable and effective as a melodic rock soloist. Anyway, he does get some stunning firecrackers in--especially in opposition to John's machine gun Roman candle spray. And I love how the drums and bass pick up the pace in the fifteenth minute! But then the LSO jump back into the mix (to great effect) as the rest of the jazz-rockers try to keep their barrage flowing. It seems that only Michael Walden and Jean-Luc Ponty are willing to stay the course--until the 17-minute mark when the fleet reaches the calmer waters of the port bay--at which time they unleash some beautifully-ecstatic bursts of celebratory sounds as the orchestra slowly cradle them into port. A brilliant if still not perfect composition. I really think the blend of the two orchestras here is not only some of the best I've ever heard between jazz or rock band and symphonic orchestra but incredibly inter-supportive. with stunningly-beautiful melodies coming from multiple fronts. (37.75/40)

Total Time 51:56

I found it very comforting and reassuring that John did not feel the need to jump out of the blocks with bullets spraying--that the first song, "Power of Love" showed the kind of restraint and beauty that can only come with serene confidence; this just let me know that this time around using the Mahavishnu Orchestra moniker--this "incarnation"--he was feeling far less need to impress. But then, as the album plays on, I find myself tiring a bit of the LSO-Mahavhisnu-LSO format used by all of the songs. I know you have to get your money's worth of such an esteemed group as the LSO (and Michael Tilson Thomas), and I don not mean to belittle the orchestra arrangements and performances: they're amazing--but I really am surprised at the fact that the Mahavishnu Orchestra gets only about 50 percent of the album's 52 minutes. Also, as impressive as Michael Walden's skills are, he is, for my tastes, a little too cymbal-happy (not unlike my major complaint of Who drummer Keith Moon). Perhaps if the cymbals weren't mixed so high as to shade some of the band's other sounds it wouldn't be so annoying. And then there's the fact that John's acquisition of his "dream" partner in violinist Jean-Luc Ponty results is so little front time for the fiddle master. Too bad. At the same, I do call this my favorite Mahavishnu album. I really love the experimentalism of the next album, Visions of the Emerald Beyond--on which Jean-Luc has far more face time and Michael less temerity--and I've always felt a little "left out" or put off by the machine gun showmanship of the first two (three counting the live Eternity album). On Apocalypse, there's just something comforting about the cushioning that the LSO provides.

A/five stars; a true masterpiece of jazz-rock fusion and what I consider the Mahavishnu Orchestra's best album of finely-crafted fusion songs.