BIRDS OF FIRE

After revolutionizing the world of jazz-rock with its stunning debut "Inner Mounting Flame," John McLaughlin and his MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA experienced an unexpected crossover success that catapulted these five musicians onto the world's stage virtually overnight with the groundbreaking fusion style that incorporated complex arrangements of jazz, progressive rock, gypsy folk, funk and Indian classical music. This first lauded lineup of drummer Billy Cobham, bassist Rick Laird, keyboard wizard Jan Hammer and violinist Jerry Goodman with band leader and virtuoso guitarist John McLaughlin took the rock music paradigm to new unthinkable complexities with intricately designed compositions crafted by McLaughlin which offered refreshing original arrangements that immediately resonated with the public.

The first lineup engaged in a very intense existence from 1971-74 before infighting and the pressures of superstardom conspired to shatter the unity that the music suggested. Two years after the debut the band's sophomore release BIRDS OF FIRE was released by Columbia Records and continued the trajectory of the MAHAVISHNU's fiery passion that mixed the harmonic confluences of jazz with blitzkrieg guitar, violin and keyboard deliveries that took rock music into a whole new level of energetic prowess which without a doubt was one of the main influences of the faster tempo styles of music such as punk and metal that followed. Slightly more varied and bristling with sizzling solos, BIRDS OF FIRE offered ten outstanding instrumental outbursts of five musicians who seemed to work in telepathic tandem with some of the tightest musical tradeoffs that had ever been performed.

BIRDS OF FIRE opens with a few gong sounds before launching into a high-octane procession of blitzkrieg drumming patterns, frenzied violin melodies and McLaughlin's signature guitar wizardry. Crafting the fiery rhythm is a funk fueled bass line and the keyboard provides various embellishments to the overall sound. The jazz effect resonates with colorful chord patterns and highly sophisticated harmonic confluences and best of all the musicians know how and when to trade off so that the entire shebang doesn't come off as a non-stop jamming session. The album alternates between sizzling action packed numbers such as the title track, the funky "One Word" and the determined "Resolution" and the more sensual emotive numbers such as "Miles Beyond," a tender dedication to McLaughlin's lengthy gig with the jazz superstar Miles Davis. The album is surprisingly paced perfectly and offers a wide range of textures and motifs to paint a colorful representation of jazz-fusion magnanimity.

Situated somewhere between absorptive harmonic convergence and atonal angularities, BIRDS OF FIRE has enough to draw anyone in and offers a series of contrasts decorated by extremely seasoned veterans of various musical genres with an amazing display of control by all five members which has rightfully placed this album as one of the great jazz-fusion masterpieces of the ages. The free spirit of the early 70s found an album of such complexity to reach the Billboard #15 position and made MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA one of the most critically acclaimed jazz-related acts to emerge from this era but it was this very sudden ascent to the top that proved to be too much for these shy musicians not accustomed to the glitz and glamor of fame.

Despite reaching the top of their game in a short time, the five members soon found that personal differences and incessant touring was too much. This would be the last album by this first lineup and it would take a couple more decades for all those extra recordings that were supposed to be the third album to be released in 1999 as the long-awaited "Lost Trident Sessions." While phase one of the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA only existed for a short three years, it is uncanny how brilliant these first two albums remain all these decades after their initial release. The sheer magnificence of the myriad genres thrown into the blender without sacrificing that emotive connection is nothing less than a miracle. This has been one of my all time favorite albums for a long time now and after revisiting it lately, i can happily say that it seems likely that it will remain that way for as long as this carbon-based life form is around.