APOCALYPSE

John McLaughlin and his MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA had a stunningly successful three year run after releasing their milestone fusion albums "The Inner Mountain Flame" and "Birds Of Fire" by blending the dexterity of progressive rock and the colorful chord progressions of jazz with world music including gypsy folk, Indian classical music with a touch of funk and psychedelia. The original five-man lineup of McLaughlin, Jerry Goodman, Jan Hammer, Billy Cobham and Rick Laird were taken by surprise with their sudden ascent to stardom and even found their albums of intricate complexity climbing up the Billboard album charts but the intensity of the touring schedule, the pressures of fame and the disputes between a cast of seasoned musicians took its toll fairly quickly and the original MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA ceased to exist before a planned third album could be completed.

The world would have to wait a couple more decades to finally experience the long lost third album find a proper release in the form of "The Lost Trident Sessions" but in the meantime instead of completely abandoning the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA altogether, McLaughlin completely reinvented the project with a completely new cast of members and when he decided to carry on to the next level, he really wasn't messing around. After reforming in 1974 McLaughlin decided to keep the core style of the original band in tact but released the third album APOCALYPSE as an even more ambitious project that took on the usual jazz-rock-fusion of the earlier albums but added the elements of symphonic prog and a cameo with the London Symphony Orchestra with Michael Tilson Thomas as the conductor.

The term third stream refers to the blending of jazz and Western classical music and although the stylistic visionary approach dates back to the 1950s with Charles Mingus and Moondog pioneering the uncanny blend, the attempt to incorporate rock music into the mix as far as i'm aware had never been done up to this point. After a new lineup was chosen the new cast of characters was McLaughlin as bandleader, guitarist and composer, Gayle Moran on keyboards and vocals, Jean-Luc Ponty on violins, Ralphe Armstrong on bass and Michael Walden on drums, percussion and clavinet. The London Symphony Orchestra included a pianist, viola, another violin, a cello and lots of orchestration. This clash of the titans approach resulted in one of the most unique sounding albums in all of the 70s with classic sounds that were carried on from the original MAHAVISHNU lineup but delivered in a completely more cerebral context.

Right from the getgo with the opening instrumental "Power Of Love" it's obvious that McLaughlin took a complete 180 in terms of steering the band's sound away from the technical wizardry non-stop barrage of sizzling energy that the first two albums excelled at and rather took over four minutes to craft a more atmospheric contemplative approach that was developed to narrate the theme of the APOCALYPSE. It was really a go for the gusto type of album which found no other than The Beatles' own George Martin in the the producer's seat. For those expecting a continuation of the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA's first two releases, they must've been in shock when hearing this one as it truly has more in common with scores such as George Gerschwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" than it does the previous incarnation of what came before. Nevertheless the album was critically acclaimed although it wasn't quite the hit with the public despite retaining some of the jazz-funk and fusion methodologies of yore.

APOCALYPSE featured five tracks with the sprawling 14 minute plus "Vision Is A Naked Sowrd" and the 19 minute plus "Hymn To Him" as the dominant scores of the album. While the jazz-rock-fusion aspects of the album tend to alternate with the symphonic classical elements, the overall effect turned out pretty darn good as the pacing of the different motifs is what keeps the album from becoming stale. The opening "Power Of Love" provides an atmospheric generator that ushers in "Vision Is A Naked Sword" which focuses on lush orchestral concerto type music with segments that break into the MAHAVISHNU jazz-rock sound complete with John's guitar wizardry. The feisty "Wings Of Karma" operates differently with the heavy rock parts coming first and then settling into the symphony and carries over to the lengthy "Hymn To Him" which tackles all of the different sounds married together for this one superb display of a stylistic truce where all the musicians on board are in total respect of one another.

Unlike the all instrumental albums that preceded, APOCALYPSE showcased some beautiful diva vocals courtesy of Carol Shive although the majority of the album is focuses on intricate instrumental passages. Whereas the previous lineup featured a barrage of testosterone infused aggressiveness, APOCALYPSE adopted a more sensual feminine side of things with long lengthy tributes to atmospheric classical motifs that eschew the rock and jazz altogether but there are often also nice cooperative efforts where the two disparate styles trade off in a crafty call and response. Unlike the first two albums which offered instant gratification, APOCALYPSE very much required a much longer gestation period to win me over and it's not until a recent revisiting of MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA albums that this one has finally won me over. This one is a little underwhelming upon first listen but after carefully following its compositional flow reveals itself to be quite eccentrically ingenious. Divorced from the context of the superior masterpieces that came before, APOCALYPSE reveals itself to be quite the brilliant album in its own right.