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Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Inner Mounting Flame

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Columbia Jazz
Released: 1971
Time:
 46:35
Category: Jazz, Jazz-Rock
Producer(s): John McLaughlin
Rating: ********.. (8/10)
Media type: CD
Web address:
Appears with: John McLaughlin, Jan Hammer, Billy Cobham, Jean-Luc Ponty, Bill Evans
Purchase date: 1998
Price in €: 9,99





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Meeting of the Spirits (J.McLaughlin) - 6:50
[2] Dawn (J.McLaughlin) - 5:14
[3] The Noonward Race (J.McLaughlin) - 6:27
[4] A Lotus on Irish Streams (J.McLaughlin) - 5:39
[5] Vital Transformation (J.McLaughlin) - 6:14
[6] The Dance of Maya (J.McLaughlin) - 7:14
[7] You Know You Know (J.McLaughlin) - 5:05
[8] Awakening (J.McLaughlin) - 3:28

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


John McLaughlin - Synthesizer, Guitar, Producer. Liner Notes
Billy Cobham - Bass, Drums
Jerry Goodman - Violin
Jan Hammer - Synthesizer, Piano
Rick Laird - Bass

Bob Belden - Producer, Liner Notes, Reissue Producer
Don Puluse - Engineer
Rob Schwarz - Mastering
Mark Wilder - Mastering
Ron Coro - Cover Design
Howard Fritzson - Art Direction
Anthony Hixon - Photography
Don Hunstein - Photography
Randall Martin - Reissue Design
Seth Rothstein - Project Director

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1970 LP Columbia CK31076
1971 LP Columbia 31067
1990 CD Sony 31067
1990 CS Columbia PCT-31067
1998 CD Columbia/Legacy 65523
1998 CD Columbia CK-31067
1998 CD Sony 65523
1998 CD Sony Jazz 65523
1999 CD Mobile Fidelity 744

Includes liner notes by John McLaughlin.

All tracks have been digitally remastered using 20-bit technology.

As British bands like Yes, ELP, and Genesis extended the borders of rock & roll, John McLaughlin had seized the opportunity to do the same with jazz. The first stars of the jazz/rock fusion camp, the Mahavishnu Orchestra played sellout concerts, sold records in quantities previously unheard of by jazz musicians, and captured a crossover audience of forward-looking jazz devotees and progressive rock fans.

The music on THE INNER MOUNTING FLAME is incendiary and highly improvisational. Well-conceived unison melodic passages structure each tune, and McLaughlin and company play like the virtuosos they are throughout. "The Noonward Race" features a bluesy, yet harmonically dissonant solo from McLaughlin, and the frenetic drumming of Billy Cobham. In contrast, in "A Lotus on Irish Streams," McLaughlin soars passionately on an acoustic guitar, while violinist Jerry Goodman adds a simple, folky melody.



This is the album that made John McLaughlin a semi-household name, a furious, high-energy, yet rigorously conceived meeting of virtuosos that, for all intents and purposes, defined the fusion of jazz and rock a year after Miles Davis' Bitches Brew breakthrough. It also inadvertently led to the derogatory connotation of the word fusion, for it paved the way for an army of imitators, many of whose excesses and commercial panderings devalued the entire movement. Though much was made of the influence of jazz-influenced improvisation in the Mahavishnu band, it is the rock element that predominates, stemming directly from the electronic innovations of Jimi Hendrix. The improvisations, particularly McLaughlin's post-Hendrix machine-gun assaults on double-necked electric guitar and Jerry Goodman's flights on electric violin, owe more to the freakouts that had been circulating in progressive rock circles than to jazz, based as they often are on ostinatos on one chord. These still sound genuinely thrilling today on CD, as McLaughlin and Goodman battle Jan Hammer's keyboards, Rick Laird's bass, and especially Billy Cobham's hard-charging drums, whose jazz-trained technique pushed the envelope for all rock drummers. What doesn't date so well are the composed medium- and high-velocity unison passages that are played in such tight lockstep that they can't breathe. There is also time out for quieter, reflective numbers that are drenched in studied spirituality ("A Lotus on Irish Streams") or irony ("You Know You Know"); McLaughlin was to do better in that department with less-driven colleagues elsewhere in his career. Aimed with absolute precision at young rock fans, this record was wildly popular in its day, and it may have been the cause of more blown-out home amplifiers than any other record this side of Deep Purple.

Richard S. Ginell - All Music Guide



Reissued with sparkling audio and exclusive photographs, this first, 1971, Mahavishnu album certainly vies for the title of the greatest of all jazz-rock recordings. Through spiritually questing flights of intense fury and exquisite quiet, it never loses its sense of inexorable force. Jan Hammer (keyboards), Jerry Goodman (violin), and bassist Rick Laird are completely sympathetic with guitarist John McLaughlin's vision as the music abandons the standard jazz format of successive solos in favor of rapid, heightening, braided, interactive contributions--a structure much drawn from Indian classical music. Astoundingly, the music retains discipline. For that, thank Billy Cobham: Through all the expressive, irregular meters, he remains a steady, resolved engine of percussion, vastly resourceful but ultimately reserved. McLaughlin's alchemy distills many worlds of music­-the jazz-guitar masters, flamenco, blues, Indian forms, and his experience in the innovations of the seminal jazz-rock outfits of Miles Davis and Tony Williams. Of course, distortion, feedback, and arena-rock amplification were crucial, as was the influence of Sri Chinmoy, McLaughlin's spiritual guide. "The Noonward Race," "Vital Transformation," and "The Dance of Maya" are music for the ages.

Peter Monaghan - Amazon.com



In edelster Verpackung, mit exklusiven Fotos und mit exzellentem Klang neu abgemischt, wurde jetzt das erste Album des Mahavishnu Orchestra wiederveröffentlicht. Dieses Album von 1971 darf wohl den Anspruch erheben, die gelungenste Jazz-Rock-Produktion aller Zeiten zu sein. Zu hören bekommt man spirituelle musikalische Höhenflüge, wütende Ausbrüche, dann wieder Momente äußerster meditativer Ruhe. Inner Mounting Flame wird von einer nie versiegenden Kraft vorangetrieben. Jan Hammer (Keyboards), Jerry Goodman (Violine) und Bassist Rick Laird bilden zusammen mit dem visionären Gitarristen John McLaughlin eine feste Einheit. Man wendet sich ab von den üblichen Jazzklischees mit ihren endlosen Soli. Stattdessen bedient man sich musikalischer Strukturen, wie man sie in der klassischen indischen Musik findet. Das Mahavishnu Orchestra ist erstaunlich diszipliniert. Dafür steht Drummer Billy Cobham: In dem ganzen unübersichtlichen Dschungel ungerader Takte und Tempowechsel bleibt sein Beat stetig wie eine Maschine. Er spielt reserviert, aber mit großer Kraft. Gitarrist McLaughlin schöpft aus seinem riesigen Fundus verschiedenster Stile. Er zitiert die großen Jazz-Gitarristen, den Flamenco, streift den Blues und zeigt Einflüsse indischer Musik. Schließlich ging er durch die Schule solcher Musiker wie Miles Davis und Tony Williams. Verzerrung, Feedback und riesige Amps waren für McLaughlin bestimmt nicht weniger wichtig als die spirituelle Betreuung durch seinen Guru Sri Chinmoy. Genießen Sie Stücke wie "The Noonward Race", "Vital Transformation", oder "The Dance Of Maya" -- das ist absolut zeitlose Musik.

Peter Monaghan - Amazon.de


Jazz-rock fusion - as distinct from the jazz-funk character of the genre - came to full fruition with The Inner Mounting Flame.Where the groundbreaking fusion recordings of Miles Davis were spacious and rambling and those of the Tony Williams Lifetime were often bumptious and diffuse, the debut recording from the soon-to-be-legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra offered compact, precisely arranged performances that unashamedly made use of the sonic intensity and aggressive rhythms of contemporary rock. Highlighting the breathtaking virtuosity of guitarist and group leader John McLaughlin (an integral associate of Miles Davis and a former member of Tony Williams Lifetime), drummer Billy Cobham, violinist Jerry Goodman and the then-novel electronic keyboard wizardry of Jan Hammer, the Mahavishnu Orchestra had all the dramatic impact of the finest rock bands of the time, with the added plus of unparalleled musicianship. The gripping highpoints of The Inner Mounting Flame. - - McLaughlin and Goodman divebombing through lightning fast unison passages or McLaughlin and the apparently super human Cobham going head to head - - offered a new jazz-rock sound that instantly sent the burgeoning fusion movement into overdrive.

Steve Futterman - Barnes & Noble


"...a retreat to more basic jazz and instrumental rock and roll. It's very similar to...DEVOTION, on which McLaughlin...made it clear that heavy rock music wasn't necessarily like having an anvil dropped on your skull..."

Rolling Stone (1/6/72, p.64)



"...where the virtuosity of jazz and the power of rock really gelled...and this 1971 debut - holding frenzy on a leash through strangely serene Eastern, Celtic and bebop melodies, as well as meta-Hendrix riffage - is arguably their finest hour..."

Mojo (2/99, p.102)
 

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