Out in 1973, Birds of Fire was the follow up to The Mahavishnu Orchestra’s debut album, The Inner Mounting Flame, which continues where it’s predecessor left off. While the band’s debut left jazz and rock audiences around the world in state of amazed shock, Birds of Fire saw the band tweak their loose strings if there were any and reach an even higher platform than before. The album would be the last one to feature the original line up, as after the album violinist Jerry Goodman was replaced by the master musician Jean-Luc Ponty.
Most definitely the first reaction to the album upon hearing the title track is how unusually dark and heavy the sound is. Jerry Goodman and Jan Hammer play in synch to a very haunting tune, against which McLaughlin plays his speedy flat picked lines. This was the first time Hammer had used a synthesizer on record, and it really helped bring out the richness in his tone. John’s trademark style of attacking the strings with a very aggressive right hand creates a forceful backing to the eerie tune. Miles Beyond is the band’s, and more specifically McLaughlin’s tribute to the legend Miles Davis. The highlight of the track would be the replication of a machine gun like sound by Billy’s precise drumming.
While jazz musicians prefer some space to work themselves into the track, Celestial Terrestrial Commuters moves closer to the boundaries of rock music in view of it’s short compositional length, and style of maintaining the track at a high level of intensity right through. Open Country Joy too is a relatively short composition on which the band’s lead musicians push their way through the center. To create polar effects on the track, the introduction and the outro of the song are maintained at a lower tempo compared to the center portion of the track.
The prolonged One Word shows what it means to be a jam based band, where in the band’s songs should not lose their momentum in pursuit of longevity. The onslaught of the leads against the resourceful drumming of Billy Cobham is the main element of the track. The song is probably one of Cobham’s greatest works of all time, as he showcases his array of skills and ability to play odd time signatures with the utmost ease. Hope and the final track Resolution, are both miniature pieces that build up to a crescendo before taking leave.
The band is more famous and is easily associated with it’s distorted and furious playing, but on the other end of the spectrum there is Thousand Island Park is an acoustic delicate ballet that is played in the absence of the violin and the drums. It includes some quick acoustic jabs on the piano and the guitar, as well as the fortifying bass work of Rick Laird on the upright bass. At the same time, Sanctuary holds an overwhelming depressive power provided by Jerry Goodman’s violin. One should really note how the rhythm section of the band changes their approach drastically to match the different mood of the song.
Birds of Fire, features a truly world class band at their collective best. Many would consider the album the pinnacle of the band’s career, the point where they were extremely focused and making magic in the form of music. The album would go down as a true jazz classic.
Comments
8 comments. Add your own comment below.
Walter Kolosky
Sep 11th, 2008 at 3:51 am | #
Hi Rishi,
Good to meet another Mahavishnu fan. I wrote a book about them. Just for the record though - Birds of Fire was not the last album of the original band. That would have been Between Nothingness and Eternity from later in that year. Also another album was released in 1999, The Lost Trident Sessions, which represented a failed studio attempt the band tried to record in May and June of 1973,.
Rishi
Sep 11th, 2008 at 4:47 am | #
Hi Walter,
Thanks for your comment. I will try and get hold of your book as soon as possible as I’m a big fan of the band. I have the lost trident album and I think it contains some of the band’s best works. Also, when I said last album I meant their last studio album. Keep in touch.
Raa
Oct 18th, 2008 at 6:55 am | #
birds of fire was an american copy o lalgudi and hindu carnatic music dedicated to Krishna, without learning it and will never learn it!
Rodrigo Guabiraba
Jan 4th, 2009 at 2:08 am | #
Very well written review. A fan since my early adolescence, now I can hear to MO in a much more mature fashion, discovering all details, textures and feelin’ of this masterpiece. A must have piece of art.
Mike Goitein
Nov 21st, 2009 at 5:28 pm | #
The only thing better than “Birds of Fire” is listening to “The Inner Mounting Flame,” and seeing the tremendous development of everyone involved. Ken Scott’s production makes a huge leap, adding massive depth and darkness to the band’s sound. Billy goes from one bass drum to two, and the technical mastery and relaxed ease that he displays will be his signature from this point onward. McLaughlin brings in the double neck (12 & 6 string), and really plays the heck out of it. Listen to Jerry Goodman’s pizzicato violin solo in “Miles Beyond” - It would have been amazing on a guitar, never mind on a tiny 4-stringed instrument. Jan Hammer not only starts playing synth here, but adds washes, mood-altering background sounds, and starts employing his guitar-sounding synth patch that would also become his signature in the future. Even Rick Laird, normally solid and unspectacular, gets his chance to shine on “One Word.”
I cannot recommend this album highly enough, or overstate it’s importance…
Andrew Reil
May 17th, 2010 at 2:41 pm | #
The only experience better than listening to (even now) the excellent albums this grouping of virtuosi produced was hearing them work their magic in live performance.
If there has ever been an ultimate music machine they were it. McLaughlin’s mastery of scales and action in time put him in a class all by himself. I have played the guitar in a similar modern “shredding” style; but nobody has really approached what John was doing at that point in time.
G.E. Schwalm
Nov 19th, 2010 at 7:40 am | #
Seeing MVO (1st incarnation) @ Houston’s domed Hohfeinz Pavilion was truly like observing a warp-drive engine powering a huge flying saucer. Incredible. Other same era tours always equally impressive. Unfortunately for me, it was all pleasantly downhill from “Meeting of the Spirits” though “Thousand Island Park” was wonderfully wistful. Looking back, Jan’s introduction of the Minimoog was a big mistake; coulda done without any violin; and Wasn’t there ANYBODY else available on bass than Rick Laird?? Oh well. McLaughlin once said he felt like it wasn’t him playing, but a “spirit” playing through him. Probably true, and an aggressive one at that!
larry rogan
Sep 26th, 2011 at 7:29 am | #
Man, I left zepplin at 16 in 1971 when I found mahavishnu. Then I found al dimeola and from there 4ever its been a love of all music. Debusey, Rachmaninoff, Hancock, you name it. Thanks bill Evans, Nat king and bb. I love Pandora.