Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame. CD. (Sony Music - 65523) Debut album from the Mahavishnu Orchestra, that most essential and important of all US jazz-rock fusion combos (OK, Weather Report were great when they started, but they soon deteriorated into muzak), notable for the flawless musicianship, sheer volume and power that they brought to both genres. The sound of one man's driven spiritual obsessions being realised in harmony with the musicans he was born to play with- Jerry Goodman, Jan Hammer, Rick Laird and Billy Cobham. Tracks like 'A Lotus On Irish Streams' 'Noonward Race' 'Meeting Of The Spirits' and ' The Dance Of Maya' are peerless, essential documents in both jazz and 70s instrumental rock. Had Hendrix lived he was planning to record with Miles Davis: this is the closest we will ever get to hearing what that music may have sounded like. Absolutely perfect in every way.

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds Of Fire + Apocalypse + Inner Worlds. 3-CD Set. (Columbia - 492738 2) Excellent three CD package featuring re-mastered versions of these classic Mahavishnu Orchestra albums all featuring virtuoso English guitarist John McLaughlin. Birds of Fire dates from 1973 and is regarded as one of the finest rock/jazz fusion albums ever made with Billy Cobham, Jan Hammer and Jerry Goodman in tow. Apocalypse from 1974 is a more ambitious album with violin player Jean Luc Ponty and orchestrated production by George Martin. The 1976 album Inner Worlds was the bands final '70's release mixing funkier sounds with jazz rock and Indian Ragas. All albums are remastered with in depth sleeve notes.

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds Of Fire. CD. (Columbia Jazz - CD66081) CD reissue (the first to stand on its own as opposed to being part of a set) of this seminal album, which defined for many in the US the term 'jazz rock' and which still remains unsurpassed in the genre. Formed after guitarist John McLaughlin had left the Miles Davis band, and subsequently undergone conversion to the teachings of the Eastern mystic Sri Chinmoy, this was the sound of five men- McLaughlin, former Flock violinist Jerry Goodman (known to all and sundry as 'that bloke off the cover of Fill You Head With Rock') keyboardist Jan Hammer (yes, 'im wot wrote the Miami Vice theme, and also a key member of the Jeff Beck Group) bassist Rick Laird and virtuoso drummer Billy Cobham- melding together in perfect musical unity. If you haven't heard the title track, 'Open Country Joy' 'Thousand Island Park' 'One Word' or 'Celestial Terrestrial Commuters' then you ain't lived. Music played by jazz musicians, with Eastern and classical influences, but which was meant to be played LOUD like the heaviest rock, and blow your speakers. It's orgasmic.

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Live At Montreux 1978 / 1984. dbl DVD. (Eagle Vision - EREDV640) This is the first ever Mahavishnu Orchestra DVD. With McLaughlin as the ever-present, the Orchestra line-up went through various phases and these two concerts from Montreux showcase the band at distinctively different times of their career, with the seventies show featuring later stars Jean-Luc Ponty and Michael Walden and the eighties concert featuring saxophone maestro Bill Evans. PAL / REGION 2 / MAIN FEATURE 220 minutes.

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