The
last studio album from The Mahavishnu Orchestra’s original lineup, Birds of
Fire, consolidates and refines the approach illustrated on the band’s debut The
Inner Mounting Flame. Such moves can neuter a band’s impact if the needle
swings too far towards tidiness or pretension. It is not the case with Birds of
Fire. This ten song effort ranks among the iconic fusion releases from the
genre’s heyday and stands forty plus years later as one of the period’s truly
substantive musical achievements. Releases like this proved the right elements
from guitar-dominated rock music capable of mixing with genuine improvisation
and challenging musical approaches with one informing the other. This is music
written, recorded, and performed by adults for adults.
The
title song opens with Billy Cobham’s percussion crashes and guitarist John
McLaughlin enters soon after. It is one of The Mahavishnu Orchestra’s notable
attributes to work so effectively as a cohesive musical unit rather than five
master musicians pulling against one another for their share of the spotlight.
Few tracks illustrate it better than “Birds of Fire”. McLaughlin’s guitar work
is often highly structured, but he’s just as adept careening off into
exploratory passages where incendiary, freewheeling tendencies take over.
Cobham, violinist Jerry Goodman, and keyboardist Jan Hammer key their
contributions off McLaughlin, but the flair with which they do so imbues the
performance with added layers. “Miles Beyond (Miles Davis” is a tribute to
McLaughlin’s friend and one time bandleader. The guitarist and Hammer make for
an exceptional pairing, in general, but this track finds one musician
strengthening through contrast the contributions of the other.
McLaughlin
and Goodman trade off some flamethrower-like volleys on “Celestial Terrestrial
Commuters” with Hammer contributing some fire-breathing keyboard lines of his
own. It’s a relatively brief cut and followed by an even shorter electronic
freak out titled “Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love”. The piece serves no purpose
clocking at less than thirty seconds long. “Thousand Island Park” shows off the
band’s diversity with an exquisitely lyrical turn built around piano and
acoustic guitar. It’s a sparkling McLaughlin showcase with memorable melodic
value. The unusual amount of repetition defining the song “Hope” makes it stand
out from more adventurous surrounding pieces, but dynamic playing and a
manageable length keeps the performance on point. “One Mind” burns at a
white-hot simmer with some key crescendos along the way before shifting gears
near its mid-way point into a stripped-down variation on the initial theme.
This overall performance rates among Billy Cobham’s brightest moments on the
album, but his work in tandem with bassist Rick Laird is equally impressive.
McLaughlin, Hammer, and Goodman duel again on this track with even more
explosive results than the earlier “Celestial Terrestrial Commuters”. They
delve into muted, subtler territory again for the song “Sanctuary” and there’s
an ominous tone struck by its often unpredictable swells and methodically paced
development.
The
relaxed, glittering beauty of “Open Country Joy” ends just short of the four
minute mark. Jerry Goodman makes his presence especially felt on this
performance thanks to his elegant grace with the violin skirting between
neo-classical lyricism and surprising touches not far removed from you find on
classic country albums. The complementary touches from McLaughlin and Hammer
are ideal. “Resolution” closes Birds of Fire with a mounting, appropriately
climatic number whose success is largely dependent on Laird and Cobham’s sure
hands. Closing on this note isn’t the ending this legendary lineup imagined for
themselves and, in hindsight, the song title is bittersweet. There is no sense
of an exhausted band on Birds of Fire. Greater heights awaited this collection
of musicians, but it wasn’t to be.
Grade:
A
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