Added: 3 years ago
From: luidge3445
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  • Obscura brought me here... pretty AWESOME stuff

  • Why didn't I go across this when I was 15... Oh yeah!, the internet didn't exist yet... FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

  • Still the best after all these years.

  • Who today can compare to this?

    All these kids and their "shredding"?

    Can't hold a candle to these guys.

    Got to see these guys in a club in Chicago, the old Quiet Knight and they just blew us away!! We were so awestruck that we went back and saw them all five nights they were there.

  • I used to listen to heavy metal and death metal but one day a friend told me about fusion i gave it a try..since that day i have been practicing jazz fusion for 3 hours a day everyday.I'm simply shocked that this isn't appreciated at all, "old people music" ? does that make sense to you ! FUCK ! i'm sorry for typing this high.

  • @ThePoopingHex check out the band Obscura- Velocity and fast forward to 3:12...than listen to this song lol

  • @ThePoopingHex

    Can you play half okay fusion jazz on guitar now?

  • @ThePoopingHex It's more appreciated than you think atheist covered a song by this band on tour.

  • Listening to this, who'd have thought forty years ago that music going into 2012 would be so pointless?

  • @MoabMadness2011

    I think in times of revolutionary music people only imaginined how much it was going to progress and get better in the future.

  • great song-great album--everybody played their asses off-esp Billy Cobham

  • Just awesome. Been my face band since I was 10, 30 now

  • to think, all of this led to jan hammer writing the greatest music of all time, the music to miami vice

  • @ggalexhutchings How can you say miami vice is the greatest music of all time while listening to this masterpiece?

  • @ggalexhutchings

    How he made the transition from playing allout fusion, to funk in the late 70's, to miami vice synthpop in the mid 80's is just remarkable

  • When I need some inspiration, this album never fails me..it's as close to spirituality as I'll ever get..it never gets tired..wtf were those guys on?

  • @fatanky Fire. :p

  • Saw the "Birds Of Fire" tour, Long Beach Arena. Unbelievable!

  • ahhh 6:10 ... !

  • A MONSTER of a tune...!

    Cobham is incredible....!

    John McLaughlin (guitar), Jan Hammer (keyboards),

    Jerry Goodman (violin), Rick Laird (bass guitar), Billy Cobham (drums)

    .

    Composed by John McLaughlin

    . Recorded: New York, August 1971

  • This Album changed my life in 1971

  • @bjorn860 me too

  • *cleans brain particles off floor, walls, headphones and various peices of furnature*

  • Never, ever missed the chance to see these guys when they played in Chicago. Got to see them in a club, the old "Quiet Knight" and was totally blown away by the music. In a club setting these guys were just devestating. Goodman went to school with my cousins, good Chicago boy!!

  • 3 people did not meet the spirits.

  • Captain Obvious reporting in:

    poil

  • the bend at 2:53 makes me tingle. the fact it goes over only makes it better x)

  • I love the keyboard solo at 3:39, it's beautiful

  • definitely hearing where Steve Vai got some inspiration from

  • So Gooooooddddddddd

  • Makes me wonder what in the heavens was aligned in the early 70's. There was so much great music and a blossoming superhuman musicians. I remember it as a time when it was so exciting to go to the local "record store" to find the next great gem. I remember having this album along with King Crimson: In the Court of, Yes: Fragile, Deep Purple: Machine Head, on heavy rotation back then. It was heaven!

  • I had the extreme pleasure of seeing these guys live in Chicago a number of times and they just blew me away each and every time. I'm a bass player and they really opened my eyes and ears to a lot more possibilities.

  • the most incredible thing is that john mcalughlin shredded his guitar 15 years before malmsteen and co did but no one noticed that

  • @algrand90 Because McLaughlin made music/art and Malmsteen is fucking awful.

  • @metalcore929

    Vai is good though.

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  • My brother loaned me this album and this song made my head explode the first time I heard it. I've never been the same since. Prior to this experience I was more into Cream and all the other blues based improvisational rock bands. Not that I don't still appreciate the blues but I thrive on more fusion oriented instrumental rock these days.

  • john mclaughlin=hero.

  • I don't think it can get any better than this in the genre of fusion. Not for my taste at least.

  • actually my impression of hearing this piece again after a long time (I picked this LP up when it was first issued) is that to me know it sounds like Santana on crack. I won't even touch the subject of other guitarists that I like, and I make that statement lovingly. somehow the energy and intensity f the music on this album now make me think of Carlos Santana's first record and some of the places he was going with rock guitar at the time. McLaughlin evolved out of a jazz background though.

  • Forgot how good this was.

  • Hey everyone. I've posted some video lessons on how to play this tune. I've got most of the videos posted, and I'm planning on completing the last one tomorrow. Have fun!

  • the first ten chords of this album introduced a new era in music that i believe may never be equalled - quite by accident mo changed the way all popular musicians approached music rock jazz or pop

  • Very nicely put!

  • Comment removed

  • I find it funny that on every classic rock/jazz video, someone has to bring up Justin Bieber or argue over what "type" of sound it has. Can't we just enjoy it, people?

  • Calling John Mclaughlin a technician is so far from the truth. If this song doesn't do anything for you, your mother was an icecube and you're a freezer.

  • @DejonArmani dude, is your refrigerator running?

  • this is what I call modern music.

  • It annoys me when people say he is just a technician. I find this emotionally mind blowing.

  • this was it for the hardest acid fusion bamnd ever waz.. this album has to be the pinnacle rise of with Midearstern indfluences and harrrd core fusion..Melts down into manta of harmonies like none other..

  • damn stoned damn stoned i am..tripping on brother!

  • I've heard McLaughlin riffs in Kerry King's and Jeff Hanneman's guitar playing of all places...so good.

  • Best Jazz fusion album ever conceived

  • @SocraticRaver Amen brother.

  • Kisten to Kansas' "Magnum Opus", and tell me they weren't inspired by the mahavishnu Orchestra. About midway through, it's pretty blatant.

  • Great!

  • woah! this is amazing!

  • i wish bands had the talent to play like this today. john mclaughlin was/ is the master of the guitar. the 12 string shredder he is haha

  • hundreds of hours have I listened to this music, and hundreds more to come!

  • @trigjeeeh u got that right my man hows it goin,love this wether

  • One idiot. There is always one.

  • @triplettam alwats atleast one lol

  • Fucking incredible!

  • @triplettam yes it is i love it thanks

  • barang bagus nih Mr Lu :)

  • The Mars Volta had to have been heavily influenced by this band, and this genre.

  • @Dennissays Oh yeah, even if they don't know it (which I'm sure they do). Many consider them the first "jam band," even though that obviously doesn't capture the extent of what they're doing by any means.

  • @Dennissays I agree! :)

  • this is old. i was 20 when this came out. i liked john mclaughlin with shakti.

  • this is what I grew listening to! maybe thats whats wrong me??

  • Lol. a lot of people reminiscing here. I'm 17 and loving this. It's somewhere between cynic and weather report.

  • Loved this L P at 16 and still think its ground breaking now im an oldie in my mid fifties !

  • i am mostly a hard rock guy, but i love all things guitar...  when i bought this album and birds of fire in the 70's when i was in hi skool, i was absolutely blown away....

  • Yup this album changed everything in the way i viewd music forever i agree chsfan G

  • I saw these dudes in 1972 with ELP at Winterland in SF...my mind is still reeling! LOFL.

  • @chfsfan One of my friends saw Mahavishnu back in '73...he said it was the loudest concert he ever saw.

  • I saw these dudes in 1972 with ELP at Winterland in SF...my mind is still reeling! LOFL

  • @chfsfan Very cool. My high school bandmates went to this same saturday Winterland concert and brought back the Word. After our rehearsal, on Monday, I rode my 10-speed to Wherehouse Records and bought this vinyl. Went to my room, smoked a joint and upon listening to "MotS" saw the world anew. This album is nirvanic and I have never been the same.

    Bless John McLaughlin, a true avatar of musical virtuosity, integrity and Hope.

  • back when "technical" didn't mean "clean". so good

  • @EyMeng yeah!

  • @EyMeng But this is very clean playing I don't get your point.

  • @Whackooyzero I mean the production. The sounds of the instruments aren't "glossy"

  • @Whackooyzero don't use the word clean, man.

  • @EyMeng What the heck are you talking about? How is "clean" negative?

  • @Whackooyzero because clean has become a term that means "slick" and smooth, like shitty modern fusion.  this stuff here is dirty.

  • @EyMeng Doesn't sound particularly "dirty" to me but I get what you mean. You see when you say "clean" I immediately think you're referring to playing accurately, and without messing up especially in the original context. But it does make more sense now.

  • @EyMeng More like when it was about "music" and not "technicality".

    "Modern guitar has more in common with sports than music" - Frank Zappa

  • @KingCrimson776 Never knew Zappa said that!! I've always said Music is not a sport!

  • @hejafish I love your username.

  • @KingCrimson776

    Love quoting stuff from Zappa.

  • @KingCrimson776 Love the name, my favorite band too. I agree except technicality is always a valid plus. Never good when your compositional boundaries are limited by inability; and as you say never good when your compositional creativity is limited by showing off all day long : )

  • As far as I'm concerned, these guys and Weather Report have a lock on what would later be called Fusion music...such raw power, just so compelling.

  • so good,love it.....

  • this is amazing, absolutely awesome

  • Psychedelic fUSiOn at its best!!!

  • @cosmicolor91 theres the Czech Jan Hammer too:)

  • gooooood!!!!!! 

  • fiuawgipwhdew9idybew9p0abcyaew­9pbfxyewp0afbawe9pdbfw9aeph!!!­!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    THIS IS FUCKIN ORGASMIC!

  • This song was playing then by accident some kid rode this bike in front of my friends car killing him. I alway thought it would be like the song you'd hear going up to glory. Never froget that V Sad day

  • John McLoughlan is the real jesus.

  • John McLoughlan is the real jesus

  • This flame keeps on burning for ever.

  • Changed my life. And everyones around me.

  • John mclaughlin is a genius

  • hausum

  • Total as vacuum of modern physics, can be Spirit expressed better????????

  • this song is brilliant :D and I love looking at the comments, I see no hate only people with good music tastes :D

  • 4.21- 4.48 what is this?! japierdole!

  • 1 person died while listening to this song

  • The studio needed new drywall after that. Cobham kicked some ass.

  • the intensity is so appealing, i love it

  • what you mean?

  • cavalera is like Mr. Jonh.....

  • in a perfect world this would be radio music

  • @FakeFlourescentSkies so fucking true hahahaha

  • @FakeFlourescentSkies Yes. Just yes.

  • @FakeFlourescentSkies i couldnt agree more. :P

  • @FakeFlourescentSkies SO TRUE!!!

  • @FakeFlourescentSkies im milwaukee WI it is tune into 88.9 radio milwaukee or 91.7 wmse milwaukee its on the net and they play great stuff like this alll DAY

  • I know now where that main riff sounds familiar. I think it might have shown up in freedom of speech by liquid tesion experiment.

  • @bren6977 Liquid Tension Experiment. The only band in the last 15 years that does something like approach the awesome of 60's and 70's jazz fusion.

  • @bren6977 Sounds like it :D

  • goddam, this song is like the particles from a thousand planets melted down into one pool of bubbling lava

  • @benabz yeah, buddy

  • @benabz and then the LSD wore off

  • @benabz This absolutely "blew my mind" when I first heard it in 1971. He's yet to put out anything less than stellar!

  • @benabz This absolutely "blew my mind" when I first heard it in 1971. He's yet to put out anything less than stellar! I've had the great pleasure or seeing him twice in the past 25 years.

  • @benabz one pool of spirit:)

  • @benabz holy crap! your comment is awesome!

  • it really is flame-like in its intensity

  • This was the first jazz-fusion album I ever bought. I still have no idea what suddenly made me buy this; if I was religious, I would say it was an act of God. This completely changed my idea of music. It's hard liking this sort of music when I'm 13 and everybody else is infected with disgusting, factory-made plastic sound they are bombarded with by the media, but I'm glad I found it now rather than later.

  • @concernedanonymous I know exactly how you feel. Those same people still don't get it these many years later.

  • GAWD! I LUV THIS SONG!!!!

  • GAWD I LUV THIS SONG!!!!!

  • oops. I must be mistaken.

  • jean luc is probably my favorite musician on this album.

    he is great with frank zappa.

  • @henrimoon

    Too bad he doesn't play on that album. Jerry Goodman is on the violin.

  • @henrimoon Jerry Goodman, actually. From 'The Flock." Check them out. 

  • The player on the violin is mr. Jerry Goodman. Jean Luc Ponty was a member of MO., but not on this album.

  • Thanks for posting this timeless classic. Every track on this LP is outstanding.

  • This is the type of music that makes all other sound like nothing more than dubious white noise!!! How can you not love it?

  • I swear I heard the guitar riff somewhere else...

  • @ryder187mac Well they had it first.

  • @Dashizz327 Yeah, I was just trying really hard to remember where else I heard it...

  • @ryder187mac which riff btw?

  • @Dashizz327 The one that starts at 0:42

  • i consumed for months my birds of fire cd.. i didn't suppose their first album was even better, now i know.. i'm impressed! o_O

  • When I first heard this album, I was totally blown away. It was just what I was looking for, and I didn't even know it

  • Try listening to any Beetles track after this and hear how utterly basic it sounds. Don't get me wrong i love the Beetles too, they were master song writers as much as MO were master musicians; each catered for different audiences. I'm just saying listen to the difference. It's bizarre.

  • @tarkus1971 TRY STICKING YOUR HEAD IN AN OVEN OR A BLENDER I KMOW THET'RE TOO WAY DIFFERENT THINGS THAT CAN KILL YOUR BASIC MISUNDERSTANDING OF POP AND AVANT GARD,

  • The greatest fusion band of all time.

  • @dallaskenn Definitely, them and Return to Forever.

  • Mahavishnu in indian is the one who smiles, and at this album not only he smiles but also he rocks the place around!!! Listen to the whole album, you wont regret it.....................

  • THIS IS SO METAL!

  • JM is absolutely the most naturally gifted guitarists I have ever seen or heard...he could make an accomplished guitarist drop his and take up fire watching....

  • @clyde8her actually, there's a guy who can compare to him...in some circles they call him "New Mahavishnu", because JM. His name is Paul Masvidal, he made a band called Cynic, they played extreme metal in the early 90' (with a lot of influences in his songs from JM), an then he tried to do different stuff, going through Fusion, Indie, Prog. and some self learning. Now, Cynic reunited and they released two albums, Traced in Air and Re-Traced...

  • @clyde8her i can recomend to you Textures, King of Those Who Know, Uroboric Forms, Wheels Within Wheels, Veil of Maya, The unknown Guest, The Space for This...just to start, the next step it's up to you...=)

  • listened to this when i was 15, absolutely timeless and unsurpassed.

  • de calidad

  • this is one of those records that changed my playing.

  • This is amazing. No arguments there.