Wow, is this the peak of music.. So tight, ruthless, ultra confident.. These guys are amazing..

*Iconic drum intro*

First time I heard this, I used my drum set and sticks as firewood.

Wow, yeah, das ist nach meinem Geschmack. 👍🇩🇪

THE DRUMMER that KILLS IT is Billy Cobham, and he is also an accomplished Solo Artist. Highly recommend listening to some of his many albums. TOTAL ECLIPSE is worthy of a full Album Review. OR: "Sea of Tranquility" from that album is a good runner up.... His Album SPECTRUM starts every song with a DRUM SOLO.

I had this album and Birds of Fire in my 1976 record collection. John changed music. I saw them twice in 1972. They glowed like Jimi.

Slap me in the face? It felt like my face was being flailed by multiple machine driven cheese graters!

@pentagrammaton6793

2 жыл бұрын

Hahahahaha

I saw this line -up at Cape Cod Coliseum.Billy Cobham a master at drums.Jan Hammer on keys.McLaughlin,too.Wow!Extreme virtuosity.

Lol, it's about time you put a hat on right man your not 15' anymore "Grasshopper" 😉 Now how about a Koool sports team like the Tampa Bay Bucs !!! As you know I'm from the Boston area and I still follow Mr Brady and was all in with TB and Tampa Bay in 2020' and hoping for a great year starting soon ! Some 70 miles away from you I hope your a TB fan Justin !! 😎🏈 Oh and of course the great Maha Jazz Fusion !!! 🎶🎸🎹🎻🥁🎼✌

Loved it. I don't listen to these guys often, but when I do I enjoy. We all know that anyone who listens to Mahavishnu at least once a week is a hippie, indeed. 😁

An old favorite, as a drummer myself... it's a heck of a drum pattern. Fun to play and to listen. 👍👍

One of the things I love about Mahavishnu Orchestra is that I am unable to not pay close attention when they are playing. I don't just mean that I love it so much that I pay attention, I mean that it always simply demands my attention without regard for whether or not I'm enjoying any given moment. It's not so much that I don't want to turn away, as it is that I can't or couldn't even if I wanted to. And, of course, I never want to, anyway.

You should really listen to Love, Devotion, Surrender. Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin!!

@forrest_lump

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, the complete album "Welcome" is great. A bit different from other Santana stuff. 👍🇩🇪

For me, the pinnacle of musicianship. Extraordinary group. Otherworldly. Especially when you look at when this came out. NOBODY is doing this today. Freakin wow, wow, wow....

Stunning! Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, cosmic talent.

Mclaughlin was heavily influenced by Coltrane at this time. and you can hear it in the 'sheets of sound'. Well done on the time. 9/16 is much the same as 9/8 it depends on how its transcribed.

@rk41gator

2 жыл бұрын

Sheets of sound, sounds right. Some can't get past that, but I can dig it. Musical chants with frenzied drums. Mahavishnu seems to want to take us to his nirvana.....a wild ride.

@frederickpando9444

6 ай бұрын

Coltrane was a big influence on many of the musicians that were starting in the 1960s and reached great heights in the 1970s and beyond.

Trying to follow and count the time signature of the Mahavishnu O. and John McLaughlin is a challenge that only musically knowledgeable musicians can attempt. I have failed on many attempts. John McLaughlin is and was a master beyond the talents of the great classical masters. He was the musical embodiment of Krishna. Om! I am blessed to have seen his later incarnation "Mahavishnu" live in the late 70's. It was a religious experience, plus Stanley Clark was the opening act. Holy cow, Nirvana!

Great reaction

Love this album. I almost didn't recognize you, with your hat on forwards : )

This seems like a good time to remind you that, at some point down the line, you said you will react to the keyboard player and the violinist's song Country And Eastern Music from the album they recorded as a duo immediately after leaving Mahavishnu Orchestra. You said it would be a long wait so I'm not getting antsy at all. Just reminding you that there's another musical treat waiting for you.

Vital Transformation is played at 143 Beats Per Minute (Allegro), or 36 Measures/Bars Per Minute. Time Signature: 4/4 but then lapses in & out of 9/8 at times. I was 15 and this debut MO LP simply knocked the sock off of everything I had ever experienced before. Of course, Hendrix was the trigger who knew & had inspired McLaughlin. As for most of us, this was another year of groundbreaking releases and an incredible time of non-stop bombardment into new music experimentations. I just read again where Steve Howe of YES mentions them ""Yes had done some shows with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Jon and I were knocked away; we felt they were the most remarkable band since the Beatles. They were totally different, and nobody can really top the Beatles, but as far as pure musicality goes, Mahavishnu was just so impressive. That’s why Close to the Edge starts with a kind of manic presentation." Fortunately I saw them late 73 first in Central Park (which became their 'Nothingness & Eternity' LIVE album). And later with their next incarnation featuring Jean-Luc Ponty. Now their TWO LPs Apocalypse 74 & Visions of the Emerald Beyond 75 should definitely be heard. Not to mention the one -of-a-kind 1973 gem "Love Devotion Surrender" album by Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin, both who were expressing their love of John Coltrane together!

Thanks for covering this monster!!!

@JustJP

6 ай бұрын

Happy to Frederick! Thanks for watching

Get to their 'One word'. it's the best

Here is your ‘get out of jail free’ card. Skip right to Visions of the Emerald Beyond. I appreciate the honest comments here. It may be virtuoso and all that but not what I would choose to throw on the turntable. Keep looking for that breathing space!

Great song, I'm enjoying this album a lot! I think it's in 9/8 if I was counting it right lol

Intense, and I love it.

Did you know that John McLaughlin played with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce 3 years before Cream?

@phillipschuman4307

2 ай бұрын

In the Graham Bond Organization (yes, I knew that).

9/8 :) 16 is the chickachickachicka pace like a tambourine, twice as fast as that. But you counted the nine! And you're right that it's not 9/4 :)

Afternoon, Justin. Dave from Blighty. You Shook Me with this track (but my cheeks are intact). Love Billy's drumming; the changing moods; and the drama and excitement. Only thing I don't like is John's solo, as I am not a fan of his playing (speed over feeling). I think Colosseum II must have been influenced - check out tracks like Put It This Way or Intergalactic Strut off Electric Savage. But there you have Gary Moore on guitar and Don Airey on keys - need I say more? (cue chorus of Yes's!)

Last time I got berated for not drooling for this band. I mean, I’ve heard parts of albums, this one that one with the cool cover and the other one after. They’re ok, busy busy busy, sure it’s technically cool, did it make me want to add these albums to my collection, no. Except the covers are cool. Billy was great, the rest, just is, ok. Love Shakti, John’s acoustic playing with Paco and Al, is more my speed. Although I do drool over the custom Yamahas and others he plays. Someone give me a napkin please.

@pentagrammaton6793

2 жыл бұрын

Much as I respect Mahavishnu, I often find that McLaughlin's playing lacks flow, he gets into weird head spaces and the notes become a messy flurry.

@-davidolivares

2 жыл бұрын

@@pentagrammaton6793 Messy Flurry Orchestra… works for me.

@airwindows

2 жыл бұрын

The one I'd berate you over is the opening of Between Nothingness And Eternity: the way that unfolds and goes, is devastatingly beautiful, and played for a New York audience who's totally ready for every note of it, every shading. There's a lot of regular Mahavishnu I can take or leave. I heard 'Dawn' as a kid on a compilation record and it basically changed my life…

@bzbzob

Жыл бұрын

You should keep listening until you get it because there is nothing like it at all.... "parts of albums?" Okay man, cool, not berating, just, this is different. I got it immediately when I was about 15 before I knew it was supposedly "hard" or whatever. It was joyous and over the top, which I always like most.

@-davidolivares

Жыл бұрын

@@bzbzob Ok, I said parts, and maybe that’s misleading, I had a friend who had flame, birds, emerald… I must have heard them all, just, remember bits. He had a large collection so I was taking in a lot of other music too. I was maybe 20 when this happened and it didn’t bowl me over then… but I see their influence quite a bit, I’ll continue to try.

None ate, nun's wait, cook he hesitates. The waiter screams in German, "nein plates"! There were 16,then 9, now 8! So lets get the band to distract the patrons, come on boy's play some fusion at a furious rate!!! Love, Devotion, Surrender-Peace.

" Audio slap in the face" I love it ! 🤣 It's what I felt when I first heard these guys

HEY JP John is amazing in the band SHAKTI has tabla zitar indian influence . GYPSY by the HEEP is a great song To.

To me, the bottom number of a time signature is not that important. As long as you know it’s in 9, you’re good. Here’s how I determine time signature as a listener. I always count the beat with quarter notes. If I can follow the beat, then I’m in a time signature like 4/4. Think of time signature as a fraction, 4/4 = 4 quarters (in a measure). If I get off the beat, then I subdivide the beat and count eighth notes. In this song, the eight notes are in groups of nine, 9/8. Think of the fraction 9 eighths (per measure). If I have trouble counting eighth notes, then I subdivide into 16th notes. An example is 11/16, 11 sixteenth notes per measure. For a good 5/8 tune, try Losing It by Rush.

4 and a half / 4. Must be 9/8. It’s like Hendrix and Coltrane had a little biker crank before a jam.

That's taking me back to about 1972. She told me how much she loved the Mahavishnu Orchestra. I said , you know I like it too. It took no time acquainting myself to the music, as she wanted to make love to it - .

Such a wonderful song from such a wonderful album by such a wonderful band! ❤️

6 in the morning here in Taiwan and its. just a bit too early for such busy muse.... lol. Cheers.

Yes my cheeks hurt..for a long time : I discovered this record in the 70ies, what a shock. Big hug from France YB

For me, this is the quintessential Mahavishnu track.

Awesome guitar playing. Certainly made me sit up and take notice.

Ich wusste doch, dass mir der Name bekannt vorkommt. Im gleichen Genre gab es die Band "Vital Information" mit unter anderem Steve Smith, Mike Stern, Frank Gambale ...

The rhythm part of the end of the song reminds me of The Pursuit of the Woman With the Feathered Hat by Weather Report (sans the theme, of course).

Bought this album many years ago. Was much more than a 16 yo. could appreciate. Now , It's fusion greatness. More than 1 listen, that's fer sure.

Killer track off a killer album. Musical masters, all of them.

The time signature is 9/8, not just the intense parts but also the melodic interludes. The only difference is the metric subdivision. The intense parts are subdivided 4 + 5 and the melodic parts 3 x 3 and 5 + 4, respectively. By the way, an easy way to tell apart 9/8 and 9/16, is the position of the first snare drum hit. If it is on beat 3, than the time unit is 8th notes, and if it is on beat 5, than the time unit is 16th notes. These positions correspond with beat 2 in a regular 4/4 time signature. Obviously, in this groove the snare starts on beat 3 thus making it a 9/8 time signature.

I can't say I like Mahavishnu Orchestra all that much apart from 'Lila's Dance', which strangely enough is one of my favourite instrumental tracks of all time

@davidthibodeau6886

2 жыл бұрын

They are hit and miss with me with a lot of hits but I really like the album Visions of the Emerald Beyond and Lila's Dance is a great song. Probably my favorite by them too.

I'm very glad to see you come back to some band I really love. But you can't make everyone happy all the time. Anyway, I try again, give a long song to IQ or Home…

With your amazing ear, I hope to God that you are also composing and recording your inventions. The maths you are absorbing will magically come to your aid as you leave your own tracks in the sounds of our time. It is one thing to play 2/4 and 4/4 very fast, as if in a hurried musical manustupration, and quite another to skip toward more playful and adventurous signatures. The drummer is often the defining characteristic of a band, and John hired the best in the bidniz.

In 1971 this album changed the way I listened to music

Jan Hammer's main keyboard on this track and most of the album is a Fender Rhodes electric piano. The bits at the end where he's chopping, he's running it through a ring modulator effect, you'll hear that also on John Lord's Hammond at the beginning of the Deep Purple track, Lazy. Basically the effect is combining your normal signal with all of the odd harmonics so it sounds like you're running your keyboard through turning a radio dial. In Vital Tansformation, there are little bits of Hammond organ in the song in some chord swells and crescendos, but John's main ax is definitely the Fender Rhodes electric piano.

I'm glad you did this album. He was also with Miles Davis during his Fusion years. He was on the whole album Bitches Brew, witch is a masterpiece. He is a guitar God and puts any other rock guitarist to shame. I am thoroughly Enjoying your channel. Could you do King Crimson Starless and Bible Black ?

You are correct about the time signature, although it's more likely 9/8. This is a cool video of Terry Bozzio interviewing Billy Cobham. You can see that Terry has so much admiration for Billy and I agree that no other drummer has eclipsed the high bar that Billy set all those years ago. He was a force of nature (still is) and changed drumming for generations to come. kzread.info/dash/bejne/g5-VuK2FdZvIl9I.html

Had this album as a teen... will admit, it broke my mind before it blew my mind! LOL! And did manage to learn a few of the songs on guitar... (but finding a drummer for it at the time was tough... LOL) Wait till Dance of the Maya!!!!

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and and

Wait till you play "From Nothingness to Eternity"!!!

Great reaction as ever - and it gives me another excuse to insist that you react to Carla Bley's Escalator Over the Hill: John McLaughlin, Jack Bruce, Gato Barbieri, Don Cherry, Linda Ronstadt et al.! Just do it: three long song Saturdays, or dip into side 3 if you are unsure.

Enjoyed it. Thanks! All new to me. So... What was the motivation for change? Change is good sometimes... Will you lose the hat all together at some point? Or are you considering this a phased approach and complete removal from the wardrobe will come at a staggered or measured pace as you can handle... Verses ripping the bandaid off... I'm a bandaid guy, just rip it off when ready...

I think the main groove is in 9? EDIT: I found a video breakdown of the beat...It's in 9/8 😃

They just said, "Go a little faster", and insisted on it. Hang on, that's open to misinterpretation ... er ... The way to enjoy this is to switch over to fast mode. If you stay in slow mode, it slaps you. If you want a slower song about the need to go faster (where this time there's some pseudoscience to rationalize this, and a little spicy dusting of punk to help the mood along) try *Faster - by Tub Ring* kzread.info/dash/bejne/p3eZw82rd9anoLg.html ) It has an entertaining video, too.

@sicko_the_ew

2 жыл бұрын

If you'd prefer a similar message told in the language of sludge and doom, then try *King of the Road - by Fu Manchu* kzread.info/dash/bejne/kY6f0Zmpcsium84.html (it doesn't get into perversions of physics, though; just says King of the road says you move too slow King of the road says you move too slow King of the road says you move too slow King of the road says you move too slow ... But it is at least slower ...

@pentagrammaton6793

2 жыл бұрын

@@sicko_the_ew Fu Manchu kick ass.

Machine gun sound.

Overly drummy. Yes - and all the better for it 🙂🥁

So funny to watch musicians be all blase'; and they'll never get close in their whole lifetimes. '

I find this piece unnecessarily overloaded but also ultimately uninspired with its fast/slow structure and its cyclic alternating time signature. For me the main defect of the Mahavishnu Orchestra is that its members (McLaughlin and Cobham above all) are in permanent show off. Of course, they know how to master their respective instruments but what's the point since their instrumental prowess are almost an obstacle to their songs ! I find that most of the time they put technique above everything else (just like their colleagues from Return to Forever !) and I don't find much emotion in their music. I prefer the fusion of Brand X, Jean-Luc Ponty, Bruford, Weather Report and Herbie Hancock in which there is more room to breathe.

@pentagrammaton6793

2 жыл бұрын

This, exactly. McLaughlin in particular had no "slow" switch most of the time, it's bloody maddening from such a talented player.

@a.k.1740

2 жыл бұрын

@@pentagrammaton6793 I have two of his solo albums, Electric Guitarist (1978) and Electric Dreams (1979) in which I feel his playing is more relaxed, less showy overall. I guess at this point in his career he had nothing left to prove as a guitarist so he had curbed his guitaristic excesses....

@pentagrammaton6793

2 жыл бұрын

@@a.k.1740 yes, definitely.

I didn't enjoy this. I could've cut 'n' pasted my Noonward Race review. Overly drummy, and far too frenetic. Sounded like they'd written a 20 min piece, but due union, studio constraints, were told they only had 6 to get it down. This was largely a wall of sound hitting me, with little nuance, or melody. A couple of times it slowed, sounded like they were going to reign it in, these had the makings of something, but were all too short. This was just too much. Though I have just woken from a nap, and maybe wasn't ready for this...

@kathyratino962

2 жыл бұрын

I don't like anything that high-pitched for that long. I started developing a headache about a minute in.

@jfergs.3302

2 жыл бұрын

@@kathyratino962 Aye, I feel your pain 🙂

I really like TMO but am I the only who dislikes John’s soloing? It’s so non-melodic and sloppy. Maybe I’m missing something.

@johncagnettajr344

2 жыл бұрын

Yes you are ,he is so accurate its scary.