Mahavishnu - Visions of the Emerald Beyound

[progman1975]

Being a huge Ponty fan, I was wondering if this is the Mahavishnu to get Ponty with on the violin????

[grego]

Ponty plays violin on VotEB, except for one track, Pastoral. On Pastoral Steven Kindler plays the Cadenza - a virtuoso passage in the end.

[Stickleback]

Yes, a fantastic album with the burning rhythm section of Narada and Ralphe.

[Scrotum Scissor]

My third fave Mahav after Flame and Nothingness.

Ponty soars here.

[No Pride]

My favorite Mahavishnu Orchestra album! As groundbreaking as the first one was, it seems to have been done in a hurry. With VotEB, they finally made a well rehearsed, recorded and produced album. McLaughlin's tone is much better (imo) and Narada Michael Walden gives Cobham a run for his money. Ponty sounds great on it! I do miss Jan Hammer's presence, but hell, life is compromise!

I saw the tour behind that album and it was an awesome show!

[Vic2012]

I like it a lot. I played it recently. I was on a fusion kick. Great album.

[Phlakaton]

Really good stuff. A different flavor without Jan but like No Pride said - life is indeed a compromise.

[Shadow]

My first concert was this tour, and I went to see the opening act who were sick and didn't play. Didn't have much of a clue who MO were. But I did after that show. Never realized a person could make sounds from a violin like Ponty did, and John was so fast he looked like an animated cartoon.

[Blah_Blah_Woof_Woof]

Big thumbs up on this one. This was a great band and Kindler isn't shabby either. Saw this larger band on a tour on a dual bill with Jeff Beck- What a pairing!

[claycorn]

vic i never got off that fusion kick franchan.jpg

[Dave]

Yes, a fantastic album with the burning rhythm section of Narada and Ralphe.

The CD is worth getting just for Eternity's Breath Part I & II. Narada's drumming is incredible. Never fails to raise my blood pressure.

[FrippWire]

Although Birds Of Fire is the M.O. album that hooked me, Visions is my favorite of the lot. Buy this for Ponty, buy this for its overall greatness.

[chescorph]

This is a fantastic album. Terribly underrated and it features a tight rhythm section and is much better produced than early Mahavishnu. Narada Michael Walden sounds like he is in the room with you. Oh, and Ponty almost steals the album. I think Jeff Beck may have gotten a lot of his inspiration for Wired from this.

[Reid]

Apocalypse is also worth picking up. It's a great album!

[Scrotum Scissor]

Apocalypse is also worth picking up. It's a great album!

Agree that it's very good, and underrated. I sometimes get the impression that the vocal work alone is what secludes it as the "worst" of those first five.

[GuitarGeek]

I think Jeff Beck may have gotten a lot of his inspiration for Wired from this.

Given the fact that Jeff ended up working with Jan Hammer, I'm guessing it was more Mahavishnu MKI that he was probably more inspired by.

[GuitarGeek]

Speaking of Apocalypse, that's another one of those things that drives me crazy these days: I can remember seeing that damn record at the library every time I browsed through the LP selection, when I was like 9 or 10 years old. They also had Wish You Were Here, Ry Cooder's Showtime, and a few others that I now regard as classics. But back circa 1982-1983, I didn't have the presence of mind to say "Gee, I wonder what this sounds like".

Hell, even when I was smart enough to borrow a record like Moving Pictures or Duke, I wasn't clever enough to listen to anything except the stuff I'd seen on MTV, hence I didn't get to hear Duke's Travels or The Camera Eye or whatever until much much later.

Man, I can be a real chump sometimes, ya know that?

Thank goodness when the opportunity to own some Magma, Nektar, or Steve Hillage, I jumped on it.

[calyx]

Given the fact that Jeff ended up working with Jan Hammer, I'm guessing it was more Mahavishnu MKI that he was probably more inspired by.

I think Hammer's performance on Billy Cobham's "Spectrum" album probably factored a lot too.

[cavgator]

Visions of the Emerald Beyond is without question my favorite Mahavishnu Orchestra album. The production is drier and more intimate, Moran's vocals (yes, I know, we are all supposed to hate her) seem like an oasis of calm between the hurricanes of the other numbers, Walden's drumming to my ears is better and cleaner than Billy Cobham's (as extraordinary as he is), and Ponty's violin more than makes up for the loss of Jan's synths.

I also love Apocalypse mainly because I was astonished that anyone would dare to replace Billy Cobham, let alone play as well as him. I am one of the few that preferred this incarnation of Mahavishnu Orchestra to the incredible original lineup.

[Jefferson James]

Wondering if anyone can help me ID a Mahavishnu track...

Way back around 1985, some dude who lived in the same shitty LA apartment building as me gave me a cassette of some Mahavishnu music; the cassette was unlabeled and I never new the names of the songs. The dude disappeared a couple of months later, never to be seen again.

One of the songs kicked my ass and featured a little guitar thing-y I went on to steal and use sometimes. If memory serves, when the guitar solo started, Mclaughlin did this thing where he hit a note 1 time, then hit the same note 2 times, 3 times, 4 times. Maybe it was the other way around (4,3,2,1) but either way, it was a "counting" thing and I thought it was really fucking cool. The solo went on to deliver that kind of uniquely Mclaughlin madness (speedy and somewhat sloppy runs but delivered with huge energy).

There's too much stuff to comb thru so I figured why not ask here? If anyone can help, I owe you, thanks.

[Reid]

Agree that it's very good, and underrated. I sometimes get the impression that the vocal work alone is what secludes it as the "worst" of those first five.

It doesn't bother me. And Apocalypse is very strong musically. Visions kinda peters out on the second half. But these CDs can be purchased for 3-4 dollars these days, so there's plenty of great music for a tiny expenditure.

[No Pride]

Walden's drumming to my ears is better and cleaner than Billy Cobham's (as extraordinary as he is)

... and he didn't rush the tempos like Cobham did (although to be fair, I've heard Cobham on several jazz albums pre and post MO and he never rushed like that with anybody else). Yeah, Cobham was great, but I'm with you, Walden kicked major butt... and I don't think he was even 20 years old yet! And the drum sound was much better on VotEB. When I saw the tour, I remember Walden playing this intense up-tempo fusion groove... then at one point, he dropped it down to whisper volume without losing any of the intensity. Killer!

[Shadow]

... and he didn't rush the tempos like Cobham did (although to be fair, I've heard Cobham on several jazz albums pre and post MO and he never rushed like that with anybody else). Yeah, Cobham was great, but I'm with you, Walden kicked major butt... and I don't think he was even 20 years old yet! And the drum sound was much better on VotEB. When I saw the tour, I remember Walden playing this intense up-tempo fusion groove... then at one point, he dropped it down to whisper volume without losing any of the intensity. Killer!

All I remember is Waldon playing his ass off trying to keep up with McLaughlin.

[Phlakaton]

... and he didn't rush the tempos like Cobham did (although to be fair, I've heard Cobham on several jazz albums pre and post MO and he never rushed like that with anybody else). Yeah, Cobham was great, but I'm with you, Walden kicked major butt... and I don't think he was even 20 years old yet! And the drum sound was much better on VotEB. When I saw the tour, I remember Walden playing this intense up-tempo fusion groove... then at one point, he dropped it down to whisper volume without losing any of the intensity. Killer!

There's a Trilok Gurtu flavor to Walden's playing. Love his touch!

[presdoug]

VOTEB is my second favorite Mahavishnu Orchestra album, second only to the debut. Essential fusion.