Emboldened by the popularity of
Inner Mounting Flame
among
rock
audiences, the first
Mahavishnu Orchestra
set out to further define and refine its blistering
jazz-rock
direction in its second -- and, no thanks to internal feuding, last -- studio album. Although it has much of the screaming
energy and sometimes exaggerated competitive frenzy of its predecessor,
Birds of Fire
is audibly more varied in texture, even more tightly organized, and thankfully more musical in content. A remarkable example of precisely choreographed, high-speed solo trading -- with
John McLaughlin
,
Jerry Goodman
, and
Jan Hammer
all of one mind, supported by
Billy Cobham
's machine-gun drumming and
Rick Laird
's dancing bass -- can be heard on the aptly named
"One Word,"
and the title track is a defining moment of the group's nearly
atonal
fury. The band also takes time out for a brief bit of spaced-out
electronic
burbling and static called
"Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love."
Yet the most enticing pieces of music on the record are the gorgeous, almost pastoral opening and closing sections to
"Open Country Joy,"
a relaxed, jocular bit of communal jamming that they ought to have pursued further. This album actually became a major
crossover
hit, rising to number 15 on the
pop
album charts, and it remains the key item in the first
's slim discography. ~ Richard S. Ginell