Between Nothingness & Eternity

I absolutely LOVE Between Nothingness and Eternity.

Is it the best live album of all time? Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. There's other important live albums such as Deep Purple's Made in Japan, Humble Pie's Rockin' the Fillmore, and Rory Gallagher's Irish Tour that need special attention as well (and of course, need YOU to buy them... please!) We can't live in a Mahavishnu world ALL the time, now can we?

It is absolutely amazing to me more people haven't reviewed this 42 minutes of instrumental brilliance here on amazon. I want at least 50 reviews for something THIS good, come on! I can't believe it's not more popular, to be totally honest.

Before I try to describe what makes this album quite possibly the greatest thing I've EVER heard, let me get a couple small problems out of the way first (and trust me, these are VERY minor problems, that I'm only mentioning so you readers don't think I'm just some Mahavishnu Orchestra fanboy who is blind with uncontrollable excitement!)

The album cover. You know, you can't really tell how good an album cover is just by looking at the picture here on amazon (or any website for that matter) but I was totally shocked after taking it out of the package that it's somewhat bland. I was expecting it to be more colorful, similar to King Crimson's Islands cover. Now THAT is one far-out, beautiful album cover! Instead it's just... yellow and black. I've seen worse of course, I'm just a little let down because I was expecting it to be much prettier than it actually is.

Also, I don't even KNOW if this is the Sbme Special Markets version of the album I received, since it doesn't say it anywhere on the disc, booklet, or case. It could be the other, more familiar version for all I know. I can tell you for a fact that THIS version doesn't have any notes inside, nothing available to read, or anything. Just a white page. If the older version has pictures and fun notes to read, you might wanna skip this version and go with the one released before Februray 1, 2008. However, I don't know what the older version sounds like.

NOW, with those minor complaints out of the way, let's get to the most important thing of all- WHY this is such a fantastic album.

As a live album, it's brilliant. As a 70's album, it blows me away completely. It's the kind of instrumental playing that continues to amaze me every time I hear it. These chaotic jams are put together in such a way where you have to listen to the music over and over, so you can remember a little bit more each time. That's pretty much what to expect with a Mahavishnu Orchestra album, and since these musicians are so darn GOOD at what they do, it's not a chore- it's a picnic hearing these jams over and over again.

How does it SOUND you ask? Sounds very good, but not quite as good as Birds of Fire or Visions of the Emerald Beyond. Probably because it's a live album, BUT, despite that, it still sounds very very good. It also sounds *clear* (for the most part) which is important for an early 70's live album. Sometimes the guitar gets lost in the background of the rhythm and the music becomes blurry for a short time, but I don't know if this is something that can be fixed from a remaster or anything. It's pretty good the way it is though. Doesn't sound dated, let's put it that way.

So, what some of you are probably wondering is, what's Between Nothingness and Eternity like compared to The Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire? Honestly, the album packs the intensity and speed of the former, and the shifting/jerky instrumental parts of the latter. It's like BOTH albums combined!

I don't know if John McLaughlin and company were aware this kind of intense and adventurous music they were creating back in the day is supposed to get better and better the more you hear it (as you remember more of the instrumental playing) or if the way these jams are contructed is just total coincidence and the band was jamming away because it just felt RIGHT to them at this particular moment in time, and they had no idea they were doing something drastically different from every other musician at the time. I often wonder if musicians even realize they're doing something very different from other bands.

Please please PLEASE listen to me carefully- this is some of the most intense, heavy, and just flat out FASTEST instrumental playing you will ever find from a 70's album, but here's the best part of all- the more you hear it, the more you will remember each sequence of notes, and get caught up in the heavy and melodic grooves.

Eventually you will even begin to remember McLaughlin's guitar lines while he's soloing over the grooves! Now THAT'S what I call replay value! I also admire the way the rhythm constantly shifts and changes at the most unpredictable times, sort of like a progressive rock album, but focused more on the intensity and variety of the instrumental playing. Sometimes you feel these musicians are showing off a bit, but that's probably because they have the talent to do so!

Maybe I'm way WAY off with this next comment, but I think all metal heads should listen carefully to this album, and hear a guitarist who is capable of playing notes at lightning speed *while at the same time* making sure *every sequence of notes he plays* is done in such a creative way that demands lots and lots of attention and replay value, so you can eventually remember these great jams.

I think if more heavy metal fans were to hear this album, and hear John McLaughlin's guitar playing, that might change the bland and uninteresting metal scene we have today where most guitarists sound alike. Hearing a guy who is capable of blues, jazz and speed metal might change the heavy metal scene and encourage guitarists to go the extra mile and find ways to be more creative and *find a way to stand apart* from all the other ones that blend together.

I mention the electric guitar because that's the main focus of this Mahavishnu Orchestra album. The keyboards are really melodic and played super fast as well, along with the electric violin. The parts where the guitar and keyboard creatively play back to back is really cool, such as in the opening song.

The violin jams are extremely creative just like everything else. I never knew the violin can be considered a magical jam instrument until I heard these guys play it. The violin really provides a glowing spark to the entire thing. Just remember you will experience instrumental playing unlike anything you've ever heard before. These guys can write songs too, you know!

I don't know how someone can listen to this music and NOT be blown away by what they're hearing. Between Nothingness and Eternity is SUCH a perfect album, or close to it, that I HIGHLY recommend this album to anyone who either loves creative and detailed jams, 70's music, or yes, even heavy metal fans, because I honestly think this is one of the greatest albums ever made.

Supposedly there's more to this concert than just "Trilogy", "Sister Andrea" and "Dream", and hopefully SOMEONE will release the other jams from the concert officially one day, for everyone to hear. Hey, why not? We need MORE from the Mahavishnu Orchestra! After you buy this album, you need to hear the Santana and McLaughlin album- Love, Devotion, Surrender.

Between '72 and '73 I saw the Mahavishnu Orchestra about 6 times. I was there in Central Park when they recorded this concert. This band is simply from another dimension when it comes to the energy transfer that occurs in a live setting. Going to a Mahavishnu concert was truly "setting the controls to the heart of the sun."

The energy is the result of two muscians, Mahavishnu John McLaughlin and Billy Cobham, who are without question all-time greats on guitar and drums. Miles Davis named a song after McLaughlin and lauded praise on him even before he formed Mahavishnu Orchestra. Billy Cobham was the drummer who de-throned Buddy Rich as the perennial best drummer winner of the Down Beat poll. The two of them adapted a traditional Indian raga approach of tabla drum/sitar interaction to electric guitar played through banks of Marshall stacks and full, double bass, microphoned (this was relatively new at the time) drum set.

Jerry Goodman on violin was good. But it was a completely maniacal Jan Hammer (later to do the music for the Miami Vice TV show) that completed the picture for me.

In order to get the full effect of this album, you need to turn the volume up so that the hum of the amps, which you can hear very clearly, is at your normal listening level. You need to have a slight degree of fear that when the real music starts to play, you will be propelled across the room like Marty McFly in "Back to the Future" when he plugs in his electric guitar.

You cannot properly listen to this album with headphones. You will damage your hearing and you will lack the dispersion effect that listening through speakers will have.

For anyone who did not get to see them, this CD is a 5 star. I give it a 4 star because the sound quality is good, but not great and there are no tunes from either Inner Mounting Flame or Birds of Fire, the two Mahavisnu Orchestra studio CD's that preceed this one.

I saw many of these tunes performed live. Without those points of reference, it is impossible to realize that the Mahavisun Orchestra would play their most challenging studio pieces-- parts that many people can't even hear, much less play -- 10 to 15% faster when they did them live.

So, while I was happy beyond words to have been present when this album was recorded, I was a little disappointed that it wasn't completely representative of the experience.

But then, I was completely spoiled through repeated exposure. So feel free to factor that in as you consider my review.

As we are approaching the 35th anniversary of this recording, I thought this might be a good time to reflect on my feelings about this performance in Central Park, NYC in 1973. As one reviewer said at the time..."the music must have stopped a few muggers in their tracks"...is totally appropriate. The original MO certainly changed my life...forever. I personally saw them only once...Princeton, NJ in late 1973...three months after this recording. Sidenote: Chick Corea's Return To Forever opened for MO at this show...featuring Bill Connors on guitar. Tickets were $4.00...those were the days...yes indeed. No need to get into the superlatives about the level of MO's musicianship...intricate compositions...innovations...etc...they have all been beautifully articulated by the other reviewers of this and other MO recordings. What I do want to simply say is that this music continues to reverberate in my consciousness in 2008...it opened artistic doors that I didn't even know existed. John McLaughlin has always been a musical visionary...starting with Extrapolation...ending to where he eventually winds up. It's a beautiful...fantastic...journey.

Final sidenote to fans: check out some of the unauthorized recordings of the original MO on the net...OMG...

the more time goes on, the more i appreciate the original m.o.; each musician was a show-stopper in himself. this is one terrific recording. if you can't get enuff of this, try to dig up the live m.o. bootlegs they made at berkeley, hunter college, cleveland and miami - they are available if you spend some time looking.

I was there. Both nights at the Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park; 15th row, center aisle. To this day, it remains one of the most beautiful and most powerful live performances that I have ever seen. Only one other show by the Mahavishnu Orchestra ever matched it for both sheer virtuosity and that special spark between all of the players and that was at the Capital Theatre in Passaic and I saw that too. This album is as close to your getting share such a memory with me as we can get; most of the stuff on YouTube is in sad condition, but still worth a peek. This, on the other hand, is crisp. The only glitch to the recording is when Jan's keyboard head blew and that long space in Dream comes from the road crew having to get a new one in place. How's THAT for memory? LOL!!! Yes, this is Lost Trident Live, but it also has pieces from Like Children (c'mon, Sony, release that chestnut!). A "must" for fusion lovers. Sat Nam!