Visions of the Emerald Beyond

This album speaks to your inner soul, to all souls now and yet to come. Enjoy the ride to the far reaches of your mind.

THE fusion recording, period. Absolutely fantastic music. Gutsy, profound and fun. When John McLaughlin produced this music he was listening to GOD. Can't recommend this enough. If you are new to this "type' of music in addition to "Visions..." the other must haves are, Weather Report...Tale Spinnin', Herbie Hancock...Headhunters, Chick Corea...Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy (great Music, less than stellar audio quality, too bad) and Mahavishnu Orchestra....Inner Mounting Flame. If you can "get it"...goodbye, you will never look back.

And then put on the headphones. Oh man, what a sonic marvel this is! John's guitar playing is awesome and Ponty's violin create soundcapes that are beyond imagination. A great fusion record.

at first i was hesitant about wether to buy this album, i could not envision a mahavishnu orchestra without billy cobham, and i was a bit worried about the singing. But, as i am a diehard mahavishnu fan, i bout the album, i figured that anything John did could not be bad. and i sure was right. This is an amazing album!! the singing does not take away from the music at all, and there is just as much energy as the old mahavishnu. although i dont think that the drummer is as good as billy, i dont like the violinist as much as jerry, and i dont like the pianist as much as jan, they still come togeather and make some amazing music. there is not one song on this album i dont like, i like them all so much its hard to pick my favorites, but here i go. i would say that my favorites are... Eternitys breath pt. 1, pt.2, lilias dance, cant stand your funk, pastorial, faith, cosmic... oh wait, im listing them all O.O thats how great this album is. dont let the new band, or the singing fool you, its right up there with the rest of the mahavishnu albums.

This CD is in a unique class by itself blending new age, fussion and eastern elelments. To my knowlwedge I know of no other muscian or group that ever made anything comparable.

I recommend seat belts. There are some sublimely sedate moments in this astonishing recording (most notably the respite “Earth Ship,”) so it isn’t that the whole work is frenetic, but there ARE: constant inventiveness, surprise, evolution, and relentless change of pace, time, mood, signatures and all the conventional handles usually available for listeners to grip and follow the structure of music. This makes for both an energizing and an exhausting listen, symphonic in scope, ambition and realization. And this musical maelstrom doesn’t describe solely the alternation between different compositions, but also what happens within single pieces. For example, “Faith,” a brief two-minute piece, begins with a stately harmonic acoustic guitar cycle that soon is propelled by rolling toms and accompanying strings through an ascending progression that seems to resolve on a reverberating high note, only to suddenly be rent asunder by an explosive sequence of electric rhythm chops, itself leading to a convolution of violin riffs and finally keyboardist Gayle Moran’s outright laugher ringing over the organ chord that brings the sequence to an end. Whether she laughs with delight at the musical development, or at the listener caught thoroughly unprepared and dumbfounded, we don’t know. Similar breathless surprises abound throughout the recording, which features three suites and culminates with a tour deforce aptly titled “On the Way Home to Earth,” since continuous sequential listening of the entire work (the only fashion I recommend) is very like being hijacked by aliens for an unbridled ride through the unexplored cosmos. The final suite mercifully converges harmonically at its climax (including perfectly positioned bell chime accents), providing masterful counterpoint to the unfettered, powerful and at times dissonant explorations that precede (even comprising a downright Stravinskian violin interlude, “Opus 1.”) The suite encompassing “Cosmic Strut,” “If I Could See” and “Be Happy” takes you from the properly named funky sashay at the outset (featuring violinist Jean Luc-Ponty riffing over Ralphe Armstrong’s bona fide bass thumpin’ and pluckin’ plus syncopated brass stabs and accents), to a quiet contemplative poem wherein Moran sings ethereally over string accompaniment, and delivers you into a roiling inferno where electric guitar and violin play off one another in a seeming effort to stay ahead of the churning rhythm section. And all of this happens within 44 minutes and 24 seconds. The imagination involved in this work is sufficiently astonishing, but more so is the musical ability to craft and deliver upon it. Orchestra leader John McLaughlin clearly refined his conception of the ensemble and its musical domain for this second iteration of the group. He has occasionally pointed out that he is the dropout among his highly educated Ph. D. siblings. Clearly, Mr. McLaughlin’s intelligence and mastery is of another sort, and in this hallmark recording of the jazz fusion era, he takes us all to school.

While not the original band, this has all the makings of a classic album. Another journey into the realm of completely original music that will tantalize the senses on many levels and leave the listener wanting more. This is another MUST HAVE for any musician regardless of experience.