THE INNER MOUNTING FLAME

Inner Mounting Flame is the debut full-length studio album by multi-national jazz rock/ fusion act Mahavishnu Orchestra. The band is the brainchild of prolific fusion guitarist John McLaughlin but features an all-star lineup with Jerry Goodman on violin, Jan Hammer on piano, Rick Laird on bass and Billy Cobham on drums. All five musicians were experienced session musicians who had among others played with acts such as Miles Davis, Tony Williams Lifetime and The Flock. After some years as a session musician John McLaughlin wanted to make his own group which would follow his musical vision. The name Mahavishnu Orchestra comes from John McLaughlin´s name given to him by his guru Chinmoy Kumar Ghose.

The music on Inner Mounting Flame is fusion with especially John McLaughlin´s guitar as the lead instrument. Piano and violin leads are incorporated too though. The eight songs on the album are all played with virtuosic skill and it´s definitely the musicianship that impress me the most on Inner Mounting Flame. The actual songs aren´t really that impressive to my ears. A bit messy yet impressive noodling IMO. The first song Meeting of the Spirits is my favorite here as it seems to be the most structured and melodic tune. Most of the songs seem to work only as vehicles for soloing which is such a shame because when something that sounds like a theme actually appear it´s greatly enjoyable. It happens too rarely though.

The production is good. Organic and a bit raw.

I listened to Inner Mounting Flame for the first time about 15 years ago and it´s amazing how similar my opinion about the album was then and is now. It´s a pretty good album but it doesn´t excite me much if I have to be honest. A classic in the genre it may be but a 3 star rating is all I can give.