BETWEEN NOTHINGNESS & ETERNITY

The third album of Mahavishnu Orchestra is a live album featuring three long tracks namely "Trilogy" (12 minutes), "Sister Andrea" (8 minutes), and "Dream" (21 minutes). As far as musicality, this album continued what the band has already put with their first two studio albums where the music combined improvisational nature of jazz music, hard driving rhythm of rock music - all are delivered by talented musicians.

The live album starts off with noise from the crowd followed by repeated sounds of gong to let the crowd that show start to roll! Billy Cobham drum work enters and it remarks the work of other instruments which mainly electric guitar solo by John McLaughlin with main rhythm section of Jan Hammer's piano / moog, bass and drum. Violin then takes the lead for solo right after the electric guitar. Billy Cobham gives his powerful drumming in between. The music is a jazz-rock fusion. Jan Hammer gives his moog solo augmented with guitar solo. It's an excellent opening.

"Sister Andrea" maintains the same style as previous track but this time the beat is slower at beginning part, demonstrating guitar, violin and piano. Rick Laird gives his bass lines obviously during transition just before silent break with guitar solo. I can feel the live vibes here and it looks like a rock concert. Jan Hammer provides piano work occasionally. The music returns back in fusion mode with Billy Cobham comes back into the music. Jerry Goodman gives his wonderful violin solo as well. It's really rocking!

"Dream" kicks off with ambient, atmospheric nuance with Rick Laird's bass guitar solo augmented with Jan's piano. Guitar and violin follow gradually. Guitar solo takes the lead with other instruments (except drum) provide soft rhythm. Violin solo enters and then drum follows and the music flows in jazz-rock fashion with Jan Hammer's piano brings the music forward into a more intricate compositions. For those of you who like long instrument solo and improvisation, listening to this track (live) is a rewarding experience. This track moves from slow to medium to complex arrangements. It's a great track.

For my personal taste, this live album is an excellent addition to any prog music collection. Don's miss it. If you don't like the music, at least you can see how powerful John McLaughlin playing the guitar and Jerry Goodman playing the violin. Get it man! Keep on proggin' .!

Note: As usual, there are wise words by Sri Chinmoy at the CD sleeve titled "My Flute". The last two verses of "My Flute" say this: I am all alone / Between failure / And frustration. I am the red thread / Between Nothingness / And Eternity. [Printed here without permission of the author. My rationale is simple: Great wise words must be shared and disseminated to all human beings.]

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW