70's pressing. “This Is The Album That Made John McLaughlin A Semi-Household Name, A Furious, High-Energy, Yet Rigorously Conceived Meeting Of Virtuosos That, For All Intents And Purposes, Defined The Fusion Of Jazz And Rock A Year After Miles Davis' Bitches Brew Breakthrough. Though Much Was Made Of The Influence Of Jazz-Influenced Improvisation In The Mahavishnu Band, It Is The Rock Element That Predominates, Stemming Directly From The Electronic Innovations Of Jimi Hendrix. The Improvisations, Particularly McLaughlin's Post-Hendrix Machine-Gun Assaults On Double-Necked Electric Guitar And Jerry Goodman's Flights On Electric Violin, Owe More To The Freakouts That Had Been Circulating In Progressive Rock Circles Than To Jazz, Based As They Often Are On Ostinatos On One Chord. These Still Sound Genuinely Thrilling Toda, As McLaughlin And Goodman Battle Jan Hammer's Keyboards, Rick Laird's Bass, And Especially Billy Cobham's Hard-Charging Drums, Whose Jazz-Trained Technique Pushed The Envelope For All Rock Drummers. There Is Also Time Out For Quieter, Reflective Numbers That Are Drenched In Studied Spirituality ("A Lotus On Irish Streams") Or Irony ("You Know You Know"); McLaughlin Was To Do Better In That Department With Less-Driven Colleagues Elsewhere In His Career. Aimed With Absolute Precision At Young Rock Fans, This Record Was Wildly Popular In Its Day, And It May Have Been The Cause Of More Blown-Out Home Amplifiers Than Any Other Record This Side Of Deep Purple.” AMG - Richard S. Ginell