MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA — Between Nothingness & Eternity (review)

MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA — Between Nothingness & Eternity album cover Live album · 1973 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
Warthur
The only live album from the original Mahavishnu Orchestra lineup might have been a godsend when it first came out, but it's since been supplanted in importance by The Lost Trident Sessions: all three songs from this album are there, plus more songs on top of that, and the sound quality is significantly better. (Well, obviously, it's a studio recording and this is a live album, but even so for a live album from the era the sound quality here is only mediocre-to- average).

The setlist here consists of expanded versions of the first three songs from the Sessions, but the studio versions are much tighter - in particular, Dream in this twenty-minute rendition simply lasts for too long, especially considering the five minutes of extremely quiet playing at the beginning - which, thanks to the recording standards, aren't easy to hear.

Ironically, the New York concerts the album documents were vividly described during the preamble of the infamous Crawdaddy magazine article on the band - in which the band members made no secret of their frustrations working under McLaughlin, which prompted the personal falling-out which ended this lineup of the group. Mahavishnu devotees may wish to own it simply for that reason; for everyone else, it's alright, but now that we have the intended studio followup to Birds of Fire available to us it's utterly redundant.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

La Grande Odyssée Third Stream
THE WATERCOLORS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Port’Inglês World Fusion
CARMEN SOUZA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Green Puma / Tropical Dandy Jazz Related Rock
THE LINK QUARTET
Buy this album from MMA partners
Vinny Golia Quintet : Can You Outrun Them? 21st Century Modern
VINNY GOLIA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Bow Code Fusion
SAMPO HIUKKANEN
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Badju Mandadu
CARMEN SOUZA
js· 7 hours ago
Lizards in the Reeds
TAMANDUA
js· 8 hours ago
Paper Plane Pilot
MIKE DE SOUZA
js· 21 hours ago
Green Puma
THE LINK QUARTET
js· 21 hours ago
Heavy Cream
SAMPO HIUKKANEN
js· 23 hours ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed