Mahavishnu Orchestra

The Mahavishnu Orchestra, at their inception, were the first mutation of Miles Davis’s electric experiments brought to stadium rock level by guitarist John McLaughlin. Initially, the Orchestra were also a vehicle to carry the spirituality McLaughlin found in the teachings of Sri Chinmoy. This double DVD primarily documents a live concert from the 1984 post-Sri Chinmoy fusion band via some video and audio from 1974 with a string section, Jean-Luc Ponty on violin and a lot of gauzy white Indian clothes in evidence. The music itself is a catalogue of blistering solos that, while quite awesome in technique, eventually adopt that "sameness” in sound that went on to afflict most other fusion ensembles. The ’84 recording has better sound and the ’74 concert has that archaic hippie feel but overall, this gets fairly tired after about 45 minutes. If you like your riffage endless, then this one’s for you.