skeith

Thanks Lon!!

Good question. I can not figure out how to get the track listings from the Popmarket site. Has anyone figured this out?

I am hoping that things improve for your father and for you and your sister.

Merrill? Humes? Forrest? Ward? O'Connell? Reddy? I'm assuming it's one of the first two. It's Merrill. The only Helen (jazz singer) I hold that high in esteem. Other important Helens in my life: my late wife, and Helen Folesade Adu. I guessed Merrill... but I am wondering who Jackson is?

Thanks Ubu, I thought that was what Chuck was talking about. I had hoped that Hippo would do the right thing and get us replacement discs. WHat can I do with a stand-alone MP3?

If Cobham moved to America when he was 3, then calling him a "Panamanian drummer" is a bit like calling Henry Kissinger a "German statesman"

Chuck, Can you say what you are referring to. Is this the issue I pointed out in my review of the box set on this board?

Billy Cobham just doesn't sound like a Panamanian name to me and I've met quite a few. I was wondering if he was in fact from the Canal Zone or his family were Americans associated with the Canal. Did he speak with a spanish accent?

Yeah Lon, I hear you. The Inner Mounting Flame was perhaps the first jazz album I bought and it was not that hard of a transition given the rock elements that I was already familiar with and liked. I guess shortly after getting into what is commonly referred to as "fusion" (and Mahavishnu was one of the best of the fusion bands), I became more enamored with earlier periods of jazz and quickly became disillusioned with what fusion was turning into, particularly when I was listening to so many earlier jazz masterpieces. For example, I think I first heard Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" at about the same time "Headhunters" was released ... guess which one I liked better. I like Birds of Fire too - but not as much as the first album. Do you like the bonus tracks from BNAE better than the original album? I think I do, and that is one of the real highlights of this box set for me. I recognize now that I forgot to comment on the bonus track for the Inner Mounting Flame. THis is a live version of the Noonward Race from the studio album. It is quite a performance but I have to admit that I have trouble with how it comes at the end what I consider to be a perfectly sequenced album - but no other place to put it really.

I wanted to comment on the music in the Mahavishu box set. I guess I remain convinced that The Inner Mounting Flame was their best album. It is stating the obvious that this was a fusion band and the music straddles jazz and rock, it is just that for me it seems as if the band moved more towards a rock sound after the first album. On an initial listen the Lost Trident Sessions don't do much for me. The live sets on Between Nothingness and Eternity (BNAE) are more attractive than the Lost Trident stuff and for me at least, the bonus disc with extra tracks is better than the original BNAE, perhaps because the material is more drawn from the first two studio albums. The moments I seem to like the most are when the band lays out and it is just McLaughlin or McLaughlin and Cobham ( by the way, the liner notes call Cobham a Panamanian - really - I wasn't aware of that and I wonder if that is like calling John McCain a Panamanian) PS. For the record the Penguin Guide (which I like) can finally stop referring to "One Word" as continually being mistitled - I am guessing Penguin thought it should be called "One World". McLaughlin clearly announces the name of the tune as "One Word" on the bonus disc - in what is the strangest English accent I have ever heard.

I have a question. What equipment are you guys using these head/ear/phones with? I only use these with a Discman and I am wondering whether you can get ear/headphones that are just too good for a Discman? If you know what I mean.

Based on the little bit I've learned about the way Evans worked that's a good assumption. Harmonic signposts not necessarily meant to be played as wrote. He never really rehearsed his groups, so a brief explanation or impromptu "chart" to convey the general plan for a recording, with plenty of room for improvision within that context, was probably more often that not all he ever offered up. Perhaps skeith could be more specific in what he means by "more complicated"? There is not much harmonic substitution that I can hear in the versions of the tune I am familiar with. However, there are a lot of extensions in the changes Evans is comping, which is standard practice among piano players after the late 1950s. If by "more complicated" you mean that you are hearing 9ths and so forth where none are notated, you may want to find a jazz theory book to familiarize yourself with typical chord/scale theory and notation. Right, I was referring to the fact that other transcriptions have chords with more extension like 9ths,11ths, 13ths, augmented chords and the like which is not really how Evans wrote out the changes above.

Wow... doesn't get more authoritative than that!! Thank you very much!! Spoke too soon. I have been playing around with this tune. I assume Evans put these chords out as general guidelines and not the exact chords which were played. I have found some other transcriptions and listened to the music very carefully and to my ears, the chords are much more complicated than the ones Evans wrote out.

According to the NY Times obit today, Johnny was 100% Greek. I sort of remember thinking Shuggie giving the impression he was african-american.

2 weeks after placing my order, my Mahavishnu box showed up yesterday. In contrast to what others have reported the box, booklet and cds appear to be in excellent condition - no dents, dings or scratches. Although I have to say I do not like the white borders around the mini lp covers and the liner notes are pretty skimpy - much less than I expected. When I give a serious listen to the music I will report.

How is this one?

Wow... doesn't get more authoritative than that!! Thank you very much!!

Guitar chords preferred.

I got an email that my Mahavishnu set shipped today - that's one week after placing the order.

I am not thrilled with the shipping speed by Popmarket. On the site it said that that the Mahavishnu set was in stock and ships within 1 to 2 days. I ordered 1 week ago and in my order confirmation it said an email would be sent to me just prior to shipment. 1 week has passed: no email, no set. What experiences have you had with them?

do you have to join their "club" to order from PopMarket? I hate the idea of forever after getting emails from Popmarket with promotions.

The SACD is not as bad, but I agree with you. It's never gonna win an audio award, that's for sure. I prefer hearing these albums as they were originally released. Live/Evil can be heard in a reasonable amount of time, whereas the box sets take longer to get through and digest. Have you heard the sound on the Cellar Door Box? I think it is much improved over the latest Live Evil version and is quite good sound. Also, "Double/Image" is on the BB box. However: #1: the edits of the music as presented on Live Evil don't exist elsewhere. #2: it's unclear what the last few minutes of "Inamorata" (actually "It's About That Time") come from, but not from the Cellar Door box. Guy Guy your #2 is interesting. Do you mean the music that is under the narration and what follows the narration? Does it appear to be live?

Lon, I must admit that I did not warm up to this when it was first released or when I first heard it in the early seventies. I assume you like the Cellar Door box or do you not consider it up to the level of LIVE EVIL? Interesting Pete. For me the big revelation of the Cellar Door box is how good the band sounded WITHOUT McLaughlin and I am a big McLaughlin fan. I think that Miles is on fire during so many of the sets without McLaughlin - I recall a particularly incendiary Yesternow. But Jarrett is also amazingly good to me on so many of the sets. I know that this is heresy, but McLaughlin sounds a bit uncomfortable on the sets he sat in on... he even alludes to this in the liner notes for the Cellar Door box. It sounds at times to me that he might be playing in another key... or at least playing very dissonant notes.

Happy 2012 to all of you!!!

The reason would be to hear "the album" as it was experienced by several generations, including that which first heard it. Whether or not that "matters" is a personal choice, but it is a real distinction and consideration. That's a good point.