Though issued under the name John McLaughlin and Mahavishnu, this is in fact the last Mahavishnu Orchestra album to date -- and clearly by 1986, the name's usefulness in the marketplace had come and gone.
More distressingly, the musical inspiration had run out; all that's left is extremely virtuosic playing of empty notes and a lot of high-tech electronic flash, a chrome-plated embalming of what once was a fresh, exciting idea.
Sure, McLaughlin's Les Paul Gibson has much of its old rock majesty, his acoustic guitar work its flamenco-derived speed, and he gets some sly, even subtle timbres out of his Synclavier Digital guitar.
But the background textures are often full of ugly sounds that Mitch Forman contrives from his digital synths, and Danny Gottlieb's work on the Simmons electronic drums sounds like he is beating on trash can lids.
Give them credit for political prescience, though; one of the numbers, recorded over 3 1/2 years before the Berlin Wall came down, is called "The Wall Will Fall.".
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The WaitJim Beard | John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra | Play | 05:35 | 12 MB | 30 MB |
| 2 | Just IdeasMitchel Forman | John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra | Play | 01:50 | 4 MB | 7 MB |
| 3 | Jozy (For Joe Zawinul)John McLaughlin | John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra | Play | 05:39 | 12 MB | 36 MB |
| 4 | FlorianapolisMitchel Forman, John McLaughlin | John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra | Play | 05:27 | 12 MB | 37 MB |
| 5 | Gotta DanceJohn McLaughlin | John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra | Play | 04:17 | 9 MB | 17 MB |
| 6 | ReincarnationJohn McLaughlin, Roger Miller | John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra | Play | 03:00 | 6 MB | 13 MB |
| 7 | Mitch Match | John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra | Play | 03:58 | 9 MB | 23 MB |
| 8 | 20th Century LtdJohn McLaughlin | John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra | Play | 02:35 | 5 MB | 12 MB |
| 9 | Half Man - Half Cookie | Mahavishnu Orchestra | Play | 02:55 | 6 MB | 19 MB |
| 10 | The Wall Will Fall | Mahavishnu Orchestra | Play | 06:08 | 14 MB | 40 MB |
| 41 mins | 94 MB | |||||
| 41 mins | 240 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jim Beard | Composer |
| 2 | Half Cookie | Primary Artist |
| 3 | Bill Evans | Composer, Saxophone |
| 4 | Bill Evans | Keyboards |
| 5 | Mitchel Forman | Composer, Keyboards |
| 6 | Danny Gottlieb | Cymbals, Drums |
| 7 | Jonas Hellborg | Guitar, Guitar (Bass) |
| 8 | Mahavishnu Orchestra | Primary Artist |
| 9 | John McLaughlin | Composer, Guitar, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 10 | John McLaughlin & Mahavishnu | Primary Artist |
| 11 | Roger Miller | Composer |
| 12 | Craig Milliner | Engineer |
| 13 | Mike Pedulla | Guitar |
| 14 | Abraham Wechter | Guitar |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |