Mahavishnu Orchestra: Live at Berkeley Community Theater November 9, 1972
The original edition of Mahavishnu Orchestra featured John McLaughlin – guitar, Jan Hammer – keyboards, Jerry Goodman (The Flock) – violin, Rick Laird – bass guitar, and Billy Cobham (Dreams) – drums. McLaughlin had just recorded the gorgeous acoustic album My Goal’s Beyond (03.71), which also featured Goodman and Cobham. McLaughlin had recorded definitive jazz fusion with Miles Davis, Miroslav Vitous, Jack Bruce, The Tony Williams Lifetime, and Larry Coryell, and he was ready to form his own group.
After picking up Laird and Hammer, the group performed a series of shows in New York after rehearsing for one week(!) in June of 1971 before going into the studio to record their debut The Inner Mounting Flame (08.14.71); Birds of Fire was a year later (08.72). The only other album from this band at the time was a live recording from Central Park (08.18.73) titled Between Nothingness and Eternity. In 2012, severn more tracks from that live show were issued as Unreleased Tracks from Between Nothingness and Eternity However, the band was fracturing, and their last show was 12.30.73.
In 1999, a third studio album surfaced, one McLaughlin thought better represented the band in the studio. It was The Lost Trident Sessions (06.25-29.73). And that was the last recording of the original Mahavishnu Orchestra, all four albums clocking in between 40 and 46 minutes.
Import live albums first appeared in 2014 and then in 2015, with Whiskey A-Go-Go 27 March 1972 and Awakening… Live in NY ’71. Both of those were recorded prior to Birds of Fire.
In 2020, a bootleg audience recording appeared of a 1972 show: Live at Chateauvallon August. Recording quality was apparently subpar.
Boston Symphony Hall 1972 popped up in 2023, as did Live in New York 1973 and Live at Berkeley Community Theater 1972, all three Japanese imports.
In May of this year, Avery Fisher Hall, New York 1973 appeared in the U.S. The recording date was 12.27.73, one of the band’s last performances.
And now this:
In July, this “new” album, Live at Berkeley Community Theater November 9, 1972, made its debut. It is stunning. The recording is pristine, the playing titanic, and it is two hours long, possibly from two separate shows that day (two more tracks than the Japanese version).
The vinyl version will be issued 09.06.24; the CD version 09.13.24.
This is personal. I saw this edition of the band three times, the first when I booked them as concert committee chairman at Lehigh (03.11.72). I got to witness one of the shows also featuring Frank Zappa and the Mothers in Philadelphia (04.28.73) and then one more show in St. Petersburg (11.23.73). They were all incredible.
This “new” recording is an absolute masterclass. MIND COMPLETELY BLOWN. Time to dive into those other albums now.
And what the heck is this?!?!?
