Mahavishnu Orchestra: Live at Montreux 1974-1984 (2007)

Formed by John McLaughlin in 1971, the Mahavishnu Orchestra pioneered the fusion of jazz elements into rock music while still undeniably retaining the power and muscle of a full on rock band. With McLaughlin as the ever-present, the line-up went through various phases and these two concerts from Montreux showcase the band at distinctively different times of their career, with the seventies show featuring later stars Jean-Luc Ponty and Michael Walden and the eighties concert featuring saxophone maestro Bill Evans.

Visual footage only exists of three tracks from the 1974 show (although this is still over 73 minutes of footage) but the other tracks exist as audio masters and they have been added as bonus material.

Tracklisting: Disc One - 1984 1) Radio-Activity 2) Nostalgia 3) East Side, West Side 4) Clarendon Hills 5) Medley: Blues For L.W. / It's The Pits / Living On The Crest Of A Wave 6) Jozy 7) Pacific Express 8) Mitch Match 9) Mitch Match (reprise) Disc Two - 1974 1) Wings Of Karma 2) Smile Of The Beyond 3) Hymn To Him Plus bonus audio only tracks from 1974: 1) Power Of Love 2) Vision Is A Naked Sword 3) Sanctuary

Radiojunktivity

Wow! What a disappointment!
Let's start in the chronological order.
The 1974 performance in Montreux has only two video tracks. Why? The entire show exists! My friend has it on a bootleg DVD-R. Why not release it entirely? Compared to what he has, the two tracks on this DVD, of course, sound and look better. But, still, he has the full show. The 2 tracks on this DVD have no beginning and no end.
The 1984 show is so poor that I can not watch it except for the first composition ("Radioactivity"). Mclaughlin plays a good solo in it, but look closely after the solo, and you will see how exhausted he is. Bill Evans plays well, and this is about it. The keyboardist Mitchell Forman delivers on a such mediocre level that he and John Mclaughlin simlpy do not go together. I still do not understand why he needed that ridiculous Yamaha mouthpiece. I did not hear any particularly interesting sounds
that could not have been created on the keyboards. I am sure it was only for the show. One of the reviewers sang praises to Jonas Hellborg. What so amazing about Jonas Hellborg? He plays slap, you say? But slap was one of the most popular bass technics of the 80s. I played with a bass player who played slap. So what? And, lastly, Danny Gottlieb! Probably, one of the worst drummers I have heard. You do not believe me? Watch his solo.
There is hardly anything more boring. Mclaughlin should have clearly picked somebody of Dave Weckl's caliber. Two words about camerawork. As usual, full of nonsense. Just look what these idiots show when Danny Gottlieb is introduced. And what about those song titles? What the hell is "Radioactivity", "East Side, West Side", "Mitch Match"? What happened to such amazing titles as "Meeting of the spirits", "Vision is a naked sword", "Smile of the beyond", "Eternity's breath"? It seems to me that this band had hastily been put together, and they created those crappy compositions just for the show. Anyway, I feel empty after hearing this 1984 perfomance. It has no fire, but cheap commercialism. There is no way this 1984 junk can be called Mahavishnu Orchestra. Maybe John Mclaughlin group...
Not counting the 1974 snippets, I give this DVD 2 stars for the 1984 perfomance, because there only two stars: John Mclaughlin and Bill Evans. August 21, 2008

Great rare footage shot wonderfully

I loved the 1984 Mahavishnu and finally video footage is here. *Two* discs make this product a steal! May 17, 2008

Awesome! Despite ad discrepancies, a Must-Have for McLaughlin fans!

IF YOU'RE A McLAUGHLIN FAN, READ THIS REVIEW! I'll give you the real story! Yes, there are a lot of discrepancies in the way this 2-disc DVD set is described and advertised, but there is some fine footage on these DVDs. First, the '84 disc is NOT a Mahavishnu Orchestra concert. It is the group called Mahavishnu, which WAS started by John McLaughlin, but it bares little resemblance to the MO of the 70s. For one thing, the violinist is replaced by reed man (sax & oboe) Bill Evans. Plus, McLaughlin plays mostly guitar-synth...although there are a few excellent rocking guitar solos in this concert, John stays with the guitar-synth on most of the performance. Still, his playing is incredible, as are his compositions. His totally revamped personnel also features drummer Danny Gottlieb from the Pat Metheny Group. The mood is different than the M. Orchestra, but it's still pure McLaughlin!! It was a great show, as long as you realize it is Mahavishnu, NOT the Mahavishnu Orchestra!! It's still a McLaughlin concert that you ought to see!! Next, the '74 DVD IS the Mahavishnu Orchestra, but it's NOT the original line-up. It was the final line-up featuring Jean-Luc Ponty on violin, Gayle Moran (Chick Corea's wife at the time) on keyboards, Ralphe Armstrong on bass and Nerada Michael Walden on drums. Being a big Jean-Luc fan, this line-up did not bother me at all! Despite the description this site gives, there are only 2 songs that actually have visual footage of the band. They do an incredible over-21-minute version of Wings of Karma, followed by a full 28-minute version (even though Gayle had to cut a keyboard solo short due to technical sound problems) of Hymn to Him (both songs from the MO album "Apocalypse") Together, that is nearly 50 minutes of visual footage of a fabulous performance by a great band during an important time in McLaughlin's career. The following 4 tunes would have been much better with visual coverage OF COURSE....but, this is still a great disc to have, even if you never go past the visual portion of the disc! I even had a problem where my discs weren't labeled properly. My '74 disc was labeled '84 and vise versa. But I still don't care! These are two great concerts featuring the genius McLaughlin at two entirely different phases in his illustrious career! And these are worth owning! I had to knock off a star and give this a 4-star rating because of all the faults and disprepancies etc., but there is still a lot of great stuff to watch for the $14.00 I paid for this thing. Sure, there are discrepancies, inconsistancies and things, but if you're a McLaughlin fan, you really ought to see this thing!! Just know what you're getting before you buy it! But believe me!! There is some AWESOME McLaughlin (and other great artists too) Ponty is SMOKING HOT while playing the MO in the '74 disc!! If you get this, you're gonna love it!
January 31, 2008

Don't Buy It

There is a lot of missing video - just audio. What a ripoff! I will hold out for real video of the original M.O.! January 27, 2008

Historically Important

Considering it's age and filming techniques, this is a great record of two eras of the band. Everyone craves the first incarnation, but I'm very happy with this release. The audio tracks don't work in my player but do in the computer, and these comprise more than half the playing time of disc 2 (earlier group 1974). What exciting shows these must have been for those lucky enough to have been there. January 26, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...