Mahavishnu Orchestra "The Inner Mounting Flame"

"The Inner Mounting Flame" is a furious, high-energy, yet rigorously planned-through meeting of virtuosos that virtually defined the fusion of jazz and rock just one short year after Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" milestone album. Though much press was devoted to the various jazz influences found throughout the record, the rock presence is more evident, especially on guitarist John McLauglin's lighting quick improvisations, mostly recorded using a special double-neck guitar. Billy Cobham's powerful and insistant drumming propelled the quintet (also featuring Jan Hammer, Rick Laid and Jerry Goodman), leading to charged, inspired jams on the faster numbers and spritually enhanced musical interplay on the softer pieces. In the early '70s, "The Inner Mounting Flame" caused as much stress on speaker cones due to high volume listening as the hardest of the Hendrix/Zeppelin offerings.