Birds of Fire

Birds of Fire
Studio album by Mahavishnu Orchestra
Released March 29, 1973
Recorded August 1972 at
CBS, New York, NY and Trident Studios, London, England
Genre Jazz fusion, progressive rock, heavy metal
Length 39:53
Label C.B.S.
Columbia
Producer Mahavishnu Orchestra
Mahavishnu Orchestra chronology
The Inner Mounting Flame
(1971)
Birds of Fire
(1973)
Between Nothingness and Eternity
(1973)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Robert Christgau(A-)[2]
Sputnikmusic[3]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[4]

Birds of Fire is Mahavishnu Orchestra's second album. It was released in the first half of 1973 and is the last studio album released by the original Mahavishnu Orchestra line-up before the group dissolved, although Between Nothingness and Eternity, a live album, was recorded and released later that same year. (The final studio recordings by this line-up would be released as The Lost Trident Sessions in 1999).

As in the case of The Mahavishnu Orchestra's previous album, The Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire consists solely of compositions by John McLaughlin. This includes the track "Miles Beyond (Miles Davis)", which McLaughlin dedicated to his friend and former bandleader.

The back cover of the LP features a poem entitled "Revelation" by Sri Chinmoy.

A remastered version of the album, on CD, was released in 2000 by Sony Music Entertainment. It features a facsimile of the LP cover and a new set of liner notes by Bill Milkowski, as well as photographs of the band.

Track listing

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Birds of Fire"   5:50
2. "Miles Beyond (Miles Davis)"   4:47
3. "Celestial Terrestrial Commuters"   2:54
4. "Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love"   0:24
5. "Thousand Island Park"   3:23
6. "Hope"   1:59
Side two
No. Title Length
7. "One Word"   9:57
8. "Sanctuary"   5:05
9. "Open Country Joy"   3:56
10. "Resolution"   2:09

All tracks composed by John McLaughlin.

Personnel

Charts

Album

Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1973 Pop Albums 15[5]

References

  1. Ginell, Richard S.. Birds of Fire at AllMusic
  2. Robert Christgau
  3. Fisher, Tyler. "Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire (album review 3) | Sputnikmusic". sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  4. Swenson, J. (Editor) (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 135. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  5. "Birds of Fire - Mahavishnu Orchestra | Awards | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 1 January 2014.

External links

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