| MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA THE LOST TRIDENT SESSIONS | |
01. Dream (11:10) (McLaughlin)
| 02. Trilogy: (9:33) (McLaughlin) The Sunlit Path/La Mere De La Mer/Tomorrow's Story Not The Same 03. Sister Andrea (6:48) (Hammer) 04. I Wonder (3:11) (Goodman) 05. Steppings Tones (3:11) (Laird) 06. John's Song #2 (5:53) (McLaughlin) Total playing time: 39:50 John McLaughlin: 6 & 12 String Electric & Acoustic Guitars Jerry Goodman: Electric Violin, Viola & Violow (custom viola with cellos trings) Jan Hammer: Electric Piano & Synthesizers Rick Laird: Bass Billy Cobham: Drums Produced by The Mahavishnu Orchestra Recorded at Trident Studios, London, 25-29/Jun/73 Engineered by Ken Scott Produced for release by Bob Belden Mastered by Mark Wilder at Sony Music Studios, New York City Special thanks to Anthony Barone, Joseph D'Anna, Elliott Sears, Norman Shefield, Adam Sieff, Lynne Volkman & Nat Weiss Since the inception of the CD, with its significantly lengthier playing time, it is hardly news when a record company issues previously-unreleased material by major artists. But it is news when a label unearths an entire, long-buried album by a band that at the time this music was recorded, both defined its idiom & achieved impressive sales figures, particularly for a non-rock group. Such is the case with the singularly brilliant Mahavishnu Orchestra, led by the virtuoso guitarist-composer John McLaughlin (b. 1942), which in just two years - 1971-73 - upped the amperage in jazz as never before & attracted a mass audience that had been for the most part heretofore untapped. Yet, the startling music comprising The Lost Trident Sessions (recorded in London in 1973) sat in a CBS Records tape vault for more than 25 years until it was discovered quite by accident. For the Mahavishnu/McLaughlin legions who have continued to keep the (inner mounting) flame, this disc's appearance amounts to, as Bill Milkowski avers in his liner notes, 'as important a find as the Dead Sea Scrolls.' The faithful know that those sentiments are in no way hyperbolic. Suddenly, the recorded studio output of the original Mahavishnu Orchestra has been increased by one-third. Once again, they flawlessly execute speed-of-light ensembles of terrifying rhythmic complexity, informed by Indian music, Stravinsky, & the most advanced jazz improvisation & rock sonics. There are times when the listener will swear that McLaughlin's double-necked guitar is overdubbed, when in fact, it is being shadowed as closely as possible by Jan Hammer's keyboards or Jerry Goodman' electric violin. There is a duet between the guitarist & drummer Billy Cobham, their work every bit as exhilarating as it was the second it was captured on tape, suggesting the great Ravi Shankar's sitar in a dialogue with Alla Rakha's tablas. There are guitar sounds that, as producer Belden notes, 'every heavy metal guy wanted to play but didn't have the chops.' And, also very much in the Mahavishnu Orchestra tradition, there are passages of surpassing, mountain-lake beauty. The Lost Trident Sessions album is more than worth the wait. (from Sony web-site) (P) © 1999 Columbia/Legacy Sony Music Entertainment Inc. 
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