Mahavishnu Orchestra "The Lost Trident Sessions"

Mahavishnu Orchestra "The Lost Trident Sessions"

album cover

Mahavishnu Orchestra
The Lost Trident Sessions
The Story
Mahavishnu Orchestra's "The Lost Trident Sessions" is now available, and for fusion fans, it's as if a previously unheard Miles Davis or Jimi Hendrix CD just hit the streets. Since this jazz-rock supergroup (guitarist John McLaughlin, drummer Billy Cobham, keyboardist Jan Hammer, bassist Rick Laird, and violinist Jerry Goodman) made only two studio albums, this never-released 1973 set is a fabled treasure. The Orchestra's dramatic, elaborate soundscapes typify the opening cut "Dream," with its frenzied, Eastern-influenced riffery and throbbing funk passages. "Trilogy" (consisting of "The Sunlit Path", "La Mere De La Mer" and "Tomorrow's Story Not The Same") features a folkish melody rolling around in the band's electronic mesh and a paint-peeling hard-rock groove. Goodman's "I Wonder" provides a concentrically circling platform for remarkable guitar, drum, and synthesizer soloing, and "John's Song" is tense and hypnotic. The jackhammer timbres of Hammer's "Sister Andrea," like some of the album's material, was featured on the group's live album, "Between Nothingness & Eternity", recorded a few weeks later. "The Lost Trident Sessions" languished on a shelf in the CBS/Sony vault for 26 years because the band members held differing opinions on the quality of the material. With this music, the Orchestra had reached the peak of its volatile powers, and very possibly the apex of the entire fusion movement.
The Music
11:06 Dream Instrumental
09:30 Trilogy Instrumental
06:43 Sister Andrea Instrumental
03:07 I Wonder Instrumental
03:09 Stepping Tones Instrumental
05:53 John's Song Instrumental
The Artists
John McLaughlin 6 & 12 String Electric Guitar & Acoustic Guitar, Production
Jerry Goodman Electric Violin, Viola & Violow (Custom Viola with Cello Strings), Production
Jan Hammer Electric & Piano Synthesizers, Production
Rick Laird Bass, Production
Billy Cobham Drums, Production
Ken Scott Engineering
Bob Belden Release Production
Mark Wilder Mastering
Seth Rothstein Project Direction
Steve Berkowitz Legacy A&R
Patti Matheny A&R Coordination
Darren Salmieri A&R Coordination
John Jackson Production Assistance
Howard Fritzson Art Direction
John Carr Design
Ian Cuttler Design
James L. Hunter Graphic Artist
Warren Faidley Cover Photography
David Gahr Back Cover Photography, Liner Photography
Urve Kuusik Liner Photography
Ed Freeman Inner Tray Photography
Juliana Myrick Packaging Management
Bill Milkowski Liner Notes
Mastered at Sony Music Studios, New York City.