The Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Best of the Mahavishnu Orchestra

I remember exactly where I first heard about The Mahavishnu Orchestra. It was in a book about Yes I was reading when I was 16, which gave a cool assessment of the weirdness of Relayer, saying it sounded like members of the band had been listening to too much Mahavishnu Orchestra. Now I liked the weirdness and inaccessible moments of Relayer, so it sounded to me like these Mahavishnu Orchestra people might be onto something. I bought this album soon afterwards.

I listened to it a fair bit at the time — having only a few records, I had little choice but to do so — but haven't done for a long time. It sounds similar to what King Crimson were doing around the same time, and I often thought that that period of Crimso was most like a jazz band (I'm sure I was not alone). At times it's faster and harder even than Crimso. I have to say the bits I like are when they slow down a bit, and there's a breathy airiness about Billy Cobham's drumming that's quite captivating. Actually it's a bit like Alan White's drumming on To Be Over. Go on, disagree with me — I know zilch about drumming.

MusicBrainz entry for this album