Discord & Rhyme: An Album Podcast

Discord and Rhyme is a podcast where we discuss the albums we love, song by song.

070: The Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame (1971)

April 20, 2021  /  Amanda Rodgers

"It wasn't about making sense. It was about the opposite, in fact ... So when people asked: 'Is it jazz? Is it rock?' I would laugh and say: 'I don't know. What do you think?'"

—John McLaughlin

Mahavishnu Orchestra, the brainchild of guitarist and prominent Miles Davis sideman John McLaughlin, spent roughly two years (1971-73) playing an incredibly intense brand of cutting-edge jazz-rock fusion and became bonafide rock stars in the process, before their comet-like rise to fame led to the group members hating each other and going their separate ways. In this episode, John (host), Phil (moderator), and Mike tackle The Inner Mounting Flame, the band’s 1971 debut album, and an album that John once found intimidating but now merely finds challenging and extremely enjoyable. Instrumental music and jazz fusion may not be for everybody, but if you’re skeptical, this episode may convince you that it’s more up your alley than you might have thought.

Miscellany

  • This was the first Discord & Rhyme venture into the world of jazz fusion, but it will definitely not be the last.

  • After recording, a debate broke out in Discord & Rhyme HQ regarding the correct pronunciation of “McLaughlin,” whether it should be pronounced as “Mc-lock-lin” (as we chose to do so in the episode) or as “Mc-loff-lin” (as I originally thought it might be before I changed it). We poked around, watched some interviews with him, and found that it was pronounced both ways, and we emerged no more sure than before.

  • It was mentioned early on that Mahavishnu Orchestra incorporated aspects of Indian classical music, but we didn’t go into detail about how that manifests. As best as we can tell, it has to do with the pitch collections used by the band and the way that the band would develop its instrumental passages, but we don’t have a strong knowledge of this on a technical level and don’t want to pretend that we do.

  • McLaughlin’s interest in Indian classical music wasn’t merely superficial, incorporated as window dressing on an otherwise Western guitar approach: one of his other major later projects was Shakti, a fusion band he formed with the Indian violinist Shankar, and in this and other projects he became one of the first Westerners to play Indian music for Indian audiences.

  • During the section on “The Noonward Race,” John mentioned in an aside that Billy Cobham also played on the two Miles Davis clips that Mike included. Cobham did indeed play on “Right On” (from Jack Johnson) but did not play on “What I Say” (from Live-Evil). 

Other links 

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call 

  • John McFerrin (host)

  • Phil Maddox (moderator)

  • Mike DeFabio 

The Inner Mounting Flame tracklist 

  1. Meeting of the Spirits

  2. Dawn

  3. The Noonward Race

  4. A Lotus on Irish Streams

  5. Vital Transformation

  6. The Dance of Maya

  7. You Know, You Know

  8. Awakening 

Other clips used 

Mahavishnu Orchestra:

  • Birds of Fire

  • You Know, You Know (live) 

Others:

  • Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Toccata (Prog John sound)

  • Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (Fusion John sound)

  • Can - Oh Yeah (Explosion)

  • Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme

  • Yes - Yours is No Disgrace

  • Aceyalone - The Hurt

  • Jurassic 5 - Lesson 6: The Lecture

  • Boris - Rainbow

  • Ambersunshower - Serengeti Plains

  • The Allman Brothers Band - In Memory of Elizabeth Reed

  • Jimi Hendrix - I Don’t Live Today

  • Deep Purple - Child in Time

  • Miles Davis - What I Say

  • Miles Davis - Right Off

  • Harold Budd / Brian Eno - An Arc of Doves

  • Steve Hackett - The Red Flower of Tachai Blooms Everywhere

  • Frank Zappa - It Must Be a Camel

  • Brand X - Running on Three

  • Jeff Beck - Scatterbrain

  • King Crimson - Fallen Angel

  • Godfather Don - Slave of New York

  • HCH - Orkomosia

  • King Crimson - Easy Money

  • Massive Attack - One Love

  • Black Sheep - Similak Child

  • Broadway Project - Who’s to Blame

  • Van Halen - Eruption

  • Jan Hammer - Darkness / Earth in Search of a Sun

  • Billy Cobham - Stratus

  • Dr. Dre - The Next Episode

Band/album personnel 

  • John McLaughlin - guitar

  • Rick Laird - bass

  • Billy Cobham - drums, percussion

  • Jan Hammer - keyboards, organ

  • Jerry Goodman - violin 

Credits 

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of: 

  • Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

  • Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste

  • The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...

  • Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

  • Herbie Hancock - Hornets

  • Kraftwerk - Autobahn

  • Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen

  • Mahavishnu Orchestra - You Know, You Know (this episode only) 

You can buy or stream The Inner Mounting Flame and other albums by Mahavishnu Orchestra at your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.

tags / John McFerrin

This website and all episodes' discussion/commentary © 2018—2024 Discord & Rhyme. Excerpts from recordings appearing in episodes are included for purposes of review only, and all rights to such material remain property of their copyright holders. Please note that we make a good-faith effort to ensure all information included in these episodes is accurate, but if we get something wrong, let us know at discordpod@gmail.com and we will print a correction in the show notes. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Website design by Amanda Rodgers. Thank you for visiting, and keep as cool as you can.

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