The Inner Mounting Flame  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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The Inner Mounting Flame is Mahavishnu Orchestra's first studio album, released in 1971 and consisting solely of original compositions by John McLaughlin.

It featured the oft-sampled composition "You Know You Know".

The intro for "Noonward Race" was written for the full band and not just as a guitar-and-drums duet as heard on the album. During the recording of the piece, a long-standing tension between Rick Laird and Jerry Goodman boiled over into a full brawl, with the two of them knocking Jan Hammer and his keyboards over during the struggle. McLaughlin and Cobham continued to play at full volume during the entire altercation, and McLaughlin liked the effect so much he instructed Laird, Goodman, and Hammer to sit out while he comped behind Cobham's solo later in the song.

A remastered version of the album, on CD, was released in 1998 by Sony Music Entertainment. It features a facsimile of the LP front cover, a new set of liner notes by Bob Belden, as well as many photographs of the band.

Track listing

All tracks composed by John McLaughlin.

1. "Meeting of the Spirits" – 6:52
2. "Dawn" – 5:10
3. "The Noonward Race" – 6:28
4. "A Lotus On Irish Streams" – 5:39
5. "Vital Transformation" – 6:16
6. "The Dance of Maya" – 7:17
7. "You Know You Know" – 5:07
8. "Awakening" – 3:32

Personnel

• John McLaughlin: guitar
• Rick Laird: bass
• Billy Cobham: drums, percussion
• Jan Hammer: keyboards, organ
• Jerry Goodman: violin
• Don Puluse: engineer
• Robert Honablue: engineer

Charts

Album

Billboard (North America)