Discovery of The Inner Mounting Flame
A quick story: After a recent meeting at the National Aviary, I got into a conversation with Tom, who is the Director of Facilities there and a huge music fan. He apparently has a massive record collection and is enormously knowledgeable about rock music. So I enjoy talking with him. On this particular day, we got to talking about Al Kooper, who I had just lectured about in my class. I said that he seemed to be in the right place at the right time on so many major recordings, starting with Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. I recounted the story about how Kooper, who had been a session guitar player, was so impressed with Mike Bloomfield's warm ups that he put away his guitar and sat down at the organ instead. The rest is history. I said that Bloomfield is one of those semi-forgotten figures whose guitar playing is under-appreciated today in relation to some of the more familiar names like Clapton, Beck, Page, etc.
At this point, Tom said, "...and McLaughlin." At which point I said that I had never really listened to him. Tom: "Then you HAVE TO listen to The Inner Mounting Flame," and went on to describe the music on this record. Somehow, this record has evaded my consciousness for all of these years. I was intrigued.
On my way home that day, I stopped off at The Attic, in Millvale, one of my favorite record stores, and browsed briefly through the recent arrivals shelves. There, under 'M' for McLaughlin, was a near mint copy of The Inner Mounting Flame, a record I had truly never seen before. What was the chance of my coming across this record on this particular day?
What do you think that meant? I am still wondering....
In any event, since it was reasonably priced and since the coincidence of my finding it was too hard to ignore. I bought it and brought it home.
I'll tell you what I thought about it on first listen soon.
In the meantime, you can read a great review of the record when you follow this link:
http://donignacio.com/mahavishnuorchestra/innermountingflame.html
At this point, Tom said, "...and McLaughlin." At which point I said that I had never really listened to him. Tom: "Then you HAVE TO listen to The Inner Mounting Flame," and went on to describe the music on this record. Somehow, this record has evaded my consciousness for all of these years. I was intrigued.
On my way home that day, I stopped off at The Attic, in Millvale, one of my favorite record stores, and browsed briefly through the recent arrivals shelves. There, under 'M' for McLaughlin, was a near mint copy of The Inner Mounting Flame, a record I had truly never seen before. What was the chance of my coming across this record on this particular day?
What do you think that meant? I am still wondering....
In any event, since it was reasonably priced and since the coincidence of my finding it was too hard to ignore. I bought it and brought it home.
I'll tell you what I thought about it on first listen soon.
In the meantime, you can read a great review of the record when you follow this link:
http://donignacio.com/mahavishnuorchestra/innermountingflame.html
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