Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds Of Fire

Clean vinyl with no surface noise or defects. Mastered really nice.

Don't hesitate on this one. Sounds great. Anything better than this pressing is splitting hairs.

The dynamics of this Japanese pressing suit this instrumental fusion music very well. The typically wide range meets with this style of music on fertile ground. This is by far the best pressing I know. The music comes alive and where I used to hear noise, I now hear music.

This is a fantastic album. I haven't listened to Mahavishnu Orchestra in years. I still remember the stoner friend who turned me on to them. Just gave this album a re-listen. It's great. No need to be stoned to appreciate it. And I normally really hate improvisational endless instrumental jazz. This - is good.

Great quad mix. Really takes advantage of the format. Jazz fusion in 4 channels.

First Impression
Johnny Mac & Goodman absolutely burn, i've heard a few attempts to integrate violin into hard rock
there's King Crimson with poor inaudible David Cross being squished by the "flying brick wall" of Bruford & Wetton
and there's woefully out of tune Simon House with Bowie on his 1978 tour.
But if you want to hear it done well these guys nail it. Goodman's pitch perfect doubling of lead phrases adding even more brutality to JM's guitar tone
there's a pleasing amount of "Live Evil" style looseness which was a nice surprise.
then sadly Jan Hammer squelches out a lead break of utter cheese and you suddenly remember why Fusion/Prog became such a dirty word for so long

I can only compare my Speakers Corner pressing to my OG Columbia pressing -- Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds Of Fire -- and it beats it, with more clarity, punch, and super quiet vinyl. Maybe I'll check out a Friday Music pressing just to cover my bases :)

My copy is identical to variant b but the "B P BL-31996-2A" bit isn't edged but stamped.

has someone identified the release year for this one, except that it is between 1981-1991 when Carrollton pressing plant was in use?

Jan Hammer is not even credited on back cover. They forgot the last line it seems.