1973 · Album
Between Nothingness and Eternity
Recorded August 17–18, 1973 at Schaefer Music Festival, Central Park, New York · Columbia Records · Produced by Not specified in verified sources
Live in the Moment, Caught on Tape
A live recording that almost never happened, capturing the band at a peak they couldn't quite repeat.
Between Nothingness & Eternity arrived in November 1973 as a curveball nobody expected. John McLaughlin and Mahavishnu Orchestra had been working on a studio album at Trident in London that June, but the project fell apart in the final stretch. Rather than release nothing, Columbia put out this live set recorded at the Schaefer Music Festival in Central Park on August 17 and 18, 1973. The official word says both nights contributed material, but evidence suggests everything here actually comes from the second night alone. Three of the six original studio tracks made it onto this live version, which tells you something about how different the band sounded when playing in front of an audience versus locked in a studio.
What you get is Mahavishnu at full throttle—McLaughlin's guitar cutting through dense, intricate arrangements with the band operating at a level of coordination that makes you wonder how they pulled it off live. Billy Cobham on drums and Rick Laird on bass hold down rhythms that seem designed to prevent normal human listening, and yet somehow they swing. The material here is demanding and occasionally exhausting, which is exactly the point. This isn't background music or something to half-listen to while doing dishes. You have to pay attention or get lost.
This is the final album with the original lineup before things dissolved and reformed, which gives it a certain weight in the band's story. It's not the easiest entry point into Mahavishnu—their earlier studio work is more accessible—but if you're already invested in the band, this captures something the studio couldn't quite contain. For casual listeners curious about fusion, start elsewhere. For people who've already fallen into McLaughlin's orbit, this is essential.
Who's playing
Where next?
More by Mahavishnu Orchestra
Birds Of Fire 1973
The Inner Mounting Flame 1971
Inner Mounting Flame 1971
Visions of the Emerald Beyond 1975
The musicians on this record
Spectrum 1973
Billy Cobham
plays drums (drum set) here
plays drums (drum set) here
My Goal’s Beyond 1971
John McLaughlin
plays guitar here
plays guitar here
Like Children 1974
Jan Hammer
plays keyboard here
plays keyboard here
