Mind Transplant [Import]

Alphonse Mouzon | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 21, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: EMI Europe Generic
• ASIN: B00008CLMX
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,320 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All Time Fusion Top 10, July 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Mind Transplant (Audio CD)

This is the runner-up to Cobham's famous "Spectrum" album in the heavyweight championship of 1970s fusion drumming & in some ways it's even better. Granted, Mouzon does not play half as many odd-meters as Cobham (who was the ultimate master of odds along with Bill Bruford), but there's something wilder & more greasy about Mouzon's deep smacking grooves, solos & ultra-fast fills that puts things really over-the-top. The Tommy Bolin jams are fantastic--the slow-burn grooves like Golden Rainbows & Snowbound custom-made for cruising & the scorching "Nitroglycerine" for more spaztic moods--but for me "Ascorbic Acid" with Lee Ritenour is the ultimate track on here, the one to use to blow people completely away. Anyone asks you who the fastest drummer in the world is & even mentions someone like Vinnie Colaiuta, Steve Smith or Neal Peart, just play them that track & watch them shut-up real quick! It just smokes them into complete awed submission & after that there might be discussions about other aspects of what makes a great drummer but arguments about speed are history.

So, it would have to naturally follow from the strong, enthusiastic words written above that in the pantheon of 'greatest ever fusion albums with plenty of wailing electric guitar,' "Mind Transplant" would have to rate at around number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine............. Here's the rest of my list in case fusion fanatics are interested:

1. Mahavishnu - Cleveland 1972
2. Mahavishnu - The Inner Mounting Flame
3. Mahavishnu - Birds of Fire
4. Mahavishnu - Between Nothingness & Eternity
5. Mahavishnu - Lost Trident Sessions
6. Billy Cobham - Spectrum
7. Nova - Blink
6. Bill Bruford - One of A Kind
7. Brand X - Livestock
8. Jean-Luc Ponty - Enigmatic Ocean
9. Alphonse Mouzon - "Mind Transplant"
10.John Abercrombie - Timeless
11. Bill Bruford - Gradually Going Tornado
12. Secret Oyster - Straight to the Krankenhaus
13. Alan Holdsworth I.O.U.
14. Lenny White - Adventures of Astral Pirates
15. Larry Coryell - Barefoot Boy
16. Brand X - Unorthodox Behaviour
17. Soft Machine - "Softs"
18. Eleventh House with Larry Coryell
19. Bill Bruford - Feels Good To Me
20. Colosseum - Electric Savage

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Al-fondu, October 3, 2004

By 

Mickeypoos "Mickeypoos" (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mind Transplant (Audio CD)

You know something? I really wanted to like this album. I had listened to Billy Cobham's "Spectrum" hundreds of times and been amazed by the kinetic energy and dynamic interplay between all the performers and of Billy's unnerving facility for both assymetry and raw funk in his drum patterns.
I longed for an album in a similar vein that could galvanize me even half as much as "Spectrum" could, so I'd done my research and discovered that "Mind Transplant" was considered to be Alphonse Mouzon's finest album, as well as one that was usually mentioned in the same breath as "Spectrum" by avid fusion fans.
Maybe my high expectations would only fuel potential disappointment in regards to "Mind Transplant" because I'm afraid that in my view, it falls well short of the mark.
In terms of the sound quality itself, the album sounds like it has been recorded under a wet blanket. This I can't understand, considering the numerous boasts about the superior sound quality and the recent remastering.
Compositionally, the tracks on the album are often just plain weak. The title track starts off well, and then at "1:40" the guitars commence a 6-note riff that is repeated incessantly... infuriatingly... without variation until the song's finish (2 1/2 minutes later!). I find this bridge section so strident and grating now, I have to skip forward to "Snowbound" to prevent the early onset of neurasthenia.
Much has been made of Tommy Bolin's involvement in "Mind Transplant" by Bolin aficionados, but those people familiar with his work as I am will be aware that far from being a genuinely improvisational musician, Tommy tends to have a gamut of stock pentatonic licks that he recycles in different forms. Such is the case here (compare the solo on "Golden Rainbows" to his solo on "Stratus"... see what I mean?).
I was also a bit disappointed with the actual running time of "Mind Transplant" too, which in this current Blue-Note re-release clocks in at just over 33 minutes. I had read earlier that when Rhino did a re-release in the early-90s, they had added a 15-minute long track entitled "The Real Thing" on the album's end. Unfortunately, that track is nowhere in evidence here.
Having got those gripes out of the way, I have to say that there is much to enjoy on the album. Alphonse's drumming is tight, precise and energizing, Jerry Peter's organ playing is fine and "Golden Rainbows" - with its haunting melodies and all-round ambience -goes some way towards redeeming earlier disappointments. However, despite the fine level of musicianship displayed by most, compositionally the album simply isn't as strong. (I would give the album 3 1/2 stars if I was allowed to!)

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very emotional., May 23, 2005

By 

Lambchops "Lambchops" (Toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mind Transplant (Audio CD)

SOme of the best guitar work ever laid down on vinyl. This CD features the late great Tommy Bolin (RIP). I first heard tracks from this LP years ago when two tracks appeared on a retrospective of Tommy Bolin. I was hooked and went and bought the CD. Just superb. Recommended for those people who loves guitars that speak without talking.