Vinyl Icons

Spectrum was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City [HFN Sep '21]. Although Cobham is listed as producer, Ken Scott is credited as 'recording and remix engineer and all round objective ear'. Compared with the sour atmosphere at the last Mahavishnu Orchestra sessions at Trident, recording Spectrum was a joyous affair, Cobham saying 'Everybody was very supportive'.

He had assembled a group of players with a potent chemistry, but given the quality of the results it remains remarkable that the sessions were put to tape over just three days from May the 16th, 1973, with a number of the tracks used for the album being first or second takes. The album was then mixed at Trident Studios in London giving a total time of 'about a week', as Scott recalls.

Having worked with Cobham before, Scott was pleased to find that he was carrying the same wallet he had used to damp the head of the drummer's snare drum on Birds Of Fire. Scott used a variety of Neumann mics on the drums and Beyer M160 ribbon mics for the overheads. Bolin played a Fender Stratocaster through an Echoplex unit, which can be heard giving a synth like tone to parts of his solo on 'Quadrant 4'. Lee Sklar played a Fender Jazz bass through a Univox amp with a single 12in speaker.

Scott has said that he recorded Spectrum like a rock session so as to capture the moment and thought that Bolin was a joy to work with. 'No egos, just great playing', he has since commented. This of-the-moment attitude was exemplified by Bolin when he broke a string while soloing during 'Taurian Matador'. Completely unfazed, the guitarist just carried on playing, and that take was the one used on the album.