The first half of "The Lost Trident Sessions" is like its two fiery predecessors. Founding guitarist and leader John McLaughlin was listed as the sole composer for all of "Inner Mounting Flame" and "Birds Of Fire" (with the other band members feeling they deserved writing credits for their contributions), and his lengthy pieces "Dream" and "Trilogy" lead off. "Dream" opens as its title indicates, with entrancing acoustic guitar, electric piano by Jan Hammer and classically-influenced violin flourishes by Jerry Goodman. But within three minutes, drummer Billy Cobham and bassist Rick Laird shift into 5/4 overdrive. McLaughlin adopts a power-chord figure similar to The Beatles' "Get Back" midway, and strong solos by he and Goodman downshift to a relaxed coda.

"Trilogy" is an oddly-sequenced piece, with McLaughlin's nimble picking dominating part one ("The Sunlit Path"). After fading into aviary sounds, "La Mere De La Mer" fades back in with Goodman soloing over a repeating McLaughlin line and Cobham's marching figure. More bird sounds follow before McLaughlin and Cobham go explosive on the concluding "Tomorrow's Story Not the Same." As the first Mahavishnu cohort McLaughlin picked; the only one not seeking writing credits in the band because he was working on solo material and the musician perhaps best-equipped to match McLaughlin's speed and power, Cobham may have been the group's happiest member. Yet even he admits in the liner notes that Hammer, Goodman and Laird deserved composer status.

Hammer's "Sister Andrea;" Goodman's "I Wonder" and Laird's "Steppings Tones" subsequently echo previous Mahavishnu material and illustrate Cobham's point. All three shape-shift over different feels and time signatures like McLaughlin's pieces - although they're considerably shorter - before the guitarist gets in the last word with his brilliantly chaotic closing statement, "John's Song #2." There's no question that this album was good enough to be released in 1973, yet within 18 months of the sessions McLaughlin had re-formed the group, Cobham and Goodman had embarked on solo careers, Hammer was beginning a fertile partnership with guitarist Jeff Beck and Laird was on his way toward quitting music and becoming a photographer. The Lost Trident Sessions is fascinating proof that conflicting egos can erode the best of bands - even the greatest fusion unit of the early 1970s.