There were heavier jazz-fusion records to cross the transom in the mid ’70s, sure, but few used an ensemble’s chops for pure impact quite like this four-man assault led by the kit-bashing Electric Miles alumnus. Believe It signaled a soft reboot of sorts after Tony Williams’ similarly heavy-as-gold circa-’69 Lifetime Mk. I — a power trio with guitarist John McLaughlin and organist Larry Young — proved too confrontational for an embryonic crossover audience still attuned to the idea that “jazz-rock” meant Chicago. But they were more than ready by ’75, and Williams’ quartet — Motown-educated bassist Tony Newton, emerging keyboardist Alan Pasqua, and prog-steeped guitar shredder Allan Holdsworth — cut a session that didn’t so much reflect Miles Davis as it anticipated Van Halen. It’s an almost subversive thrill listening to cuts like “Fred” and “Mr. Spock” start from a fairly conventional fusion base, only to explode into hyper-intense fusillades of machine-gun drumming and superball-ricochet keyboards. It hits even better when they just kick the door down and smash up the place a’la “Red Alert”.