The First Seven Days

The First Seven Days was recorded in 1975 at Red Gate Studio and produced and engineered by Hammer, who wrote every track; Andy Topeka assisted, Milton Glaser illustrated the cover and Paula Scher directed the art. The jacket states there is no guitar on the album and that scientific and biblical views do meet in certain points. Hammer plays piano, electric piano, Moog, an Oberheim synthesizer and digital sequencer, drums, percussion, a Freeman string synthesizer and Mellotron, with David Earle Johnson on congas and percussion on tracks five and six and Steven Kindler on violin on tracks two, five, six and seven. He said it came out of the pressure cooker of Mahavishnu, calling it necessary after Mahavishnu, and moody, spiritual and closer to classical than jazz.

AllMusic gave it four stars and the Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide four. Synthtopia calls it a landmark of popular electronic music, praising the Minimoog solos and saying the Mellotron dates the sound but he transcends it. It was remastered in 2003 on Columbia and Legacy.