Return to Forever
Anybody know anything about these guys?
It’s Chick Corea’s jazz-fusion group he formed in the 70s. My dad got me tickets to their reunion show for my birthday that entitle me to meet the band and get a tour of the stage prior to the show.
Now that’s awesome, but I haven’t heard a lick of their stuff outside of “Spain.” Anyone have suggested listening?
Comments
I’m a fan. Chick Corea, Stanley, Clarke, Al Dimeola, Lenny White…..top notch players all. As a guitarist I favor Dimeola but I have a soft spot for bassist like Clarke. I like Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy which is pre-Dimeola but still good stuff. But No Mystery is solid as well. As far as fusion I still like the Mahavishnu Orchestra a little better but Return To Forever is overall a more cohesive unit musically. Celebration Suite pt. 1 and pt. 2, Flight of the Newborn, Song to the Pharoah Kings are a great starts as far as songs particularly assuming they will stick to the Dimeola era records. Post a review after the show.
I have never heard of these guys, but after hearing who’s in them, I’m super pumped to hear them. FTP?
I’ll try to load some stuff later tonight. If you’re not turned off by prog/fusion type stuff you should really like them. However if you have any aversion to that of admittedly and occassionaly indulgent era of music then you’d hate it.
Thanks Kev. Hopefully I can get some good listening in before the show next week. While I’m excited I’m also a little nervous. With Corea’s heavy involvement in scientology since the early 70s, I’m half expecting that an E-meter test will be a part of my backstage experience. I’ll def post a review though.
Hahaha…I didn’t realize the whole scientology thing. Doesn’t surprise me though.
Kevin said:If you’re not turned off by prog/fusion type stuff you should really like them.
Really? How long have we known each other? Does the fact that I own these answer your question?
I knew you liked King Crimson and actually I remember that as being one of the earlier musical conversations we had however many years ago. Return To Forever isn’t quite as rocking as King Crimson, so it may not be a 1 to 1 ratio. But yeah, I guess that’s as good a starting point as any.
For whoever is interested, there’s 2 folders up under my name.
Holy FUCK this is so amazingly good. After the Cosmic Ray is kicking my ass so completely right now.
OH MY GOD! SONG TO THE PHAROAH KINGS!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? SO GOOD.
Yeah, it really is some quality stuff if you like jazz fusion. John do you have any Mahavishnu Orchestra? Real similar vibe and style.
I do not!
I’ll put some of that up as well then.
Thanks again for the guidance with RTF, saw the show and met the band last night and it was pretty freakin awesome. Will post a review when I get a few spare minutes
Yeah, after your initial post I went back and listened to a lot of their stuff and forgot just how phenomenal it was.
Alright so between this show and all points west I havent had any time to craft a formal review, but the RTF show was pretty fucking awesome.
Granted at times the genre is a little too self-indulgent for my taste you really have to be in awe of what these guys can do. Met the band (minus Chick) before hand and they were sort of aloof with the exception of Stanley Clarke, who was super nice and talkative, but it wasn’t as if I was expecting them to be too chatty.
The show itself was divided into two sets, one electric and one acoustic. The set list was basically a carbon copy of their recently released anthology CD. The electric set was good, but the acoustic was just superb. Each of the guys had a breakaway solo, all of which were fantastic. Stanley Clarke blew the doors off the place with the bass solo he did, I dont think i’ll ever see something like that ever again in my lifetime, it was just an exhibition in mastery of an instrument by a true artist, just unreal.
Even though Di Mieola’s guitar stuff was mind blowing, they did a few tracks with just Chick, White and Clarke which were the best part of the show for me. A great showcase of the jazz roots they all came from.
Overall though, excellent. Thanks again for the heads up on what to listen to Kev, it definitely allowed me to appreciate their work more going into it.