CHICK COREA: RETURN TO FOREVER

It says CHICK COREA on the cover as the artist and RETURN TO FOREVER as the album title, yet this is RETURN TO FOREVER and all sites that categorize music include it under the band name as the first album, but yet when I look up on my shelf and see it in the Rs when it starts with a C is just plain drives me craaaaazy! Enough ranting about my idiosyncrasies, onto the music!

After the hugely successful sessions with "Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew" with Miles Davis, CHICK COREA briefly formed an avant-garde jazz band called CIRCLE but because he wanted a more accessible sound that would garner slightly more popularity, he scrapped that idea and started RETURN TO FOREVER.

I have been wafering on whether to rate this a 3 or a 4 star album for some time as I came to this debut album from the perspective of having heard ROMANTIC WARRIOR first and this is absolutely nothing like it. This debut album is mostly a light ethereal subdued jazz fusion affair. It is technically proficient but the main focus is to conjure up certain emotional states that take you on a nice floaty ride instead of the intensity married with medieval images that later albums would evoke.

"Return To Forever" is the first and the masterpiece track which is the one I loved from the first listen and still do. It is so deep and mysterious and haunting and just plain good. This track alone is worth the price of admission and at over 12 minutes long a very demanding piece.

"Crystal Silence" is an ok track but doesn't live up to the magnitude of the album's first and last tracks. It is pleasant enough and doesn't subtract too much from the overall goal of the album.

"What Games Shall We Play Today?" is an upbeat little number that makes me wanna dress up like Shirley Temple and jump on a table and start twirling around with a psychedelic lollipop in my hand. Once again it is ok but certainly not the reason to buy this album.

"Sometime Ago / La Fiesta" was the one that took a while to really sink again. Maybe I just wasn't listening attentively enough? Maybe it just took umpteen listens to get. Whatever the reason I finally find this a very rewarding piece and ultimately the reason I can unequivocally give this album 4 stars after putting off rating this album for so long because of my indecisiveness. It is as the title suggests a jazzy fusiony piece that incorporates Latin percussion to the mix. At 23 minutes plus you certainly get your money's worth with this one but like I said it took me a while to appreciate but after the effort to penetrate its worthiness I have finally been rewarded by a very pleasant track and now I can associate this album on a completely different playing field than the later releases. Really now. Anything by Chic Corea is well worth having and this is hardly the exception.