CHICK COREA: RETURN TO FOREVER

I wouldn't say this is one of the greatest fusion albums ever. I'm not even totally convinced that it's fusion. And, while this group did continue and record "Light As A Feather" as Return To Forever, this album appears to have been marketed as "Return To Forever" by Chick Corea. No matter. It's not a bad album. The title tune, in fact is fantastic. Corea's electric piano playing is superb, as is Clarke's bass playing.

The rest of the album, save for an amazing acoustic bass solo in "Sometime Ago - La Fiesta", the obligatory Spanish flavored tune that appears on a large number of Corea albums (maybe I should paraphrase FZ and call it "The Chick Corea Secret Chord Progression"), leaves me somewhat bored.

And the mix of the album is just odd. Chick is way over to one side, Airto's drums are off to the other, and the bass and sax seem to float around.

This is a good jazz album, but not anything special as a fusion album.