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Return To Forever - Romantic Warrior CD (album) cover

ROMANTIC WARRIOR

Return To Forever

 

Jazz Rock/Fusion

4.30 | 845 ratings

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Grimfurg
5 stars Hell yes, this is what Jazz Fusion's all about.

Well, for starters. Who is RTF? Well for the intimates, they ARE Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke, two of the most incredible musicians in Jazz Fusion and even music. Chick is the kind of guy that makes you say: wow, god damn, this man can absolutely play everything. Well it's true, he can. And Stanley Clarke is just the king of bass, I mean just listen to him.

This album is absolutely crazy. First off I would like to say that the essence of this albums amazement is of its line-up, all of the musicians are top class. You don't often get such musicians, these guys are extremely creative. I love also the fact that at least every musician wrote at least one song (except for Chick who wrote three), and each song really reveals the musician's personality: White has a funky side of things, Meola is more of a rock person and Clarke is the more complex / avant-garde type.

1) Medieval Overture: A quite weird composition by Chick, but amazing nonetheless. I would just like to state out that this album is very different from other RTF records. This one completely travels through funk, cool jazz and synth aspirated music. This song is the one that resembles their old stuff the most. It's really fast, and contains really cool riffs. Not the best, as a matter of fact my least favorite, but that doesn't mean anything though.

2) Sorceress: My favorite tune. It starts with a nice funky rhythm and a nice funky tune played by Chick. This is Lenny White's song, it shows that he has a calmer way, but it's packed with heavy guitar solos and killer riffs. The key changes are absolutely amazing, and there's a duo solo, like a guitar vs. piano thing going on at the end of the song. Bliss.

3) The Romantic Warrior: Chick's second song. Shows that he's not only insane. This piece is entirely acoustic. The intro is amazing; it's as soothing as it is epic. Same for the chorus, it's extremely bad ass.

4) Majestic Dance: Al Di's kick ass composition. This one's much more of a rock, but with lots of weird bass and synth everywhere, you're not really sure of what's going on. You've never really heard this on any RTF album to be honest. The guitar's heavy leads go great with everything in a song, because it really sounds like a Majestic Dance.

5) The Magician: Now this is a weird one. Its Clarke's song, you can quickly know it's him because of the crazy bass in the beginning. When I heard this, the first kind of magician I could think of was a Disney-like magician. Making some sort of crazy performance by himself. Controlling all elements, you know. It goes from epic to soft to terrifying to epic again, to crazy, to AH! It's berserk, and absolutely amazing. Might I add, this is where Meola's solos are the best in the whole album.

6) Duel Of The Jester And The Tyrant (Parts I & II): Chick's finish. It starts off perfectly, it's even better live though. Chick let himself out this time, first it's calm and very atmospheric. Then there's moog and crazy shit everywhere, with wacky leads including bass and drums. It defines the album's name and to it's whole Epic/Medieval look. It's awesome

To conclude, It's a masterpiece of Jazz Fusion. GRIMFURG REALLY APPROVES.

Grimfurg | 5/5 |

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