NO MYSTERY

Return to Forever's second album with Al Di Meola on board is a varied album and rather different, compositionally, from the more concise and exciting Where Have I Known You Before, though sound-wise they're not that different, you'll notice the same type of keyboards and rhythms.

The band of course still plays top-notch, each member being highly proficient in their respective instrument, even Meola now has developed his highly acclaimed shred style. But playing greatly does not make an album good by any means.

The first four tunes are straight-forward funk with a typical groove and without any diversity, they go on and on with the same ryhthm and messy mixture of clavinet, electric piano and synths from Corea which tries to emulate Hancock's superb groove, but he utterly failed to make something that good, and it's not even memorable. The title track and 'Interplay' are acoustic affairs with Corea showing his great capability on the piano, probably the most entertaining tunes on the album and they're not even fusion pieces.

The album concludes with a 14 minute suite called 'Celebration' which tries to assimilate the epicness of 'Song for the Pharoah Kings' from the previous album, but it doesn't achieve its mission. It's either very similar to the previous album or simply doesn't hold the listeners attention for too long.

I suppose it's no mystery the rating of this album: definitely a weak fusion record with few memorable passages. If you take in account the greatness of 'Where Have I Known You Before', this album is just for collectors.

2 stars: get this after you've got the rest of the band's discography, including their first two pleasant latin jazz album. As for fusion fans in general, you can avoid this.

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