HYMN OF THE SEVENTH GALAXY

And so do I. I gladly admit that Return To Forever (RTF) has been a solid eye opener to me and really got me interested in both fusion and jazz. Their Romantic Warrior album is a perfect fusion of symphonic prog and jazz.

This album, their third album, is not as immediate and open as Romantic Warrior. It has a lot of elements you find on the Mahavishnu Orchestra albums. The electric guitar solos on the title track, that is. But RTF is much more jazzy than the other masters of fusion (Mahavishnu...). This is Chick Corea's band and that shows. This album is based on tangents of various creations. Piano, keyboards etc etc. That drives this music forwards inbetween solos of the many excellent musicans in RTF.

As we all know, RTF is a supergroup in all but name. The musicians here has their own very successful career and is among the leading musicians on their respective instruments. That shows. Lenny White, Bill Connors, the boss Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke get their spots in the spotlight and really proves their worth. At the same time, RTF is a well driven entity too and the interplay between these four masters is an absolute joy to behold. That is the strongest side of this album which is a bit lacklustre when it comes to the quality of the songs. This album is by no means in the same class as Romantic Warrior. But Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy is a really swinging album. I have to confess that there has almost been outbreaks of dancing in my office because of this album. It is difficult to not get carried away into some type of rhythmic shocking body movements. That too is a reason why I really love this album.

This is a highly enjoyable fusion album.

4 stars

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