NO MYSTERY

Return to Forever's second album with Al Di Meola is a varied collection of virtuoso fusion music. There are a lot of funk and Latin influences to keep things lively and interesting but as usual with Return to Forever's music, I miss some heart and spontaneous passion in this music.

The two openers are easy-going pieces with catchy hooks and feel-good grooves aplenty. Nice but hardly appealing. Flight of the Newborn is slower and opens up for more mood-setting and great solos. Sofistifunk is an attempt to re-create the heavily syncopated funk-fusion of Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters period and while it is technically competent it fails to inspire and pales compared to its example. Excerpt From The First Movement Of Heavy Metal is a Mahavishnu Orchestra inspired bit with heavy guitar shredding.

After the easy-listening lounge-bar jazz of the title track and Interplay , the album ends with a strong epic piece that, just as on the preceding album, clearly demonstrates what this band is capable off when they put their heart in it.

No Mystery is a nice album but it's one that doesn't move me as much as other jazz-rock can. And that emotional connection, subjective as it may be, is still what makes the difference between a 3 and 4 star quote from me.