SECRET AGENT

Same year as Friends (which came out in July) this November release is definitely more pop/Fourth Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion oriented. (Pressure from the Polydor front offices?)

1. "The Golden Dawn" (3:39) an iconic song that has served as intros and signatory songs for countless shows, radio and televised, as well as often mistaken as something by artists like Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Mike Oldfield, Bob James, Larry Fast/ Synergy, Patrick Moraz, Kraftwerk, Passport, Jan Hammer, Vangelis, and many more. (8.875/10)

2. "Slinky" (5:42) here we get into the Smooth Jazz territory of Bob James, The (Jazz) Crusaders, and the Laws family (esp. Hubert and Ronnie) as well as Earl Klugh. An eminently enjoyable tune whose loud horn section takes one back to Chick's great The Mad Hatter album of a couple years before (my all-time favorite Third Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion album). The spacious structure and flute-with-Fender Rhodes melody presentation are so like the concurrent work of BOB JAMES, though. There's even a little MiniMoog homage at the end to the iconic RTF album, Romantic Warrior (also from 1976). (8.875/10)

3. "Mirage" (2:11) the orchestral arrangement of this pretty little filler is quite like the sound palette Chick and Claus Ogerman will put together to support Freddie Hubbard's upcoming 1979 release, The Love Connection. (4.375/5)

4. "Drifting" (4:09) a pretty little Yacht Rock motif that serves to support (and inspire) some of Chick's wife Gayle Moran's unique vocal stylings. Interesting to hear (and distinguish) the fretless bass of Bunny Brunnel in the mix. Nice little instrumental passage with horns and Joe Farrell's flute doubling up Chick's Fender Rhodes' melody lines. But, overall, there is nothing really remarkable about this song. (Maybe it's in the lyrics--which I don't hear.) (8.75/10)

5. "Glebe St. Blues" (6:58) a very STEELY DAN-sounding sound opens this before Gayle and Joe's tenor sax join in, alternating with one another in a blues/blues-rock fashion. At the end of the day, however, there is nothing so very special about this song (which is pretty much the same that I feel about most Steely Dan songs). (13.125/15)

6. "Fickle Funk" (5:05) an upbeat, uptempo song that feels as if the iconic drumming of Steve Gadd is paving the way, but it's not! It's Tom Brechtlein! He does a fine job while Chick, Bunny, and the horn section pull off another rather excellent J-RF rendering. Truly a J-R F song that has it all--plus more carry over from The Mad Hatter and one heckuva train of flugelhorn (Allen Vizzutti), trombone, and soprano sax solos in the second half while Bunny's going wild beneath them (though, in actuality, maybe they're trying to keep up with him). (9.25/10)

7. "Bagatelle #4" (3:34) one track solely devoted to Chick's somber Slavic classical piano chord play while his own "classic"/signature MiniMoog sound eventually solos over it. A "choir" of gospel blues choir singing soon joins in to accent and bridge the two. (8.875/10)

8. "Hot News Blues" (6:18) Chick's response to Bob James' "Celebrate Me Home" song on Kenny Loggins' album of that same name--here using up-and-coming vocal star Al Jarreau to sing the lead. (Al's 1978 album release, All Fly Home, his fourth release in three years, was about to rocket him into national spotlight--with regular singing appearances on Johnny Carson and three minor hits in "Thinking About It Too," "Fly," and "All.") Despite some great performances from Bunny Brunel and a great chemistry between Chick's Fender Rhodes and Al's jazzy scat voice, Al fails to take it to the heights I was expecting. In fact, one might argue that Chick's MiniMoog and the background gospel singers might have had greater success elevating this one to expected/hoped for heights. (8.875/10)

9. "Central Park" (5:22) a rollicking song to celebrate and commemorate the energy of New York's grand Central Park, obviously on a particularly lively and bustling summer's day. This is just a great whole-band celebratory jam with horns and percussionists working their magic on full speed and high vim and vigor. There's even a chorus of exuberant celebrants appearing in the fourth minute singing joyously while Chick, Bunny, Tom, Joe, and the horn section throw their own pep and merriment into the Latin weave. Album's don't often end on such a high note! (10/10)

Total Time 42:58

Though the album often feels like Chick conforming to pressures from the Polydor "head office," the quality of songwriting is still top top notch. (This is, after all, the one and only Chick Corea, folks!) Also, we'd almost gotten used to hearing albums from Chick that had consistent, start-to-finish themes or sounds whereas Secret Agent shows Chick's ability and talent for the creation of singular, stand-alone songs expressing quite a range.

A-/4.5 stars; though this might not be the greatest representative of peak era Jazz-Rock Fusion, it is a definite representative of superbly crafted and rendered Jazz-Rock Fusion songs: a variety pack, if you will. A new team of highly skilled creatives continues to uphold the incredibly high standard of music making that Chick Corea has now commanded for nearly a decade. Highly recommended!

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