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Return To Forever - Romantic Warrior CD (album) cover

ROMANTIC WARRIOR

Return To Forever

 

Jazz Rock/Fusion

4.29 | 822 ratings

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Chus
Prog Reviewer
4 stars Return To Forever was put together by the musical genius Chick Corea, and this is arguably it's best lineup. Al Di Meola is one of the most inventive and amazing guitar shredders around and Stanley Clark is at a level of his own in bass playing. Chick Corea is amazing when it comes to versatility... he could play in a myriad of styles, ranging from Classical to Bossa Nova to Latin Jazz. Lenny White is good at keeping the rhythm going, but the spotlight in this album really goes for the former three musicians, but from time to time he does some explosive playing.

Romantic Warrior has a mistaken concept regarding the music in it; while one expects to be awed at medieval soundscapes and chivalry imagery, the music does not work to that extent. It's rather a very good fusion of jazz, funk, blues and rock; but while perhaps accidentally there are medieval elements, they are not decipherable easily.

The most adventurous track and my personal favourite is "Dual Of The Jester and The Tyrant", which has incredible interplay and the most powerful riff below great showcases from Di Meola, Clark and Corea. Also worth of notice is the interplay in "Majestic Dance", which is a more straight rocker. "Sorceress" has clear indication of funk, while the rest is more blurred when considering the dominating style... it's simply fusion.

The rest is also great, but can't really hold a candle for "Dual". The only flaw I find is that the music is not faithful to the concept the album suggests, and that's a considerate flaw when you think of progressive music as music that should work in a context. But in all, if you want to start your fusion collection, I'd suggest to start with this one. 4 stars

Chus | 4/5 |

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