JOURNEY TO LOVE

Despite the title and subdued album cover photo, this is not a light collection of adult contemporary radio fluff, like too many seventies fusion albums. This is a powerhouse of a collection of mostly standout progressive fusion, some of it as good as any fusion of the time.

"Silly Putty" is a funky bass driven song. A good song, but a bit too reminiscent of "Lopsy Lu", from Stanley Clarke's previous album. Both "Silly Putty" and "Lopsy Lu" became regular features of Clarke's live perfomances.

The title track, "Journey To Love", is the radio friendly fluff mentioned above. But at least the song is not badly written. But Stanley's Earth Wind & Fire style falsetto is amusing.

"Hello Jeff" is a rocking piece, featuring some obscure guitarist named Jeff Beck.

"Song To John" is a more traditional jazz piece. The first part features Clarke on bowed acoustic bass, the second is an acoustic trio with Chick Corea and John McLaughlin. This is a fantastic jazz piece.

"Concerto for Jazz/Rock Orchestra, Parts 1-4" is the standout piece here. It's an amazing Return To Forever styled opus. Stanley's playing on this is incredible. And there are horn sections that rival some of Zappa's best arrangements.

4.5 stars.

Journey to Love is the second in Stanley's trio of fusion/prog rock albums released in the mid 70s. Preceded by the ambitious self-titled Stanley Clarke, and followed by the tight focus of School Days, Journey has more in common with it's predecessor with it's over- reaching aspirations and sometimes not quite developed musical pastiches. That's not to say Journey is not a great album, it is, but not as great as the more developed and economical follow-up, School Days.

Journey follows a very similar overall schematic as the other two albums, a couple of barn- burning Jeff Beck styled rock/funk workouts, some EW&F future pop, a lengthy suite featuring thirdstream classical/jazz compositions and arrangements, and an acoustic number with McLaughlin and Corea onboard. As usual, the upbeat funk-rock numbers are exceptional with Silly Putty and Hello Jeff ranking with some of Stanley's best. Hello Jeff features an incredible uplifting guitar solo from guess who.

Less successful is acoustic number Song to John (Coltrane). It's not terrible, but sort of unfocused, meandering and bordering on new age jazz during it's first half, and overly busy and flashy in the second half. This thing in the mid 70s where musicians would 'trade licks' can be intense if used sparingly, but unfortunately little these guys did in the mid-70s was done 'sparingly'. Anyway, this number plows onward and sounds nothing like anything ever put out by Coltrane. Finally we get to the ambitious Concerto for Jazz Rock Orchestra, a title lofty enough to attract the attention of the most pretentious of the prog rock set.

This 'Concerto' opens with some nice Satie-like piano figures with string synthesizer before launching into progressive rock like orchestrated assaults, EW&F vocals, space funk and several high energy fusion workouts featuring the blistering guitar work of David Sancious. Taken individually all these sections are great, but it's hard to say if this all adds up to some sort of Concerto, doesn't matter really.

If you like the other two Clarke albums in this trilogy, as well as other progressive rock influenced fusioneers such as RTF, Mahavishnu and David Sancious, you will find a lot to like here.

A general tendency of some of Clarke's later albums seems to be that they lack a direction, a mission. Instead of specifying a kind of tone or attitude and finding people who are on board, it often feels more of a "I've got an album due and some material--do you want to play along and see what happens?" vibe.

Fortunately, we're not quite there yet with Journey to Love. I think Clarke was still experimenting and exploring here in ways to expand on his debut album, and I appreciate that. It doesn't always work magically, but there's still some nice energy to most of these tracks.

Silly Putty and Hello Jeff do work well, with the former having more of a funk feel and the latter more of a rock influence. The title track...well, not so much. Musically it's tolerable, but Clarke's falsetto is just not top notch by any stretch of the imagination. It's amazing that these fusion guys were all connected to great musicians but often couldn't find a halfway decent vocalist. The Song to John's are pleasant, but if you follow fusion, you've certainly heard all of this elsewhere.

And then we get to the Concerto for Jazz...I'll stop short of using the term "trainwreck", but disjointed and meandering might apply. Nearly half of the 14 minute run-time is really not necessary in my opinion. The best part is the nice fusion from about 6-10 minutes where the guys are just letting it simmer a while before bringing things to a boil when the horns come in. It's a false ending, however, but the best is behind is unfortunately. I respect the experimentation with the tubular bells and other whistles, but the main theme is relatively generic, and the horns even sound a bit off key in spots. Nice try, but it misses the target.

Overall, I like Journey to Love less than what came before it, but more than what came after it. If you need more Stanley after picking up his first, this would be worthwhile.

3.5 stars really!!!

Third album from this upcoming jazz-bass master, Journey To Love is often embodied in the so-called prog-fusion trilogy, consisting of it and the album sandwiching it chronologically, but it lacks the prestige and exposure of its two companions. It's probably because it's a quieter more introverted albums, more introspective and personal than the all-out funk of School Days, and jazzier than the self-titled album preceding this release. Having found a winning formula with the previous s/t album, Stanley repeats the electric Ladyland & Ken Scott combination and again scores high points, but the adjunction of Jeff Beck, George Duke, Steve Gadd (originally thought for RTF's drum stool) and the then- relatively unknown David Sancious (on guitar rather than keyboards, if you please), on the main body of the album are also scores quite a bit of points as well. Aside from the returning appearances of RTF members Lenny White and Chick Corea, half of the horn section in the s/t album returns as well.

Opening on the horn-laden funky Silly Putty, the album gets in the future School Days and Beck's Wired mood, with an over-virtuosity feel as a bonus, but the track is a killer. The slow-starting title track is the only sung track and features a Beck guitar solo is a stark contrast, especially with Duke's Minimoog and ARP layers. The progheads will pay close attention to the self-explanatory hello Jeff track, one that could easily find its way onto Wired or Blow or the Live albums. Close to the quality of a Freeway Jam.

The two Song To John Coltrane (spread over the two sides of the album) are definitely the jazz heart of the album, but refer more to the 50's part of Trane's career, despite the ECM feel and it is not that strongly reminiscent especially that Chick's piano doesn't resemble at all McCoy's, and McL's guitar doesn't fill his John alter-ego's sax, but it's more of a tribute than a Trane track cover. Obviously the four-movement 14-mins TL suite is the other heart of the album, and the one where the proghead's attentions are instantly fixed upon. It's quite a departure from the rest of the album (except maybe from the title track) with its soft semi-symphonic first movement, but it's to allow a stark contrast with the strong fusion second part, where Sancious' fiery guitar parts answer Duke's synth lines, and Clarke's impetuous and imperial bass rages on over ARP synth layers and soft chanting vocals (un- credited on the CD) and the third part is more of the same but with wild horn arrangements and bells. Impressive stuff. The bells allow a smooth transition to the soft and fading finale

This rather good album suffers from a lack of intelligent track distribution or sequencing, thus making it a bit of a pot-pourri, instead of having at least one strong flipside and a miscellaneous one, but I guess industry workers have a different outlook than the listeners have. I suggest you start with Stan's first two solo albums, not forgetting the COF release so often overlooked, before moving forward chronologically.

One this album, Clarke took the first small step from fusion toward funk being more accessible to other music fan groups. He does it with taste as well his "Who's who" collection of guests like George Duke, who was undergoing transformation into funk already. "Silly putty" has the funky bass and keyboard interplay reach a fantastic level. Brass section is a good enhancement but nothing spectacular. Having heard "Journey to love", you can easily misplace it to be coming from the Duke factory due to his voice and irreplaceable keyboard style. This is a warm number with clear melody with taste rather than virtuosity. "Hello Jeff" compensates it by bringing incredible guitar/bass groove and Jeff Beck shining on the melodic lead guitar. Let's not forget the following Lenny White. "Song to John" is fully acoustic and I like the second part due to the RTF feeling, who else than Mr. Corea behind the keys and Clarke resorting to acoustic bass. The epic last piece feels very loose exploring playing abilities for bass, guitar, drums and keyboards. Excellent piece of music. The Part II is the centerpiece of the ideas and fusion dynamics while the next part explores hard rock with Hammond organ. Not a 5 star album for proggers but need to be explored together with the "School days".

Though virtuoso bass player Stanley Clarke was already a household name in the circles of those who knew jazz and Jazz-Rock Fusion, with this, his third "solo" album, we find him still under the influence of some of his more- established mentors and idols (like Chick Corea and John McLaughlin). At the same time, there are plenty of signs of his "coming into his own" as he leads many of the tunes on this album with his considerable (perhaps unequaled) soloing skills.

1. "Silly Putty" (4:52) an interesting song that borders on the funky R&B that was all the rage in 1975 but really has its roots in the Blues-Rock that pre-dates the 1970s. Between Stanley, George Duke, and David Sancious the band has every weird funky chicken sound possible covered in this playful novelty tune. Not my favorite style, it still manages to entertain and, of course, display incredible musicianship. (Just wondering: Which came first: Lenny White's "Chicken- Fried Steak" or this?) (9.125/10)

2. "Journey to Love" (4:52) spacious southern rock that starts out with some high-pitched vocals (apparently as provided by Stanley and George) and then develops into something that sounds like a slowed down Mahavishnu Orchestra song. Horn section adds punctuating accents at the end of the singers' second verse signaling the start of the instrumental jam session that would unfold for the final two minutes of the song. I think the reason George Duke and David Sancious rarely get mentioned with the great sound-pioneers of the 1970s (like Jan Hammer, Chick Corea, or Herbie Hancock) is their tendency to explore/choose really odd sounds for their keys and guitars. (8.75/10)

3. "Hello Jeff" (5:16) this one definitely has both the JEFF BECK and RETURN TO FOREVER sound with Stanley in particular using those heavy, thick bass chords he became known for with Chick's band. The guitar shreding here (from Mr. Beck and recent discovery David Sancious [from Bruce Springsteen]) is other-wordly! I'm not a fan, however, of the sound rendering of Lenny White's drums--nor of the Al DI MEOLA-like main melody. The best parts of the tune are Jeff's solos and Stanley's finish. (8.875/10)

4. "Song to John, Part 1" (4:22) Chick Corea on piano, Stanley on his bowed double bass, and Mahavishnu John McLaughlin working his magic on an acoustic guitar. (Stanley must have received an "only if it's all acoustic" answer from the Mahavishnu when he asked for John's participation on this album's recording sessions--which would be in character for the Shakti-inspired guitarist at this time.) The song plays out like any/every John McLaughlin or Chick Corea song on acoustic instruments: virtuosic performances, great melodic sensibilities, and each artist inspiring the others to their highest levels of creativity. I just love all three of these artists when they're in acoustic mode! Chick's sense of melody is really so sublime--but so are those of Stanley and John--especially when supporting Chick in that fourth and fifth minute! (9.25/10)

5. "Song to John, Part 2" (6:09) the "lively" half of the suite--feels like a precursor to RTF's "The Romantic Warrior" (one of my ALL-TIME favorite songs!) from their upcoming album of the same name--though the second minute to the fourth has quite a little Django Reinhardt-Stéphane Grappelli energy and feel to it as well. How much fun must these guys have been having! Great jam! You will not find songs like these very often in the real world! (10/10)

6. "Concerto for Jazz/Rock Orchestra, Parts 1-4" (14:25) Messrs. Clarke, Duke, Sancious, and Gadd back for a gorgeous fifteen-minute suite--with the support of the full horn section in the (minutes). The opening three minutes is just synth, piano, and bass weaving a beautiful, contemplative atmosphere together to get the listener ready for . . . the "launch." At the three minute mark the full band jumps into electric world with bass, synth strings washes, Fender Rhodes, and drums creating a dynamic power motif within which David Sancious adds some searing lead guitar riffs in mini- crescendo moments. Things smooth out a bit in the sixth minute before George and Steve fall into support of a multi- sectional bass solo. (By multi-sectional I mean low end bass notes offset by high-end piccolo bass riffing.) This turns into more sustained searing electric guitar from David for about a minute in the ninth minute, culminating in a horn- section thickened section to fill the tenth minute--which leads to an odd break at 10:15 after which an AL DI MEOLA- like guitar-led Chick Corea patch ensues within which Stanley's machine gun bass play keeps up note for note with the same from David Sancious. The melody first exploded into the sonic field by the raging guitar-and-electric-bass duo is quite familiar but I can't place from where. The drumming in this "break out" passage are quite straight time rock 'n' roll as opposed to the rather funky, syncopated forms Steve was playing before the ten minute mark. The horns help amplify and multiply the fiery melody being ejaculated by David and Stanley until a crescendo and crashing trumpet scream at 12:15 re-opens the door for a very peaceful George Duke synth and electric piano after-the-storm section takes over to lead Stanley and the "strings" to a fadeout exit. A wild ride! Not so much a concerto as a RTF-like power suite! (27/30)

Total Time 39:21

Multi-instrumentalist David Sancious is quite a find! His guitar skills are virtuosic (as are his keyboard skills--as will be proved in near-future solo and collaborative albums) yet I've always felt that his sounds and melody choices are either too imitative of other greats of the era (like, here, Al Di Meola) or that they're too sweet, dense, or obtuse for me to ever be drawn into. However, here with Stanley he has found a partner who at least drives him to heights of the greats. George Duke feels too much the support mule on his three songs: rarely given the flashy solo time that David or Stanley himself take--which seems a waste. And Steve Gadd is great though sometimes feeling a bit the odd man out in terms of gelling perfectly within the weaves and styles set up by Stanley. For me, the Chick Corea-John McLaughlin- Stanley suite "Song for John" is the album's highlight with the opening song, as virtuosic and erudite as it is, proving to illustrate for me the fact that funk (my beloved funk) can be taken to outlandish extremes--barnyard, bawdy, or adolescent extremes.

A-/five stars; a display of creative song-making commensurate with the virtuosity of its participants. Perhaps not on quite as high or memorable of a level as some of the iconic themes and songs from the other Jazz-Rock Fusion classics of the time, but definitely fitting and deserving of the attention of any lover of virtuoso musicianship.