CHICK COREA ELEKTRIC BAND: TO THE STARS

The news of the re-formation of ElektricBand ran exactly about all over the world in 2001. He had been doing live with JazzClub"BlueNote" for three weeks at this time. Important Trio "Acoustic Trio" has been revived in the history of his music in this December, 2001. However, he saw off the revival of "ElektricBand". Live of this has been exactly done for three weeks as commemoration of the 60th birthday about him. And, the pattern of live of this was reproduced in detail as CD and DVD and put on the market. It gathered by the musician, the friend, and the companion who had the mind of respect to him and made his history more perfect.

And, ElektricBand appears in front of us exceeding the time of nine years in 2002 the next year. Album "Paint The World" that had been announced in 1993 was not a translation of having been performed by an original member. And, the time of 14 years has passed even as for this work since the last album "Beneath The Mask" that an original member had done was announced.

Various guests were participating in their albums. And, it is thought that the organization of a band today is a strong member whom the fan admits. Therefore, this album is made in the highest line that the fan admits.

Chick can be discovered to be influenced from novel "To The Stars" on L, Ron, and Hubbard when this album is made and to begin making the album. He often took the element of SF to music. He is finishing writing the tune based on this novel. And, his having created it appears in the album "Captain Jocelyn-The Pianist". Chick finishes up the album imagining space from the model.

Chick acts by devising the method of the ability of the performance of the band and transmitting my image and the ensemble well. This happens when the musician who trusts him unites with the power of the creation of Chick. And, his performance was always so. He ..this fact.. has gone before, and it appears and he plays the melody by the unique method the group (acoustic band and RTF) that came. This work is a concept very album. I want to dare to refrain from the explanation of the tune if the listener wants to feel his idea. We will recommend listening from "Check Blast" they, ensembles, impressive to the last tune at once continuously.

There is one mandatory prerequisite for you to be able to enjoy this album nicely, peacefully and safely ... You must set your mind with one word: 'jazz'. Well, yeah, without having jazz mindset as well as expectation right from the beginning, it's gonna be very very difficult for you to enjoy this album. I am not saying that this album does not have any prog elements - there are bunch of them. But you should set your mind to jazz first before you regret. It apples not only to this album but in any Chick Corea work, including Return To Forever. On RTF there are many rock elements while maintaining its roots on jazz. But right here with this album there is no rock element at all. But don't worry .. as far as you have an open mind on jazz music, this album would bring to a wonderful musical experience.

The band had actually been inactive for the last ten years prior the making of this album which is based on Chick's excitement on L Ron Hubbard's books, 'To The Stars'. Looking at the CD inlay I was so entertained as well as inspired by the way Chick materializing his lifetime dream as composer / performer for L Ron Hubbard as the ideal artist. The beauty of this album lies in its CD design package whereby Chick prepared a write-up for each of his work in this CD relate to the pages in the book that the music is created for. For example, associated with wonderful track like 'Johny's Landing' he refers the composition to page 79 and 147 of the book. This is really great and I do enjoy reading the CD inlay.

I am telling you that the music of this album is really excellent as it has good dynamics in any segment of the song. The opening track 'Check Blast' (3:38) proves that Chick Corea planned that the overall tone of the album would sound something like this. This opening has everything in terms of composition: excellent main melody, frequent style change, great harmonies, solid structural integrity. In terms of performance from the musicians, they work in a similar way, creating great music arrangenent. 'Johnny's Landing' with its dynamic composition starts beautifully with wonderful drumming followed by bass guitar work, plays solo. Chick Corea's solo is fabulous. All songs are integrated into one cohesive whole that supports Chick's work. 'The Long Passage' is an excellent composition that brings the listener to the area where jazz music sounds really inspiring and it has great dynamics! I think if all jazz music sounds like this, I will definitely join the jazz bandwagon.

The best album, so far .. - what do you think?

Overall, I highly appreciate this album as an excellent one with a rating of four stars PLUS because it's not just excellent, more than excellent. The key to the album's music is its excellent composition where the melody is quite catchy, the harmonies of all instruments sound really good, the style changes happen quite frequently while the structural integrity of each song is really good. Not only that, the whole album sounds really cohesive and it supports the story line. In addition, the sonic quality of the CD is truly MASTERPIECE. The package of the CD is also excellent, especially the inlay where the write-up of each song is made. In my opinion, this is the BEST album from Chick Corea Elektric Band. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

It's odd enough listening to an album deeply inspired by the "creative mastery" of cultist-author-creep L. Ron Hubbard (I would hope and imagine that this kind of disparagement toward this kind of person does not go against community standards)... But right off the bat, we are presented with musical creativity and mastery by a collection of some of the best musicians Fusion and Jazz in general have to offer. It's immediately clear and it is wonderful. I am wide-eyed and... bushy tailed? Regardless, you have to admit, from the time of RETURN TO FOREVER's middle period I presume to the end of Chick's life, he was inspired greatly by the Sci-Fi works of his "religion"'s founder. We got some mighty tasty, spacy jazz-candy from it. For better or worse. I'll take the better if I can be honest with myself (if just getting the better is at all possible).

Seriously, how could anyone not be absolutely floored by what they are hearing here (listen to the opener, "Check Blast," and tell me that isn't some of the most exciting Fusion you have ever heard). Even when the songs are ok or "old hat," of course we are presented them with excellence.

At this point, I must mention the interludes, "Port View" pts. 1-7, acting as stage-sets to a world outside our own. These are beautiful, short pieces and really help the whole album breathe. [It is nearly 70 minutes in total.] The weakness of these tracks' inclusion, in my opinion, is that it only sometimes does much of anything to tie things together. And they certainly don't successfully offset the "full song" tracks that are seriously just ok (even when they are, I feel I'm repeating myself, excellently performed).

Notable tracks: 1, 6, 8 (beautiful, acoustic jazz), 12 (Wow! Epic.)

True Rate: 3.5/5.0