Am I the only one...

Who prefers Return to Forever's original line-up, with the brilliant Joe Farrell on sax and flute, than anything Di Meola did with them? I mean, I've heard all of RtF's albums except Musicmagic and I love all of them, but the first two are by far my favorites. They just seem to be much more musical to me, like they have a lot more to say. You can't go wrong with songs like "Crystal Silence," "What Games Shall We Play Today," "La Fiesta," (okay, so Stan Getz blows Joe Farrell out of the water on this one, but then again no one can touch Getz, and Farrell's take on it isn't too shabby), "You're Everything," "Captain Marvel," and the absolutely amazing "Spain." As a sax and flute player I find Joe Farrell's skill and musicianship to be amazing, while as a guitar player, I think Di Meola is a brilliant guitarist and I love what he did with RtF as well as on his solo work, but he has a tendency to get very repetitive.

Am I alone in preferring the original latin jazz RtF over the alll-out gun-slinging fusion one?

I don't like Flora Purim's vocals. The music is fantastic, but I'd much rather listen to the instrumental albums.