ROMANTIC WARRIOR

Though most fusion fans swear by this album, personally it took a while to grow on me. It isn't a revolutionary and ground-breaking inspirational piece so much as it's the clumination of the musical development of the continuation of the classic-era Return to Forever lineup; indeed, Chick Corea would famously disband the lineup and reform Return to Forever as a much less successful music for the followup Musicmagic, feeling that the electric fusion sound of the Al di Meola years had largely run its course.

Perhaps the medieval theme is what threw me, because whilst an interesting twist the unit don't work that much in the way of medieval material into their sound (though there's some ELP-esque incorporations of classical music influences here and there, especially on Corea's keyboards). Overall, it's grown and grown on me and now I see it as the peak of Return To Forever's accomplishments - though I still think it's best appreciated once the previous albums are digested, to give the context of the band's musical development to this point.