Where have I known you before by Return to Forever

 

Where have I known you before by Return to Forever

I don't know Return to Forever very well, and only got this album because I saw it pop up on one of those top ten lists of fusion tracks. It's very effing cool. I'm always a bit concerned about synths in fusion, but Chick Corea's sounds are organic enough here that I'm not distracted. The music is super dynamic, quite heavy, with the opener Vulcan Worlds and the closer Song to the Pharaoh Kings both stunning. The rest is good too. One thing I like here is that, unlike a lot of fusion from that era, there's quite a lot of harmonic invention here, it's not just alternating bars one chord up (or down). I suppose that's the Chick Corea touch.