RSSChick Corea [extended]
- Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy [Polydor, 1973] B
- Romantic Warrior [Columbia, 1976] D+
- My Spanish Heart [Polydor, 1977] B+
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Consumer Guide Reviews:
Return to Forever Featuring Chick Corea: Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy [Polydor, 1973]
The futuristic, Mahavishnu-style jazz-rock gets hot enough at times to make you believe in spirit energy. But Corea's themes lack the grandeur of McLaughlin's, and what good is God without grandeur? Part of the problem is technical--when you articulate fast runs cleanly on an electric piano you sound precious almost automatically. Too often, though, I suspect that's what Corea wants. Better he should try for the cosmic joke--like when "Captain Senor Mouse" breaks into "La Cucaracha." B
Return to Forever: Romantic Warrior [Columbia, 1976]
Right on schedule, two or three years behind John McLaughlin, Chick Corea tries to eat the fusion cyclotron. Where McLaughlin fell for a few silly orchestral trappings, Corea essays pompous, ersatz-classical compositions--while continuing to display Al DiMeola, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White in all their dazzling vacuity. Jazz-rock's answer to Emerson, Lake & Palmer--the worst of both worlds. D+
My Spanish Heart [Polydor, 1977]
From the schlock pomp of Romantic Warrior to the schlock funk of Musicmagic, Return to Forever's recent work has been so far from galvanizing that I've tended to ignore Their Leader, but this double LP includes the subtlest playing he's done in years. At its best it's playful and passionate enough to make an unashamed Nordic like me wonder about duende. At its worst it features a soprano "vocal choir" who prove once again that the notions of beauty and spirituality inspired by L. Ron Hubbard aren't much different from those inspired by Percy Faith. B+