Romantic
Warrior pushed the RTF sound and concept as far as
it could go, and for the first time the band was presented
simply as ‘Return to Forever,’ whereas the previous
album were all credited to ‘Return to Forever featuring
Chick Corea.’ In other words, the band as a whole
had a sufficient identity and following to stand as a unit,
independent of Corea’s name. The album is considered
by some to be the high watermark of progressive jazz-rock
fusion, while others criticize it for emphasizing technique
at the expense of musicality. Certainly the album’s
performances sound like they could have been imagined by
any of several rock bands, from Yes to Rush to Genesis,
but almost no other band could have carried off some of
the album’s faster unison instrumental passages, and
the precise, frequent changes of mood and tempo were only
accomplished by a few other bands. This is unquestionably
rock music, but it is informed by a higher standard of musicality
than most bands could manage.
The opening track, ‘Mediaeval Overture’ has
several discrete sections, each with a different feel and
each a complete musical thought in itself. IN this respect,
it truly is an overture, and a tour deforce of ensemble
work by Clarke, Di Meola, and Corea, with White both driving
the beat and punctuating the conversation with fierce percussive
bursts a la Tony Williams. Lenny White’s “Sorceress”
follows, a mellower tune with a heavy funk quotient (listen
to Di Meola doing funky comping behind his own overdubbed
solo!). White and Clarke lock into an indelible groove,
providing relief from the fast and furious passages and
more florid romanticism of many of Corea’s compositions.
The title track is one such lyrical piece, with Corea playing
some great acoustic piano. Di Meola and Clarke also go acoustic,
the latter playing part of the melodic line with a bow before
launching into some springy fingerwork that again highlights
Clarke’s originality and influence as a bassist.
Di Meola’s ‘Majestic Dance’
is a rock guitar and synth piece on a par with Jeff Beck’s
“Freeway Jam”, which is hardly surprising since
Beck was releasing classic albums such as Blow by Blow and
Wired around this time. Al demonstrates his incredibly fast,
but still very clean, technique in a piece that rocks out
and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Stanley Clarke’s
‘The Magician’ is a powerful piece of music
that rocks out hard while also featuring some beautiful
melodies and, of course, some excellent playing by Clarke.
Corea’s rather epic ‘Duel of the Jester and
the Tyrant” concludes the album, and it’s a
multi-faceted composition much like the opening overture
that takes things out with a high energy level.
While prog rock was running its course around
this time, with groups like Yes on hiatus (between Relayer
and Going for the One), ELP fiddling about with
pompous string sections, Genesis on the way to becoming
a different band entirely, and King Crimson seemingly completely
out of commission. The ascendancy of groups that utilized
some of prog rock’s lengthy song structures while
remaining essentially pop bands, like Kansas and Supertramp,
were in ascendency, and most jazz ‘fusion’ was
basically becoming either disco or morphing into what would
soon be called ‘quiet storm,’ later to be labeled
‘smooth jazz.’ It’s possible that RTF
might have managed another album or two on the level of
Romantic Warrior, but ultimately the group imploded.
Many narratives suggest that Clarke’s decision to
leave the Church of Scientology led Corea to break up RTF,
and that may have had some influence. In any case, all of
the members of the group released successful solo projects
following the demise of RTF.
Clarke released the album School Days,
long considered a must-hear album for all bassists, and
now a bona fide classic. He continued to release albums
fairly regularly throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s,
even though fusion was largely out of style in the jazz
world for much of this time. Clarke did quite a bit of movie
and television soundtrack work as well. In 2007 he released
Toys of Men, a concept album about war that recaptured
much of the excitement and drive of the old RTF sound.
Lenny
White recorded two solo albums as a leader following the
demise of RTF. Venusian Summer and Big City
are still well-regarded fusion albums today. Though
he recorded rarely in the ‘80s, he did release several
albums in the 1990s as well as developing a ride cymbal
for Istanbul Agop. He has also played and toured with a
number of top jazz and fusion musicians.
Al Di Meola initially released a series of
solo albums that combined the fast, rock-driven guitar sound
he’d developed with RTF with Mediterranean and Spanish
influences. Land of the Midnight Sun and Elegant
Gypsy developed more in this direction, which was further
explored on Casino and Splendido Hotel.
A key player in the development of what would come to be
known as shred guitar, Di Meola has largely moved away from
such playing, preferring to spend more time developing his
acoustic playing and experimenting with classical influences.
On his recent albums for Heads Up International, Di Meola
has combined his electric work with his acoustic leanings
to create some of his best and most mature musical statements.
Chick Corea, of course, went on to do many
things following RTF. In 1977 he released Musicmagic
under the RTF moniker, though only he and Clarke remained
from the previous lineup. Original member Joe Farrell returned,
and Corea’s wife, Gayle Moran, provided the first
vocals on an RTF record since Light as a Feather.
This group toured a released a live album and then disbanded.
The Corea/Clarke/Di Meola/White RTF regrouped briefly in
1983 for some live performances, but released no new album.
And that was the end of Return to Forever, one of jazz fusion’s
most legendary bands…
…Until the summer of 2008, when the
classic RTF lineup regrouped for a tour of the United States
and Europe. Concord Records has released the 2 CD set Return
to Forever: The Anthology, a collection of tracks from
the classic lineup’s four studio recordings (in fact,
it contains the albums Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy
and Romantic Warrior in their entirety, as well
as four tracks from each of the other two albums). All of
the tracks have been remastered as well as remixed by Corea
and Clarke, sounding clean, clear, and generally better
than ever. The Anthology’s release provides
those who were not around at the time of the group’s
heyday to hear what all the fuss was about. For those who
were there, it’s an opportunity to lay back, tune
in, and remember when it seemed like almost anything was
possible in the world of music.
Romantic
Warrior pushed the RTF sound and concept as far as
it could go, and for the first time the band was presented
simply as ‘Return to Forever,’ whereas the previous
album were all credited to ‘Return to Forever featuring
Chick Corea.’ In other words, the band as a whole
had a sufficient identity and following to stand as a unit,
independent of Corea’s name. The album is considered
by some to be the high watermark of progressive jazz-rock
fusion, while others criticize it for emphasizing technique
at the expense of musicality. Certainly the album’s
performances sound like they could have been imagined by
any of several rock bands, from Yes to Rush to Genesis,
but almost no other band could have carried off some of
the album’s faster unison instrumental passages, and
the precise, frequent changes of mood and tempo were only
accomplished by a few other bands. This is unquestionably
rock music, but it is informed by a higher standard of musicality
than most bands could manage. 
Lenny
White recorded two solo albums as a leader following the
demise of RTF. Venusian Summer and Big City
are still well-regarded fusion albums today. Though
he recorded rarely in the ‘80s, he did release several
albums in the 1990s as well as developing a ride cymbal
for Istanbul Agop. He has also played and toured with a
number of top jazz and fusion musicians.
Elegant
Gypsy developed more in this direction, which was further
explored on Casino and Splendido Hotel.
A key player in the development of what would come to be
known as shred guitar, Di Meola has largely moved away from
such playing, preferring to spend more time developing his
acoustic playing and experimenting with classical influences.
On his recent albums for Heads Up International, Di Meola
has combined his electric work with his acoustic leanings
to create some of his best and most mature musical statements.