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Return to Forever: The Mothership Returns

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Eagle Rock Entertainment
Released: 2012.06.18
Time:
 54:02 / 58:36
Category: Jazz Fusion
Producer(s): See Artists...
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.return2forever.com
Appears with: Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola, Jean-Luc Ponty
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


Disc 1

[1] Medieval Overture (Chick Corea) - 6:03
[2] Señor Mouse (Chick Corea) - 12:10
[3] The Shadow of Lo/Sorceress (Lenny White) - 16:05
[4] Renaissance (Jean-Luc Ponty) - 19:40


Disc 2

[1] After the Cosmic Rain (Stanley Clarke) - 16:52
[2] The Romantic Warrior (Chick Corea) - 18:20
[3] Concierto De Aranjuez/Spain (Chick Corea/Joaquín Rodrigo) - 8:12
[4] School Days (Stanley Clarke) - 11:24
[5] Beyond the Seventh Galaxy (Chick Corea) - 3:44

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Stanley Clarke - Bass, Executive Producer, Liner Notes, Producer
Chick Corea - Executive Producer, Keyboards, Liner Notes, Piano, Producer
Frank Gambale - Guitar
Jean-Luc Ponty - Liner Notes, Violin
Lenny White - Drums, Executive Producer, Liner Notes, Producer

Adam Mason - Producer
Terry Shand - Executive Producer
Geoff Kempin - Executive Producer
Bill Rooney - Executive Producer, Management
Tim Cavanaugh - Producer
Travis Rogers - Engineer
Greg Calbi - Mastering
Jim Moran - Drum Technician
Eric "Stretch" Hanson - Bass Technician
Robert Trujillo - Liner Notes
Bernie Kirsch - Engineer, Monitor Engineer
Paul May - Tour Manager
Marc Bessant - Graphic Design
James "McGoo" McGregor - Stage Technician
Matt Druzbik - Lighting Director
Julie Rooney - Graphic Design
Kris Campbell - Tour Manager
Dan Muse - Liner Note Coordination
Devin Villery - Audio Technician
Rob Griffin - Tour Manager
Librado Barocio - Director

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2012 CD Eagle Records ER202572

Jazz-rock supergroup Return to Forever unveils a special new 3-disc CD/DVD set, The Mothership Returns: two audio CDs filled with over 100 minutes of carefully-selected live music, culled from over 200 performances of RTF’s 2011 planetary tour. Plus, you’ll get a bonus DVD featuring nearly two hours of unique footage, including 2 full length live song performances and a brand new documentary — Return to Forever: Inside the Music. Chick, Stanley and Lenny tell the inside stories behind the music as only they can. RTF’s classic rhythm section — Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White — add Jean-Luc Ponty and Frank Gambale to the powerhouse quintet lineup. The song selection is an RTF fan’s dream: band classics like “After the Cosmic Rain,” “Medieval Overture” and “Spain,” plus Ponty’s classic “Renaissance” and Clarke’s house-rocking “School Days.” The set is beautifully packaged in an 8-panel digipack with exclusive tour photos and essays by the band members.



When keyboardist Chick Corea announced—following a successful world tour of his reunited 1970s-era fusion juggernaut Return to Forever, which, featuring guitarist Al Di Meola, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White, included a high octane 2008 performance that was one of the best-attended in the Ottawa International Jazz Festival's three-decade history—that he'd be reuniting the earlier incarnation of the group responsible for Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (Polydor, 1973), there was plenty of buzz. He ultimately became the better-known of RTF's two guitarists—releasing three albums with the group, from 1974's Where Have I Known You Before (Polydor) to one of the decade's stone cold fusion classics, Romantic Warrior (Columbia, 1976)—yet there was still a significant contingent who favored Bill Connors' soulful, visceral approach over Di Meola's more technically proficient but often clinical gymnastics. Add to that Di Meola's well-publicized issues with the 2008 tour, along with a very decided avoidance of all but one track from Hymn and Corea's promise that this second reunion tour would right that wrong, and it seemed that 2011 was going to be a very exciting year for fusion fans.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. While Connors rehearsed with the rest of RTF—some of the results available on the bonus second disc to Forever (Concord, 2011), which documents an all-acoustic trio tour that Corea, Clarke and White embarked upon in 2009—health issues ultimately scuttled his return to the road. We may never know how well a reunited Hymn-era RTF would have been but, based on The Mothership Returns, we may never miss it.

Faced with a spot to fill in the guitar department (Di Meola was completely off the table), Corea called up old friend Frank Gambale, who'd played with the keyboardist in his late 1980s Elektric Band, and that might have been enough, since the Australian guitarist was a big fan of Hymn-era RTF and more than capable of cutting it. However, back when Connors played at the special Hollywood Bowl RTF show in 2009, for which the Forever rehearsals were conducted, Corea had also invited a couple of other guests, including violinist {Jean-Luc Ponty, another '70s-era fusion star.

The idea of expanding RTF to a quintet seemed like an inspired one, and it was; the subsequent 2011 tour, including another stop in Ottawa, found a much more relaxed Return to Forever IV—even its more casual dress reflected a show that was less an event and more about a group of friends getting together to revisit some music from the past, albeit often with new and/or expanded arrangements. The Mothership Returns' two CDs document much of the music performed during that 2011 tour, and are a refreshing reminder why it was a more enjoyable tour than the 2008 Di Meola reunion. For a set list that, in addition to two iconic tracks from Hymn— Clarke's anthemic "After the Cosmic Rain" and Corea's often-covered "Senor Mouse"—also culls materials from Where Have I Known You Before and Romantic Warrior, Gambale may actually be a better choice than either Di Meola or Connors.

Possessing grit and grease that Di Meola lacks and technical chops that were, for Connors, deficiency at the time of Hymn—though his feel more than made up for it—Gambale's more substantial jazz credentials and ability to play changes (for which Di Meola usually substituted speed and cold precision) are in full display on an 18-minute version of Romantic Warrior's title track that smokes the two versions on Returns (Eagle Rock, 2009), the live album from the 2008 reunion tour. It's also great to hear Hymn's tracks 40 years on; at the time of its recording, Clarke had yet to incorporate the thumb-popping and slapping technique that he began to use on Where Have I Known You Before; instead, his Gibson bass (a predecessor to the much cleaner and funkier Alembic that he'd begin using on subsequent RTF recordings) was a heavily overdriven, thunderous sound that left little room for subtlety. Not that Clarke's testosterone-filled playing on The Mothership Returns is understated; but there is a greater sense of dynamics on "After the Cosmic Rain," which runs the gamut from its original rock-edged (and, at times, Latin-tinged) power during Ponty's exhilarating solo, to a surprisingly swinging groove when the spotlight turns to Corea and his Fender Rhodes.

"Cosmic Rain" is also one of a number of tunes that have been given significant facelifts; while its 17 minutes are, of course, heavily disposed towards solo features for Ponty, Corea and, finally, Clarke—who contributes another of his head-scratching, light-speed solos that were a wonder back in the day but are even more so now, considering most 61 year-old hands are slowing down—there are plenty of new connecting passages and altered melodic content. True, this version of RTF has yet to work anything absolutely new into its set lists, but nobody was resting on any compositional laurels when it came to putting its current repertoire together. Even the familiar themes of "Senor Mouse" have been altered, without ever losing site of what made them so memorable in the first place.

From the first moments of Romantic Warrior's "Mediaeval Overture"—its synth-driven, episodic structure more redolent of progressive rock than jazz—White's massive tone and propulsive rhythms are the thread that tie much of this complex, largely through-composed set-opener together. And if White was a less prolific composer than Corea and Clarke at the time, Where Have I Known You Before's "Shadow of Lo" and Romantic Warrior's "Sorceress" prove he was just as compelling. Opening with a largely acoustic version of "Lo"—Ponty and Corea passing the spotlight like a tag-team baton for one of the set's more subdued high points—it's when Clarke and White segue into the greasy "Sorceress" that Mothership's 16-minute medley really kicks into gear. An unexpected slide guitar solo from Gambale leads to a lengthy piano solo where Corea playfully engages with Clarke, only to open up to an intensifying, high-velocity section where, switching to synth, the keyboardist, Ponty and Gambale (sweep-picking like his life depended on it) trade-off amiably but fervently, building to an incendiary climax, only to settle back to the greasy coda of "Lo."

As with the 2011 Ottawa show, if there's a single star to choose amongst this group of clear fusion-meisters, it's Ponty, who's clearly playing with more fire and commitment than ever. His own "Renaissance," first heard on Aurora (Atlantic, 1975), acts as an all-acoustic palate-cleanser between White's medley and the electrifying "Cosmic Rain," though as the song picks up speed it turns into yet another unequivocal show-stopper. Perhaps it's because the energy that pervades much of The Mothership Returns is expected from Corea, Clarke, White and Gambale but not so much from Ponty that the violinist's contributions are so uniformly impressive throughout a 110-minute set that closes with the one-two-three punch of Corea's "Spain" (with, perhaps, one of the stranger audience participation segments on record), Clarke's anthemic title track to his own School Days (Epic, 1976), and a short-but-relentless "Beyond the Seventh Galaxy."

Rather than include a concert DVD with nothing more than performance footage, Librado Barocio's 65-minute film, Return to Forever: Inside the Music, includes plenty of concert material, but with plenty of valuable interview footage about the history of the band and the genesis of the music interspersed. There's also live footage of Clarke's buoyant "Dayride"—the opening track to RTF's No Mystery (Polydor, 1965)—which sadly didn't make it onto The Mothership Return's CDs. The DVD also include, as bonus features, a nine-minute trailer (which includes Corea humorously recounting being introduced to Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones, but not knowing who he was), and unedited high definition concert footage with alternate versions of a 17-minute "After the Cosmic Rain" and 23-minute "The Romantic Warrior," the latter from the 2011 Montreux Jazz Festival, and both performances different than those on the CDs.

Despite the success of the 2011 tour and, now, The Mothership Returns, there's no sign of additional activity...yet. Still, with Corea, Clarke and White continuing to tour as a trio in 2012, hope remains that this incarnation will continue—and, perhaps, bring new compositions into the repertoire. Until then, The Mothership Returns is a vital and thoroughly commanding document of a tour that, from the smiles seen all around the stage in the concert footage, clearly brought the fun back to RTF and, with the core trio's continued activity, suggests a relationship well worth fostering.

By JOHN KELMAN, Published: June 19, 2012
© 2012 All About Jazz



One of the most celebrated fusion bands of all time, Return to Forever, is back with a new quintet lineup and a three disc (two CDs, one DVD) set called The Mothership Returns. The self-dubbed Return to Forever IV embarked on a world tour in 2011, highlights from which were culled for the collection's two CDs. In addition to the core lineup of keyboardist Chick Corea, bassist Stanley Clarke, and drummer Lenny White, the band now includes guitarist Frank Gambale and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty (hence the Roman numeral to denote the new incarnation).

The newest members acquit themselves rather nicely throughout the live set. Gambale fits right in with RTF, having spent years playing with Corea in the Chick Corea Electrik Band, touring and recording going all the way back to that band's second album, Light Years (1987). Gambale is also a veteran of the fusion band Vital Information.

Ponty's recording career stretches back to 1964 and includes many albums, as well as a years-long collaboration with Frank Zappa. His RTF connections include recording as a trio with bassist Clarke and former Return to Forever guitarist Al Di Meola. Ponty comes fairly close to dominating The Mothership Returns with his varied and distinctive violin solos.

The first disc features Ponty's "Renaissance," first recorded on his 1976 album Aurora but revisited by the aforementioned trio of he, Clarke, and Di Meola for The Rite of Strings (1995). His dazzling virtuosity is on full display here, but the rest of the band is definitely up to the challenge. Corea's solo is especially inventive. Two of drummer Lenny White's originals are combined for a medley, "The Shadow of Lo/Sorceress." Again, the exciting interplay among these musicians is nothing short of staggering. White and Clarke play off each other so well, and this medley as good a place as any to hear it.

Among the five tracks on the second disc, the best is a killer take on "School Days," the title track of Clarke's 1976 album. This enduring tune features jaw-dropping playing by Ponty on violin. Another great moment occurs with the call-and-response between Corea and the audience during "Spain," from 1972's Light as a Feather. Other showpieces include Clarke's "After the Cosmic Rain" (originally from 1973's Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy) and Corea's "The Romantic Warrior," taken from RTF's 1976 album of the same name.

The DVD is a treasure trove of terrific material for RTF fans. "Return to Forever: Inside the Music" is a 65 minute documentary that intersperses performance footage from the 2011 tour with interviews. The interviews mostly feature Corea, Clarke, and White, seated together. Among the cool anecdotes is the fact that White's composition "The Shadow of Lo" began life as "The Shadow of Io" (as in Jupiter's moon), but was misprinted, forever known by the incorrect name.

Also included on the DVD is a 16 minute performance of "After the Cosmic Rain," with a mind-blowing bass solo by Clarke. A 22 minute live video of "The Romantic Warrior" allows for everyone to have some nice moments, but newcomers Gambale and Ponty stand out with excellent solos. An extended trailer for the upcoming documentary The Story of Return to Forever adds some additional interview clips to the mix.

On top of all that audio and video material , The Mothership Returns includes a lengthy booklet loaded with pictures and thoughts from each of the band members. The quad-fold digipak is a compact way to house all the material. There's no doubting that this release stands as a testament to the on-going legacy of Return to Forever. Ponty, with so much prominently featured violin work, makes a special impact in particular, adding a new and exciting voice to the band.

By The Other Chad, BLOGCRITICS.ORG
Tuesday, June 19, 2012



Jazz fusion began to develop in the late sixties. At times labeled “jazz-rock”, this hybrid genre incorporated elements of funk, r&b, rock and jazz improvisation. Jazz purists have not embraced this movement, citing the populist influences. Vibraphonist Gary Burton introduced portions of this on his 1966 album, Time Machine. But it was Miles Davis who thrust fusion into the spotlight on projects like Miles In The Sky (featuring Herbie Hancock on electric piano and Ron Carter on electric bass), In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew. Other groups including Weather Report, The Tony Williams Lifetime, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return To Forever advanced this musical dialect and introduced a new generation of jazz prodigies.

Chick Corea (piano wizard with Stan Getz) formed Return To Forever in 1971. With Stanley Clarke (bass), Joe Farrell (reeds) and the husband/wife team of Airto Moreira (percussion) and Flora Purim (vocals). Their self-titled debut relied on Latin musical themes. Subsequent releases, Light As A Feather and Hymn Of The Galaxy emphasized a truer fusion mix. Over the years, the live performances have endeared the group to a large fan base.

Return To Forever – The Mothership Returns reunites the seventies band (again…there have been previous reunions) with a two CD and one DVD package.  Disc One opens with a synthesizer/electric piano (Chick Corea) propelled intro on “Medieval Overture”. After a percussive flourish, it segues into electric violin (Jean-Luc Ponty) and guitar (Frank Gambale) transitions. Drummer Lenny White and bassist Stanley Clarke are brilliantly cohesive as Corea takes off on keyboards. “Senor Mouse” starts off with an improvisational run by Corea on electric piano. Clarke’s trademark bass slapping is still refreshing. Latin, progressive rock, and even contemporary jazz come together in exciting jams. A newer member to RTF, violinist Ponty shines early on “The Shadow of Lo/Sorceress”. Then the band lays down some funk-driven grooves which offer Gambale an opportunity to adjoin some edgy runs. Then Corea explores a Spanish/classical solo that is complex and uplifting. Jazz enthusiasts will enjoy the free spirited instrumental mastery on “Renaissance” (especially Ponty).

Disc Two continues the fusion dynamics on “After The Cosmic Rain”. With dual leads by Ponty and Gambale, the track shifts several times. Mixing spacey jams with a thrusting rhythm sections, the group is synchronized to each other. Clarke adds a vampy bass that is funky and interconnected to the quintet. Another gem, “The Romantic Warrior” is hypnotic and takes full advantage of Ponty’s up-tempo jazz phrasing and Corea’s prodigious skills. These musicians intermingle flawlessly. Clarke reintroduces the title cut from his solo effort, “School Days”. His remarkable technique meshes with Gambale’s heavy rock orientation.

RTF fans will revel in the DVD footage. There is a 64-minute documentary, Return To Forever: Inside The Music, that chronicles the 2011 reunion tour. The interviews are focused on Corea, Clarke and White, and provide some detailed and anecdotal contexts to the group. There is also live footage of “After The Cosmic Rain” and “The Romantic Warrior” (with another mind-bending solo by Clarke). The image is widescreen color and b&w, and sound quality is excellent, available in Dolby Digital Stereo and DTS 5.1. There is a CD-sized booklet that contains a generous amount of photographs.

Return To Forever – The Mothership Returns is great music. It is easy to understand the clamor for their reunions.

Robbie Gerson
© Audiophile Audition
 

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