Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Return To Forever
Label: Polydor Records
Released: 1975
Running time: 42:57
Rating: 4.5/5
With their fifth studio album, »No Mystery«, American jazz rock fusion giants Return To Forever created one of their most magnificent achievements, one that earned them a Grammy for best jazz performance by a group. The legendary quartet, made up of keyboard wizard Chick Corea, guitar wunderkind Al Di Meola, bass innovator Stanley Clarke and Lenny White, a drum laboratory in miniature, outdid themselves once again and cut an album that went down in the annals of jazz rock fusion above all as one of the most diverse records in the genre’s history. By this point the band members had built up an incredible creative and performing chemistry, which helped produce the most stylistically eclectic Return To Forever album.
What contributed most to that was the fact that every member of the band submitted compositions for »No Mystery« and showed off their signature instrumental styles on individual tracks, blending them into an almost perfect fusion harmony that drew on elements of jazz, rock, funk, Latin music and classical. The first half of the album, dominated by tracks with a heavy emphasis on funk rhythmic patterns, features contributions from all the members of the group, while the second half is dominated by Chick’s compositions. As almost always with the important albums where Chick left his mark, »No Mystery« is not short on typical Latin rhythms and distinctive melodics, which has a big influence on the sophistication of the overall mood.
The opener »Dayride«, which Clarke re-recorded in 1978 as a solo artist with backing vocals, features Chick’s distinctive, slightly mischievous synth motif, keeping company with Al’s fiery guitar passages and Stanley’s whinnying bass lines. It’s downright incredible how Lenny, with his complex drumming where ‘something is always going on’, fills the entire space, while some backing vocals can occasionally be heard in the background. »Jungle Waterfall« is also ruled by pronounced funk rhythmic nuances, with Al’s vivid guitar variations playing the central connecting role, while maestro Corea, laying down delicate keyboard textures, makes sure a playful melody unfolds.
»Flight Of the Newborn« was the first composition of Al’s career and contains one of the earliest examples of the guitar technique known as ‘shredding’, characterized by almost supersonic guitar soloing, a style that would later often be associated with Di Meola. There are quite a few similar displays of shredding on »No Mystery«, but luckily it never comes off as pretentious and keeps the individual arrangements tied together. With »Sofistifunk«, the title already tells you it’s basically sophisticated funk with touches of jazz, featuring some slightly quirky keyboard improvisations. These are locked in a constant struggle with Al’s ‘supersonic’ electric guitar creations, while branching, complex rhythmic variations keep the structure of this piece as lively as can be.
»Excerpt From The First Movement Of Heavy Metal«, despite its title, of course has nothing to do with heavy metal, unless you count Al’s fiery, at times almost hard rock-sounding guitar passages, but it’s still Chick’s shrewd variations on electric piano that take center stage here. Lenny’s blazing drum fills eventually set up the closing instrumental cataclysm. The title track, »No Mystery«, is marked by a dreamy and at times almost ethereal atmosphere, where Chick’s fast-fingered keyboard improvisations play the key role, while the contribution of the Clarke-White rhythm tandem is nothing to sneeze at either, especially Lenny, who improvises on percussion, mainly congas and marimba, to subtly preserve the fragile rhythmic balance. Al’s contribution, this time on acoustic guitar, sits a bit in the background and only shows up in the closing section.
On »Interplay«, Chick’s subtle electric piano touches and Stanley’s ‘souped-up’ bass improvisations battle it out for the lead. Two extremely ambitious compositions follow, linked to each other and the shared fruit of Chick’s extraordinary compositional genius. »Celebration Suite, Part 1« more or less foreshadows what would happen on the next Return To Forever album, the masterpiece »Romantic Warrior« (1976), since a big improvisational showdown takes place here among all four instrumentalists. With combative variations on their respective instruments, the band members square off to see who can show off the greater solo mastery and the higher level of instrumental sophistication, but in the end the fight has no real winner. Besides a Latin touch, the complex atmosphere has a slightly oriental flavor, a side effect of the reign of pentatonic rhythmic nuances. »Celebration Suite, Part 2« is a rhythmically daring continuation of the »Celebration« suite, where, amid the wild improvisational battle, it’s again very hard to single out any one instrumental contribution, but Al’s killer guitar shredding could be highlighted, which set the standard for later, similar feats by classic rock and heavy metal guitar heroes.
»No Mystery« is a masterpiece from the golden years of jazz rock fusion and one of the key achievements of the classic Return To Forever lineup, which by this point had stopped functioning as Chick’s backing band, since every member of the legendary group had become an equal composer and, as such, had (finally) earned equal billing. Mr. Corea, who won a Grammy in 1975 for »No Mystery« in the category of best instrumental jazz performance, spent quite a bit of time at that point reining in the young, eager-to-prove-himself Di Meola, whose guitar artistry, alongside the simultaneous start of his solo career, began to seriously threaten Chick’s status as the star of this unforgettable band.
Lineup
Chick Corea – electric piano, piano, organ, synthesizer, marimba, backing vocals
Al Di Meola – electric and acoustic guitar
Stanley Clarke – bass guitar, organ, backing vocals
Lenny White – drums, percussion
Production
Chick Corea and Shelly Yakus
Track list
1. Dayride (3:25)
2. Jungle Waterfall (3:03)
3. Flight Of The Newborn (7;23)
4. Sofistifunk (3:51)
5. Excerpt From The First Movement Of Heavy Metal (2:45)
6. No Mystery (6:10)
7. Interplay (2:15)
Celebration Suite:
…8. Part I (8:27)
…9. Part II (5:32)
