Return To Forever CDs

Glide Magazine :

Return To Forever is back. For those in the know, a happy shiver runs up your spine, and for the uninitiated there's a world of treats in store during their upcoming summer tour that kicks off May 29 at the Paramount Theater in Austin, TX.

This seminal '70s band used jazz as a launching pad for explorations into rock, Cubanismo, space music, flamenco and much more, all of it charged with crackling electricity and jaw dropping musicianship. Like Can and Traffic, RTF doesn't always get credit for exploding music's walls and creating the borderless atmosphere that made the jam scene possible. Their fearless, jubilant sonic revolt helped show several generations of players that one needn't adhere to what anyone says is the "correct way" of doing things. Sometimes it takes visionaries like Return To Forever to help clear the sleep from our eyes.

Outside of a brief reunion in 1983, Chick Corea (keys), Al Di Meola (guitar), Stanley Clarke (bass) and Lenny White (drums) haven't played together since 1977. Each has made an indelible mark on jazz (and a few other genres) in the intervening years but there's never been anything quite like the bubbling, irresistible, even volatile chemistry they shared together for a few short, ridiculously creative years.

"A lot of times you do things, whether or not they come out good or bad, and you don't get an opportunity to revisit them. Let's say you made a mistake and you say, 'Oh well, I gotta chalk that up.' Or you did something and you had a great time but it becomes memories. To get the opportunity to revisit those sorts of situations is kind of special," says White. "To go back and look at this music for a second time, in a new time and new space, is pretty special."

This summer Return To Forever; Chick Corea (keyboards), Stanley Clarke (bass), Lenny White (drums) and Al Di Meola (guitar), reunite for an unprecedented return to the concert stage after more than 25 years apart.

To commemorate the reunion, the band have personally selected and overseen the careful remixing and remastering of their groundbreaking repertoire with The Anthology, set for release May 27, 2008 on Concord Records.

The 2-CD set features 20 tracks that propelled the band into history and made them a titanic influence on an entire generation of players. The Anthology features tunes from their classic albums; Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973), (1974), Where Have I Known You Beforethe Grammy-winning No Mystery (1975) and their top-selling gold record Romantic Warrior (1976).

The packaging of this definitive new collection is designed by Peter Gabriel's (Real World) Creative Director, Marc Bessant and includes never-before-seen photos of the band, individual recollections from each band member and a deeply honorific and entertaining narrative liner essay from Miles Davis reissue producer & Grammy-winner Bob Belden.