Chick Corea - 5 Original Albums [5CD Box Set] (2016)

A quintet of classic albums from keyboardist Chick Corea – all served up in a single package! First up is Light As A Feather – a classic bit of jazzy fusion from Chick Corea and the legendary Return To Forever group that included Flora Purim and Airto! The sound of the album influenced a generation, and although the album was overlooked by groovers for years, partly due to its success, it still sounds surprisingly fresh – skipping along with an amazing mix of fusion, Brazilian rhythms, and free-thinking solos! The album's overflowing with great-grooving goodies – and titles include the great original version of "Captain Marvel", plus "Light As A Feather", "Spain", and "500 Miles High". Next is another album with Return To Forever – Hymn To The Seventh Galaxy – a set that finds Chick Corea, Lenny White, Stanley Clarke and Bill Connors going all out from the get go, though our favorite track, "Space Circus" provides a nice breather, with an excellent electric piano intro, and a syncopated funky-ish groove in the main part of the tune that lives up to its name. Also includes the title track, "After The Cosmic Rain", "Captain Senor Mouse", "Theme To The Mothership" and "The Game Maker". Where Have I Known You Before is hard grooving work from the middle years of the Return To Forever group – featuring the line up with Chick Corea on keys, synths & percussion, Stanley Clarke on bass, organ and more, Lenny White on percussion and Al DiMeola on guitars. The title may lead you to believe the set is a mellow one, centered on themes of introspection given some of the song titles, but it's actually a fairly walloping set of spacey jazz rock – with heavy drums, funky bass & synths. Titles include "Vulcan Worlds", "Where Have I Loved You Before", "The Shadow Of The Lo", "Where Have I Danced With You Before", "Beyond The Seventh Galaxy", "Earth Juice" and "Song To The Pharoah Kings". No Mystery is another Return To Forever record – featuring the lineup with Chick Corea on keys, synths & percussion, Stanley Clarke on bass, organ and more, Lenny White on percussion and Al DiMeola on guitar. As you'd expect from this crew, this is some of the hardest hitting cosmic fusion that the group ever cut! Titles include "Dayride", "Jungle Waterfall", "Flight Of The Newborn", "Sofistifunk" and "Excerpt From The First Movement Of Heavy Metal". Last is the record My Spanish Heart – cast in some darker, more contemplative tones than more traditional Latin sides – but it borrows a wonderful array of modes from genres past – including bits of strings, percussion, and an overall more ambitious approach that sometimes shows up in Chick's piano work, or in the general construction of the tunes. The double-length set features a wide variety of Spanish-influenced numbers – played by Corea on acoustic piano and a variety of keyboards, with other players who include Don Alias, Jean Luc Ponty, Stanley Clarke, and Steve Gadd. Titles inclu de "Love Castle", "The Gardens", "Night Streets", "The Hilltop", "Armando's Rhumba", "Prelude To El Bozo", "Spanish Fantasy", and "My Spanish Heart".