Return to Forever / Rick Wakeman

This afternoon I listened to Romantic Warrior by Return to Forever. I remember buying this album when it was released in 1976 and listening to it repeatedly for the rest of the year. At the time, I was living in Southeast Portland, Oregon, with my best friend. Listening to the album brought back many memories, mostly good but some sad. The album is intricate with astounding musicianship, and it has always been a favorite of mine.

After listening to Romantic Warrior in 1976, I bought later albums by Chick Corea (keyboards), Stanley Clarke (bass), and Al Di Meola (guitar), three of the four members of this incarnation of Return to Forever along with Lenny White (drums).

An aside: Al Di Meola, Pat Metheny (another great guitarist), and I were all born in the summer of 1954. But I am a poor player of guitar.

The Wikipedia article about the Romantic Warrior album claimed that the album was Chick Corea’s response to Rick Wakeman’s album The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

Since I didn’t remember ever listening to Wakeman’s album, which was hugely successful, I listened to it tonight. It’s a good album, but I think its style and content are very different from the Return to Forever album. Wakeman’s album has many alternative rhythms and key changes, but it is not as sophisticated as the Return to Forever album. I am going to listen to this album again.