No Mystery
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:
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No Mystery
- Artist: Return to Forever
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1975 01
- Total Time: 42:11
- Type: Instrumental
- Genre: Jazz
Review
The fourth edition of Return to Forever was a band that emphasized the screaming wah-wah guitar of Al Di Meola and every electric keyboard Chick Corea could get his hands on to play furiously fast runs. Where the initial, airy Flora Purim/Airto/Joe Farrell edition gave way to the second undocumented group featuring Earl Klugh, and the third band with electric guitarist Bill Connors, this RTF was resplendently and unapologetically indulgent, ripping through riffs and charted, rehearsed melodies, and polyrhythms like a circular saw through a thin tree branch. Their immediacy and visceral power is why rock audiences were drawn to them, impressed by their speed-demon vagaries as much as their concern for musicality. Thank goodness No Mystery had more than its share of toned-down acoustic moments, as well as the powerhouse fighter jet stance that most of their fans craved. It's not nearly as balanced as the previous album Where Have I Known You Before?, but expounds on those themes -- inspired by Neville not Harry Potter -- in a more progressive though louder manner. The bold, dancing, and funky "Dayride" in a higher octave and vocal-type keyboard range perfectly identifies the group sound in a scant three-plus minutes. The two-part, 14-minute "Celebration Suite" gives you a larger view of the classical Bartok/Chopin influence of Corea, and the dramatic medieval or regal stance they alchemized with so many keyboard sounds. It's pseudo-funky, Spanish in a 6/8 rhythm, wailing with Di Meola leaping forth in true guitar hero form, with some group-oriented perfunctory subtleties and complex lines. The title track is the jewel, an acoustic romp through fields of flowers with Lenny White on marimba buoyed by a beautiful, lilting, memorable melody and shifting loud and soft dynamics -- a classic in the repertoire and a fan favorite. The tromping beat of "Jungle Waterfall" supersedes Stanley Clarke's lithe lines, while noise keyboards dominate the silly "Sofistifunk." Corea's acoustic piano is featured on the chordal, grandiose solo "Excerpt from the First Movement of Heavy Metal," and in duet with Clarke. the improvised "Interplay" shows a more spontaneous rather than rehearsed side of these brilliant musicians. Over time, No Mystery yields mixed results, where initially they were viscerally driven and ultimately impressive. The next phase of the group, as indicated by this recording, would take them into even more technologically dominated music. ~ Michael G. Nastos, Rovi| No Muss...No Fuss (1985 Album by Donnie Iris) | |
| No Mystery (1990 Album by Rick Cua) |
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No Mystery
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No Mystery
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| No Mystery | ||||
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| Studio album by Return to Forever | ||||
| Released | 1975 | |||
| Recorded | January, 1975 at Record Plant Studios, N.Y. | |||
| Genre | Jazz fusion | |||
| Length | 42:57 | |||
| Label | Polydor | |||
| Producer | Chick Corea, Shelly Yakus | |||
| Return to Forever chronology | ||||
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [1] |
No Mystery (1975) is the fifth studio album by influential jazz-rock fusion band Return to Forever.
Return to Forever's fifth album is their most varied. While the production is similar to the album's predecessor, Where Have I Known You Before, the sheer variety of compositions gives this record a distinctly different feel. All members of the group contributed compositions to this album. Side A contains heavily funk-influenced material composed by each member of the group, whereas Side B is filled by Chick Corea compositions, beginning with the acoustic title track and ending with the epic "Celebration Suite". The group won the Best Jazz Performance by a Group Grammy Award in 1975 for this album.
The album begins with the Stanley Clarke composition "Dayride", which is in the jazz-funk vein that he would explore further on his solo recordings. The next track, "Jungle Waterfall", was co-composed by Corea and Clarke. Like "Dayride", it is a funky piece with a strong melody. The third song is Di Meola's first recorded composition, entitled "Flight of the Newborn". It is a longer song, with a laid-back, swaggering groove, and ample space for solos. Di Meola's solos are possibly some of the first examples of true shredding recorded with electric guitar - an approach he would expand on in later albums. The fourth track is Lenny White's "Sofistifunk", which seems to be based around a synthesizer's "sample and hold" function, triggering random sequences of notes, while the bass and drums build syncopated rhythms around it. The last song on Side A bears the unusual title "Excerpt from the First Movement of Heavy Metal". While certainly not heavy metal, the track features the band in a high-energy in-studio jam, bookended by Chick Corea's raucous, classically-influenced unaccompanied piano solo.
Side B begins with the title track, which is an acoustic Chick Corea composition. It has a very strong melody and features only few bars of improvisation. Slow, lyrical moments, in which Clarke plays with a bow, are followed by parts with rapid unison lines played by Corea and Di Meola. The following track is the short "Interplay" - an acoustic "conversation" between Corea's piano and Clarke's bass. The last 14 minutes of the album are taken by Corea's "Celebration Suite", which features a strong Spanish feel in its melody. The intro of the song features Corea on solo Yamaha organ, followed by marching-style snare drums played by Corea and Lenny White. This composition can be seen as the predecessor of the equally celebratory "Spanish Fantasy" from Corea's acclaimed solo album My Spanish Heart.
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Contents
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Trivia
Stanley Clarke would later re-record "Dayride" with background vocals for his solo album Modern Man released in 1978.
Track listing
- "Dayride" (Clarke) – 3:25
- "Jungle Waterfall" (Corea, Clarke) – 3:03
- "Flight of the Newborn" (Di Meola) – 7:23
- "Sofistifunk" (White) – 3:51
- "Excerpt from the First Movement of Heavy Metal" (Corea, Clarke, White, Di Meola) – 2:45
- "No Mystery" (Corea) – 6:10
- "Interplay" (Corea, Clarke) – 2:15
- "Celebration Suite part I" (Corea) – 8:27
- "Celebration Suite part II" (Corea) – 5:32
Personnel
- Chick Corea – acoustic piano, electric piano, clavinet, Yamaha organ, synthesizers, snare drum, marimba, vocals
- Stanley Clarke – electric bass, acoustic bass, Yamaha organ, synthesizer, vocals
- Lenny White – drums, percussion, congas, marimba
- Al Di Meola – electric guitar, acoustic guitar
with
- Shelly Yakus – engineer
- Tom Rabstenek – mastering
- Bill Levy – cover art direction
References
- ^ Nastos, Michael G. (2011 [last update]). "No Mystery - Return to Forever | AllMusic". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/no-mystery-r205292/review. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
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