Customer Reviews

Beneath the Mask

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is in my opinion one of Chick Corea's best albums to date and certainly one of the best by the Elektric Band. There's no way you can go wrong when the band has the best on each instrument. Dave Weckl on drums, John Pattitucci on Bass, Frank Gambale on Guitar, Eric Marienthal on Saxes and, of course, Chick on keyboards. This album happened right after Chick purchased his Yamaha SY99 and his experimentations with it are just outstanding. (just listen to "99 Flavors"!) I had the pleasure/honor to see these five artists perform the music from this album on tour at Glassboro State College (now Rowan University). I can tell you first-hand that Dave Weckl plays the entire beginning of "Jammin E Cricket" alone (the bass licks are sampled and triggered by electronic drum pads). It's absolutely wild. This is some of the best modern jazz playing that you will hear. PERIOD! If you like jazz with a rock/funk/latin edge, then buy this album! NOW!!!

Of the six Elektric Band studio releases, this is still my favorite. Amazing playing, great songwriting and outstanding engineering make this an incredible fusion disc.

This release is more of a band effort with Patitucci and Weckl collaborating on six of the ten songs. There is quite an assortment of tunes... funky grooves on "Beneath the Mask" and "Jammin E. Cricket, the lush atmosphere of "A Wave Goodbye", Latin influence on "Free Step", all out shredding on "Charged Particles", and the syncopated rhythms and time changes of "Illusions". The order of songs is perfect as every song compliments the next and the entire CD flows wonderfully.

This is a must-have for any fusion collection.

This album is no joke! I have been listening to this album since I was like 3 years old. Since then I have come to realize that these guys are way bad. They know their stuff and once again prove to be the best virtuosos in the music business. This music may be viewed as cheesy or too commercialized, but really who cares. The virtuosity that these guys display is amazing, and the music is so darn funky. If only music was still produced like this nowadays. Take the track "Jammin E. Cricket" for example. Now that is one funky tune. Pair that up with "99 Flavors" and you've got yourself a winner. Chick nows how to flaunt his stuff and he knows how to let his guys show off too. Frank Gambale gets some good guitar work in the super fusiony tune "Charged Particles", plus he gets some funky work done in my favorite song "Jammin E. Cricket". This is one great album, and I'd totally recommend that you buy it. If your new to jazz, buy it! If you like funky music, buy it! Heck I'd buy it just for "Jammin E. Cricket"! Great Album!!!! Get it!!!

"Beneath The Mask" would be the last album that the "classic" Elektric Band would record for 12 years, and after their previous 2 outings featured Chick on a grand piano, he obtained an electric midi-Rhodes piano and the amazing Yamaha SY-99 synthesizer,and as a result,the album was punchier, funkier and more direct-to-the-point than their previous two outings "Eye Of The Beholder" and "Inside Out".

As usual, one band member was featured on the lion's share of the cuts. Electric guitar was a large focus on this collection, so Frank Gambale came to the fore, contributing excellent solos on "Little Things That Count", "Lifescape", "Free Step", an acoustic contribution on "A Wave Goodbye", as well as part of the trade-offs on "Illusions".

His finest moment, however, is one of the CCEB's greatest accomplishments as a combo, "Charged Particles". The band was amazingly tight, the tempo changes and shifts handled beautifully, and it all sets up a Gambale showcase, where he combines alternate picking along with his classic "sweep style" for 5 minutes and change of sheer fusion bliss.

Eric Marienthal found a new voice as well, opting for soprano sax as opposed to his normal alto, the title track, "One Of Us Is Over 40", "Jammin' E. Cricket" and "Illusions" all benefit from this stylistic change.

John Patitucci holds the bottom end on bass and "Jammin" E. Cricket" shows what he can do.

Dave Weckl's drumming, as always is superlative and energetic.

Chick himself was obviously having a lot of fun, best showcased on "99 Flavors" which he composed as a sample tune for Yamaha's SY-99 keyboard before recording it with the group.

Though they would not reunite until 2004's "To The Stars" (see my review for it), they finished this phase with a bang. 5 stars.

Great sounds from great musicians. I am a Bassist, so, I am particularly fond of John Patitucci on Six String Bass and Dave Weckl on Drums. If you like Contemporary Jazz, This is a good one.

I hadn't listened to Chick Corea in decades and decided to give him another try. As soon as this CD began playing, I knew I had made the right decision. From the very first notes, I realized I was in fusion heaven. This is a magnificent group of high caliber musicians playing top notch jazz/rock fusion and the music is as good as anyone could desire. I found this following the path of Dave Weckl who is a superb drummer. Chick has had so many groups during his long career and this was his "electrik" era throwing together Frank Gambale (guitar) Dave Weckl (drums) Eric Marienthal (sax) and John Patitucci (bass). I would put this up against anything Weather Report, Crusaders, Yellow Jackets or Spyro Gyra were doing in the fusion arena. Well written and very well played, Beneath The Mask is a winner. Hey, everyone has an opinion and a hole to put it in! - Ciao

Magical keys ... it's like Chick influenced 96.9% of ALL music since the period from the 1970's until this day, which I would vouge for 100% !!!

CRISP drums, precision Lead guitar.
Re-Enter the great 90's with a proper Jazz CD from our Maestro Mr. Chick Corea and HIS BEST BAND ever, and I rate them the best band in the whole World due to their musicianship.

The last track is the best track and will leave you thinking like "Why didn't I discover this treasure years earlier ?!", I tell you, it could've changed the path of my life for sure.

This album opened up the World of Maestro Chick Corea for me. Yet my favourite remains "Elektric Band" '84.

I love this cd so much I just had to write a review for others to know that this is easily the Chic Corea Electric Bands best cd from their earlier catalog. I own over 1500 cd's in my collection of mostly jazz and fusion and this cd never gets old. I still listen to it all the time and it absolutely smokes from top to bottom. Every song grooves and is very inspired. This is easily some of Dave Weckl's best drumming as well as some very beautiful and melodic lines from chic corea are all over this cd. If you enjoy funky, latin and brazillian fused modern jazz fusion that just GROOVES nonstop, then by this cd. You will not be sorry and it does not have any cheesy 80's synth and programming like some of their other earlier albums. ALL the compositions are really cool and original as well and the recording quality sounds excellent too. Trust me and buy this cd, it is worth every penny.

From the second I popped this CD in, the grooves of this album just grabbed a hold of me. Every song has just a great rhythm and vibe. If you like funky, melodic, and finely tuned jazz this is IT!
There is just no one like Chick on this whole planet, one of my favorites of all time.

Here Elektric Band performs its most sophisticated jazz-funk cuts. The problem with album is that second half of tracks are not so good as first half. But the average quality of tracks is still so good that I recommend this album for all fusion fans. If we compare this album to boring Weather Report albums (like their second self-titled album relased in 1982) we can see how good music this actually is. All tracks of first half (1-5) are great. "A Wave Goodbye" is a kind of killer and "One of Us Is over 40" is awesome too.