Where Have I Known You Before

Chick Corea, Return to Forever, Chick Corea & Return to Forever | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B0000046WZ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #100,211 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Limited edition, Japanese pressing. Universall. 2012. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blew me away in 74, November 19, 2002

By 

Old School (Buffalo, NY USA (in 74)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Where Have I Known You Before (Audio CD)

This is my favorite album by my favorite fusion artists. I was in High School when this came out. When I first heard Vulcan Worlds it just blew me away. Dimeola's quitar playing was so much different to what was being played at the time, he had balance and taste and his tone was so full and meaty. Stanley Clark's solo on Worlds was the main reason I started playing Bass. The best way I can describe his solo on Worlds is "NASTY". (If you listen you can see why Victor Wooten says his Bass playing comes from the school of Stanley Clarke more than anywhere else) I played that solo over and over on my record player, so much that I had to buy the record a couple of times. My favorite cut is Song to the Pharoah Kings (A MASTERPIECE) it's what makes the album special. It has serveral changes, infact Chick could have made at least four tunes instead of one with the music he put into that one tune. Every one got to solo on Kings except Lenny, but they way he was kicking that kit he got his off too. RTF album covers reflect the music inside, the color and the tone of the cover is the color and tone of the music inside on all of their albums. They broke up because they were all getting too big to stay in a group setting, they were all leaders. Chic tried to keep this lineup together by changing the name from RTF featuring Chic Corea to RTF. It's a shame we didn't get more albums from that 3 album lineup.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Changed my life forever, February 13, 2004

By 

David F. Ziffer (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Where Have I Known You Before (Audio CD)

How can I describe a record that changed my life forever? I was sitting in a friend's car in Buffalo while he was getting something in the dorm. Unbeknownst to me his radio was tuned to a French station from Quebec. The final track of this record, "Song to the Pharaoh Kings" came on and I had never heard anything like it. "Blown away" hardly describes the effect. At the end I prepared to memorize the artist and record, and the DJ announced it - in French! I couldn't even figure out which part of the announcement was the artist's name.

It took me two years to figure out that that song was on this album. In the intervening 30 years I've listened to the record over and over again and I never tire of it. This is the record that turned me away from rock and into the more sophisticated world of jazz forever. "Pharaoh Kings" is, in my opinion, one of the most brilliant pieces of music written, ever.

On a scale of 1 to 5, this one is 100.

P.S. Amazon has "Pharaoh" spelled wrong in the track name, so you can't find this album by searching for that song through their search engine!

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, March 31, 2004

By 

Howie "tomas" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Where Have I Known You Before (Audio CD)

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This is one of those albums that just seems to have been laying there forever, to be discovered by a group of talented musicians. It almost flows from the musicians on it own accord; they seem as surprised and inspired in playing as we are listening.

The whole band - Chick, Al DiMeola, Stanley Clark, Lenny White - are phenoms. Their skill is stratospheric. To me, as a drummer, Lenny's performance here is magical.

Remember, this album came out in the same period as John McLaughlin's most famous works - BIRDS OF FIRE and INNER MOUNTING FLAME - so these guys were feeding off of each other (much like Paul McCartney and Brian Williams were).

This album is one of the Fusion pioneer albums. The genre didn't exist before RTF and McLaughlin. It quickly sunk under its own weight with all the copycat bands, while the founding fathers moved on to better things.

I saw RTF on tour for this album; third row front; right in front of Lenny (I could see his kick drum foot working - he had on these platform shoes, playing heel-down). It was a fabulous show, even better than the album (I remember Stanley turning to Lenny and giving him the "easy, dude" hand sign: Lenny was just a monster, in his own world!).

If you buy only ONE Corea album, or even only ONE Fusion album, this is the one!

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