Romantic Warrior

This is a Classic Fusion Jazz album! Listened to it thousands of time (probably) as a young adult. And, it was one of the most amazing concert (and I have been to some great ones!) I have ever been to. Return to Forever of this era was one of the best bands ever! And, this is easily their best album ever!When Al Dimiola, Lenny White, Stanley Clark, and Chick Corea were totally and absolutely in sync with the lightening fast riffs... OMG! It blew me away!!! And, is a memory that stays with me 40 years later.

5 Stars = MasterpieceReturn to Forever is a band I got familiar with very late in the game. I had heard of them as early as Junior High school in the mid 70's, but did not pick up any of their material until around ten years ago, & that was a compilation that really did not perk my interest, so it was probably five years ago when I bought "Hymn for the Seventh Galaxy" & "Romantic Warrior," both outstanding albums!"Romantic Warrior," probably is my favorite fusion album of all time, & one of my top twenty favorite albums, period. Funny thing though, it was only about 3 or 4 years ago that I really got into it. I had been to a bar & ran into a buddy of mine, we lit up a number before I left, then I went home. It was a warm summers night, not a cloud in the sky, I had a compact stereo outside I'd listen to in the warm months (little bugger kicked ass!!!) & I threw on "Romantic Warrior," WOW, it was like I had sex for the first time! The album just blew me away! The musicianship, the melodies, the time changes, the totally ethereal experience was sublime beyond all reason! Each & every song a true individual, but greater as a whole whole! I was hooked & hooked good! My mind just opened up like a giant vortex & sucked all it could of the sweet opium scented sound that was floating into my ears from my speakers! Talk about a revelation! "Romantic Warrior" just did not stop, nor I with it! It's a true love affair that will stand the test of time!I can't emphatically recommend "Romanic Warrior" enough! It is a perfect album of perfect instrumental/musical ideas complimenting a genre which is seldom perfected. A true treasure for those inclined to submit their selves to a grand listening experience that is at once very demanding, but once entered into freely, surprisingly accessible! A true fusion lovers experience, not to be missed by true fusion lovers!

I have some of Al's later work (Kiss My Axe etc.) but this shows how talented he was many years before I discovered those. This is beautiful music. I almost hate to say it (perhaps because it is still new and fresh to me) but I might enjoy this more than any of his other work. E.g. I think I'm giving Elegant Gypsy a 3.5/4 but more listening is required to be fair.

Chick Corea was naming too many of his experiments at the time "Return to Forever". But, this incarnation featuring Al DiMeola (guitars), Stanley Clarke (basses) and Lenny White (drums) was his most ingenious experiment ever! Romantic Warrior stands alone as possibly the best album of all time!!! Its mix of jazz and rock, combined with the elements of classical and medieval music (as attacked from a '70s Art Rock perspective on a level of Pink Floyd, Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Rush) makes this a stand-out, miles-apart masterpiece that will never be rivaled!! It still amazes me how these four guys blended complex and well-layered compositions with a standard of casual listen-ability, making the album as easy to enjoy as it is impressive from the standpoint of a classically-trained musician. As I mentioned, even if you're a fan of such '70s prog rock bands as Pink Floyd, Yes, ELP or Rush, this is music that will positively blow your mind! Stellar performances by all four band members, intricate writing, power and brilliance!!! If you like jazz/rock fusion, this is THE album to have!!! It is the standard that no one else will ever match!!!

The first time hearing this CD I enjoyed it beginning to end

Favorite band of all time. Somehow the disc went missing, so when I opened the CD case I had to get a new one!

Amazing music, tight playing, super creative. Saw them play this album.

I have this album on vinyl from years ago. In the mid to late 70s it seemed that all the local stereo shops (back before decent quality sound was widely available in big box stores) this album was one of the standards used for demonstration to show off good systems. I'm not a huge jazz fan but I like Return to Forever and this album was expertly transferred to CD and I'm glad to have it minus the vinyl surface noise.

Love it ahhh 😌 the memories

Bought this on vinyl in 1979 and finally got around to the digital edition. A must have for any Corea/RTF fans.

5€ und ein paar Zerquetschte habe ich beim Bestellen dieses Meilensteins moderner Jazz-Musik damals bezahlt.Es ist mir manchmal geradezu peinlich, für so wenig Geld soviel grandiose Musik zu bekommen. Man fühlt sich fast schon wie ein Dieb! Genauso geht`s mir auch mit "Romantic Warrior". Alleine die Aufmachung (Booklet + CD-Hülle) ist schon mindestens einen * Wert. Aber auch musikalisch gibt es hier überhaupt nichts auszusetzen. Keyboardlastiger Jazz: Mal treibend, oft entspann(t)end, immer interessant... Es sei denn beim Hörer handelt es sich um einen "Orthodoxen", den die Keyboards stören. Alle anderen können bedenkenlos Zugreifen.

J'aime toujours beaucoup écouter cet album que j'avais acheté en 1976 à sa sortie. La pochette est très belle avec son chevalier en armure du XVème siècle. Le son était déjà très bon sur le vinyle et je m'en servais pour faire croire aux copains de l'époque (que sont-ils devenus?) que ma chaine-hifi était bonne! (quelle bouse, qu'en j'y repense...)J'ai lu que cet album était forcément mauvais parce que Chick Corea était adepte de la secte de scientologie, honnêtement je ne vois pas bien le rapport! ( totalement athée, je ne suis peut-être pas très objectif, étant seulement addict des morilles et des grands Bourgognes).Bien qu'utilisant des synthés d'époque ( Moog, Polymoog, ARP ), le son n'a pas trop vieilli. Peut-être parce que Corea les utilise très souvent d'une façon percussive et rythmique ( ce sont souvent les sons en nappes de cette époque qui ont mal vieilli ) et puis les passages au piano acoustique compensent largement cette désuétude supposée. Stanley Clarke est impérial et distille avec son Alembic ( mais aussi à la contrebasse joué parfois à l'archet ) des sons encore fantastiques aujourd'hui.Le très jeune Al Di Meola (Les Paul à l'époque) n'est pas un manche non plus: hyper virtuose, mais très lyrique aussi, ce qui était assez rare dans le jazz-rock de l'époque ( non, je ne pense pas à McLaughlin! ). Lenny White est impeccable à la batterie, mais je ne suis pas un spécialiste, celui que je connaissais ayant disparu du web amazonien.Pour du jazz-rock de la grande époque, la musique est étonnament très composée, très structurée, parfois proche du progressive-rock ( on pense à la sophistication d'un Gentle Giant ), c'est d'ailleurs l'album de RTF qui a eu le plus de succès commercial. Bien que très électrique en général, il y a aussi de très beaux passages acoustiques (Romantic Warrior).A la première écoute, la musique pourrait paraître un peu froide, intellectuelle, comme certains quatuors de musique de chambre. Il n'en est rien, et pour moi, Romantic Warrior reste une très grande réussite du jazz-rock (jazz-fusion si on préfère) de cet époque.

Not open the CD yet. But service-wise the package is sturdy enough to protect the item in long-distance transport. It is a small detail but makes the seller Nagiry stand out among the competitors from whom recently I received 2 orders with the CD case broken inside of the package. So Nagiry do not switch to bad quality packaging a little bit expensive or compromise in your margin will make your client stay.