Where Have I Known You Before

Where Have I Known You Before
Studio album by Return to Forever
Released September 1974
Recorded July–August 1974
Studio Record Plant Studios, New York City
Genre Jazz fusion
Length 41:27
Label Polydor
Producer Chick Corea
Return to Forever chronology
Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy
(1973)Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy1973		 Where Have I Known You Before
(1974)		 No Mystery
(1975)No Mystery1975
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Sputnikmusic[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[3]

Where Have I Known You Before is the fourth album by the band Return to Forever and the second since leader Chick Corea changed the line-up and moved to electric instrumentation, playing jazz fusion influenced by progressive rock.[4]

Background, instrumentation, compositions

Although Return to Forever's style remained unchanged since its previous album, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973), important changes took place in the band's sound and line-up. Chick Corea started to use synthesizers, such as the Minimoog and ARP Odyssey. An equally important change was the replacement of guitarist Bill Connors with 20-year-old Al Di Meola.[5] Connors left the band before the recording of this album to concentrate on his acoustic solo career. Another reason for his departure was his reluctance to travel; he preferred to stay in the San Francisco area.

Between the album's longer tracks were three of Corea's short piano improvisations that all bore a title beginning with "Where Have I...".[6] The first track was Stanley Clarke's "Vulcan Worlds" with melodic motifs that appeared on Clarke's second solo album Stanley Clarke during the same year. The song showed Clarke was "one of the fastest and most facile electric bassists around".[6] Each player except for drummer Lenny White took long solos. The next long track was Lenny White's composition "The Shadow of Lo", a piece with many changes in mood. The last track on Side A was Corea's "Beyond the Seventh Galaxy", a sequel to his "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy", the title track from the group's previous album. Side B began with the collective jam "Earth Juice". Most of Side B was taken up by Corea's 14-minute epic "Song to the Pharaoh Kings", a song notable for its use of the harmonic minor scale.[7] The track has a long keyboard introduction, after which Chick Corea was joined by the full band, and an "Eastern" theme appeared. Each member of the band played a long solo.

Track listing

All tracks written by Chick Corea except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Vulcan Worlds" (Stanley Clarke)7:51
2."Where Have I Loved You Before"1:02
3."The Shadow of Lo" (Lenny White)7:32
4."Where Have I Danced with You Before"1:14
5."Beyond the Seventh Galaxy"3:13
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Earth Juice" (Corea, Clarke, White, Al Di Meola)3:46
7."Where Have I Known You Before"2:20
8."Song to the Pharaoh Kings"14:21
Total length:41:27

Personnel

Technical

  • Shelly Yakus – engineer
  • Tom Rabstenek – mastering
  • Herb Dreiwitz – front cover photography

Chart performance

YearChartPosition
1974 Billboard 200 32[8]
1975 Billboard Jazz Albums 5[8]

References

  1. ↑ Yanow, Scott. "Where Have I Known You Before". allmusic.com. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  2. ↑ Campbell, Hernan M. (1 November 2012). "Review: Return to Forever - Where Have I Known You Before". sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  3. ↑ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. US: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 50. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  4. ↑ Hegarty, Paul; Halliwell, Martin (2011). Beyond and Before: Progressive Rock Since the 1960s. Continuum. p. 134. ISBN 9780826444837. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  5. ↑ Cooke, Mervyn; Horn, David (2002). The Cambridge Companion to Jazz. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge UP. p. 228. ISBN 9780521663885. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  6. 1 2 Martin, Henry; Waters, Keith (2010). Jazz: The First 100 Years, 3rd ed: The First 100 Years. Cengage. p. 335. ISBN 9781439083338. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  7. ↑ Bufe, Charles (1994). An Understandable Guide to Music Theory: The Most Useful Aspects of Theory for Rock, Jazz & Blues Musicians. See Sharp. p. 6. ISBN 9781884365003.
  8. 1 2 "Where Have I Known You Before - Chick Corea,Return to Forever | Awards | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
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