Where Have I Known You Before

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Where Have I Known You Before

Studio album by Return to Forever

Released

1974

Recorded

July-August, 1974, at Record Plant Studios, N.Y.

Genre

Jazz-rock fusion

Length

41:27

Professional reviews

All Music Guide link

Return to Forever chronology

Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy
(1973)

Where have I Known you Before
(1974)

No Mystery
(1975)

Where Have I Known You Before is the fourth album of Return to Forever.

The style of music has not changed much since the previous album, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy. The underlying musical idea of the band is still to create "space rock" with long solos and some funky elements. However, important changes have happened in regard of the band's sound and line-up. Both keyboardist Chick Corea and bassist Stanley Clarke have now found their own well known trademark sounds. Corea has started to use synthesizers (most of all, Moog synthesizers) and has created his own distinctive way to play them. In similar way, Clarke's bass playing has now that sound and feel which has given him his reputation among the most influential bass players ever. An equally important change in the band is the replacement of guitarist Bill Connors with Al Di Meola. (Connors wanted to concentrate on his acoustic solo career and thus left the band) Di Meola was a 19 year old boy-wonder when he joined the group. His playing is not yet as adventurous and intensive as on later albums, but he has already been given lots of solo space to show his talent. In overall, the band's sound has become more clear, which is the result of those developments described above.

Between the album's longer tracks are three of Corea's short piano improvisations that all bear a title that begins "Where Have I...". First track is Stanley Clarke's "Vulcan Worlds" that features some melody lines that also appear on Clarke's self titled solo album released same year. Long solos from each player except Lenny White are heard. Next long track is Lenny White's composition, "The Shadow of Lo", which is a complex piece that has both slow and fast moments. Last track on side-A is Corea's "Beyond the Seventh Galaxy" which is clearly a sequel for his "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy" which was a title track of the group's previous album. B-side begins with "Earth Juice" that is a collective jam in which the whole band plays. Most of the album's B-side is captured by Corea's 14 minutes long piece, "Song to the Pharoah Kings". The track has a long keyboard intro, and then the rest of the band joins in, and an "eastern" theme appears. During the piece each member of the band plays a long solo.