No Mystery

No Mystery (1975) is the fifth studio album by influential jazz-rock fusion band Return to Forever.

Return to Forever's fifth album is their most varied. While the production is similar to the album's predecessor, Where Have I Known You Before, the sheer variety of compositions gives this record a distinctly different feel. All members of the group contributed compositions to this album. Side A contains heavily funk-influenced material composed by each member of the group, whereas Side B is filled by Chick Corea compositions, beginning with the acoustic title track and ending with the epic "Celebration Suite". The group won the Best Jazz Performance by a Group Grammy Award in 1975 for this album.

The album begins with the Stanley Clarke composition "Dayride", which is in the jazz-funk vein that he would explore further on his solo recordings. The next track, "Jungle Waterfall", was co-composed by Corea and Clarke. Like "Dayride", it is a funky piece with a strong melody. The third song is Di Meola's first recorded composition, entitled "Flight of the Newborn". It is a longer song, with a laid-back, swaggering groove, and ample space for solos. Di Meola's solos are possibly some of the first examples of true shredding recorded with electric guitar - an approach he would expand on in later albums. The fourth track is Lenny White's "Sofistifunk", which seems to be based around a synthesizer's "sample and hold" function, triggering random sequences of notes, while the bass and drums build syncopated rhythms around it. The last song on Side A bears the unusual title "Excerpt from the First Movement of Heavy Metal". While certainly not heavy metal, the track features the band in a high-energy in-studio jam, bookended by Chick Corea's raucous, classically-influenced unaccompanied piano solo.

Side B begins with the title track, which is an acoustic Chick Corea composition. It has a very strong melody and features only few bars of improvisation. Slow, lyrical moments, in which Clarke plays with a bow, are followed by parts with rapid unison lines played by Corea and Di Meola. The following track is the short "Interplay" - an acoustic "conversation" between Corea's piano and Clarke's bass. The last 14 minutes of the album are taken by Corea's "Celebration Suite", which features a strong Spanish feel in its melody. The intro of the song features Corea on solo Yamaha organ, followed by marching-style snare drums played by Corea and Lenny White. This composition can be seen as the predecessor of the equally celebratory "Spanish Fantasy" from Corea's acclaimed solo album My Spanish Heart.

Trivia

Stanley Clarke would later re-record "Dayride" with background vocals for his solo album Modern Man released in 1978.

Track listing

1. "Dayride" (Clarke) – 3:25
2. "Jungle Waterfall" (Corea, Clarke) – 3:03
3. "Flight of the Newborn" (Di Meola) – 7:23
4. "Sofistifunk" (White) – 3:51
5. "Excerpt from the First Movement of Heavy Metal" (Corea, Clarke, White, Di Meola) – 2:45
6. "No Mystery" (Corea) – 6:10
7. "Interplay" (Corea, Clarke) – 2:15
8. "Celebration Suite part I" (Corea) – 8:27
9. "Celebration Suite part II" (Corea) – 5:32

Personnel

• Chick Corea – acoustic piano, electric piano, clavinet, Yamaha organ, synthesizers, snare drum, marimba, vocals
• Stanley Clarke – electric bass, acoustic bass, Yamaha organ, synthesizer, vocals
• Lenny White – drums, percussion, congas, marimba
• Al Di Meola – electric guitar, acoustic guitar

with

• Shelly Yakus – engineer
• Tom Rabstenek – mastering
• Bill Levy – cover art direction

References