Return To Forever - Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy (1973) LP Polydor

I grew up with a lot of Jazz-Fusion in the house - Jeff Lorber et al - and as a youngster into '80's pop and then '80's hip-hop and late '80's metal, the Jazz-Fusion thing didn't really take my by storm. As it was, it was my dad's music and our relationship when I was a kid was strained. I was a difficult kid and my dad was a difficult guy and we were naturally adversarial. It wasn't until my mid-twenties that we started to reconnect - after I had done a good bit of growing up.

He bought me The Jeff Lorber Collection on CD and so many of the tracks brought back memories of a comfortable house and what I have come to call 'cerebral Sundays' - ones you spend reflecting and thinking rather than late brunch and drinking. Not that its a religion or anything, but I like Sundays to be about chilling hard and reflecting. And West Wing episodes at night.

I bought quite a few Jeff Lorber and Westher Report records over the years and only recently started listening to fusion on Sundays again with Linda when we are zipping around town doing errands and drinking coffee.

Chick Corea featured on some Lorber recordings (most notably Soft Space) and was the main reason I started to look at Return To Forever. I picked up a few records, but this, their third album has easily become my favorite.

It's more Jazz-Rock and Funk than true Fusion, but whatever you term it, it's fantastic. The songs are well-crafted and driving, moody without being too demanding like many Weather Report songs (heavy horn stabs, fast-paced solos) and have a cool kind of space-rock-jazz thing happening, like Hawkwind-meets-jazz.


The titular track is one of the best on the album and has a heavy prog element and tremendous playing. The tone and sound of the guitar and bass on this track have that late 1960's feel - fuzzy, heavy with that distinct electric organ pulse.

Most of the other tracks on the record are a bit more laid back and mello, especially the last two on the record, 'Space Circus Parts 1 & 2' and 'The Game Maker', which does pick up at the end.

Like most Jazz-Fusion, this record can be found on the cheap and this one was bought at Dusty Groove here in Chicago, along with quite a few other fusion records on the same trip. Get some coffee and chill hard with this one.