RTF The Mothership Returns

[Gheorghe]

Chick Corea´s RTF was very very popular when I was at high school, but I think among all those, who loved the then en vogue jazz-rock/electric jazz, the fans of RTF were a certain group.
Most of my school-buddies were more into Hancocks "Headhunters", the Billy Cobham-George Duke stuff and sure....the Miles bands were he played mostly the trumpet connected with the "wah wah pedal". 
But one guy, his nick was Bimbo, who was a more quiet and sensitive guy, got me into RTF also, so I picked up the then recent albums "Where have I known you before" and "Romantic Warrior". Maybe I was not as enthusiastic about it like Bimbo, who stated that this music "changed his life". Well, I was not a super wise kid, but at least I thought "what can change my life if it just has started ? So let it run how it is". 
We had several discussions.......what kept us together was the love for the music, since he listened to other kinds of jazz as well, but when he started about more philosofical stuff about how to  change your life  and how the world can become a better world ....., well I think I was or still am too hedonistic for those thoughts...., I love to work, I love my family, I love my hobbies, that´s all. 
It also was the same thing  with girls:  Bimbo was nice looking, he had a slight similarity with John Travolta, so some girls might scream over him, but his "mistake" was that if he fell in love with a girl or thought he felt in love  with her, he idolized her too much and wanted to convince here that "together we will make this world a better world and will work hard to  become ideal human beings or stuff in that direction..... 
Many girls  soon got tired of that, they wanted fun and what ever else...., or got scared or unsure because of those ideals...
I told Bimbo "hey why not just f..... them girls, why all those heavy and deep thoughts.....?
Well, at least we kept in touch, listened to records and visited each other. 
About 30 years ago I lost contact, I had an increasing demandig job, a side job, a house and a family....and I don´t know in what direction he went further...
 

When my wife bought for me  this fine album with Jean Luc Ponty added (she said "I don´t know what it is, but I liked the cover photo"), I was overwhelmed, that´s just a fantastic live album with some of the stuff from "Romantic Warrior" and "Where have I known you before" ) I remembered Bimbo, the strange guy from high school and searched him on google, but without succes. He seems to have disappeared.

The combination with Jean Luc Ponty is really an ideal one, and Ponty´s own composition "Renaissance" is one of the highlights of that fantastic album. As well as Frank Gambale replacing Al DiMeola, the original guitarist. 
Stanley Clark and Lennie White still are some of the greatest musicians on bass and drums as they were then. 
An interesting aspect on CD 2 is that at some point they get into old straight ahead stuff with a typical Blakey-Jazz Messengers Beat, and then including Horace Silvers "Senior Blues". 
The combination of "Aranjuez-Spain" is wonderful, such a wealth of music. Fantastic compositions and new aspects of "Romantic Warrior" 
Highly recommended. 

[Gheorghe]

Any reason why this one doesn´t get answers or comments ? 

Is it because of Chick Corea´s non-musical "activities" ???? 

Well I would say he was such a great musician I don´t care what else he did or believed. Or would a classic-music- fan not like Mozart only because he was with a certain society, that has fans and others how don´t like it ? 

Chick Corea sure has a very important place in jazz history.

So.....no love for that album ? 

[JSngry]

Is George Clinton on this album?

[Rooster_Ties]

I’m certainly down with Mother Ship…

 

[Rooster_Ties]

More on topic, I just never got with RTF particularly — or much if any Chick, post-Miles.

I had Light as a Feather once, very early on in my listening back in college (~1990, I’m guessing), but didn’t hang onto it for more than ~10 years, iirc.

But just because it didn’t float my boat, didn’t mean it was awful either.

[Dub Modal]

The guitar sound and style kills it for me. Not a fan of the drumming style either. 

[jlhoots]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Is George Clinton on this album?

[Gheorghe]

17 hours ago, JSngry said:

Is George Clinton on this album?

....... I had to google him.....never heard about him.....

ok guys, though I didn´t understand a l l the postings, I sure apreciate Larry Young´s "Mothership" too, as I apreciate all his BN recordings, but that´s another thing.
Larry Young, during my youth was best known for his tenure with Tony William´s Lifetime. Classic BN albums were almost unavailable during that time. 

RTF had a lot of fans and being part of what happened in music than, you couldn´t exclude it and wouldn´t do so. I said I didn´t apreciate it as much as the post Miles Herbie Hancock things, but it was very good music and that certain 2014 CD is really worth listening, maybe not recommended for all - acoustic fans. 

Anyway, thank´s for finally giving your statements about it 

[JSngry]

Starting to listen to this, and it's better than I expected. But also... it's very easy to follow, a lot of boxes being checked.

But that's where the big money gigs lay, can't fault them for checking those boxes.

The only real drag for me is the rhythm. Might as well be 1979.

[BFrank]

I loved RTF 1.0 w/Flora, Airto, Farrell, Clarke. I liked 2.0 for a while, but got tired of DiMeola.

I saw them with Bill Connors and wish he had stuck around. Not sure what happened - if he left or they kicked him out. I'm sure there's a story there.

[Gheorghe]

Thanks for your replies that I really appreciate ! 

I´m still mad I missed the live thing Chick did with Dave Liebman in 1978. I saw Lieb on 2 or 3 nights live when maybe he had a few days off. 
But it seems that that world tour were Lieb played with them, was not recorded ...... I would have liked to hear that......