Return To Forever,”Musicmagic” (Floating World)-Return to Forever were one of the leading lights of the then highly influential jazz rock fusion movement during their creative heyday in the seventies, and this skilfully crafted 1977 offering was the last studio offering that they captured for posterity during the decade.Drummer Lenny White and guitarist Al DiMeola had already left the fold by this stage but founder members Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke still soldiered on regardless with a newly expanded line up, and although the finished product lacked some of the verve and confidence which had characterised their earlier commercially successful albums such as “Romantic Warrior” and “Where Have I Known You Before” the contents are still well worth investigating nonetheless.
Nikki O’Neill,”Stories I Only Tell My Friends” (Blackbird Record Label)- Inventive young singer-songwriters seem to be something of a dying breed on this side of the Atlantic but the situation couldn’t be more different in the U.S. of A., where gifted performers such as Nikki O’Neill seem to emerge on the scene with startling regularity. Chicago based R&B/Americana practitioner O’Neill marked her fairly recent relocation from Los Angeles to America’s Mid West by penning several deeply personal songs such as the acoustic “Newcomer Blues” which contrast sharply with the much more upbeat delights of “Drive” and “I Just Knew,” with lead guitarist Chris Corsale and keyboards ace Teddy Myers in sparkling form throughout.
