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To go back and look at this music for a second time, in a new time and new space, is pretty special. -Lenny White |
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Where Have I Known You Before
"[Playing together again] was like riding a bicycle [laughs]. It sounded great from the first rehearsal," says White. "The first day my cymbals didn't arrive, so I set up the drums and we just went over notes. We just played and it was like we never stopped playing. We had to re-familiarize ourselves with the actual notes because we haven't played them in 25 years but it was really great immediately."
"At first, I just wanted to play 'Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy' [the title track from the 1973 LP that was White's first outing with RTF]. Then, as we started to re-investigate these tunes, I found that all of them are kinda cool to play," says White. "What's interesting to me is I go to shows where the musician has maybe a couple albums and two or three hits, and when they come on people go crazy. But then you get a band like Santana, where everybody knows all the tunes and is into it the whole show. It's going to be interesting for us to play, and though there'll be new fans, there's also people who will know every tune. I wonder if they'll say, 'They changed that! They didn't do it that way on the record!'"
It's a fair concern given how many listeners (this writer included), spent long hours growing intimate with their music, gazing lovingly over the evocative illustrations on the vinyl sleeves and pondering the liner notes. For some, things like the slow fade into "Theme to the Mothership" that suddenly assaults you with speed and heady gravity is part of a personal soundtrack tied to a crucial turning point in their listening. The details, small and large, with this band are crucial and cumulative. Return To Forever holds up to that kind of scrutiny and private welcome from listeners, benefiting from the bridge their thoughtful packaging and careful musical choices (synthesizer tones, drum sound etc.) created for their sometimes challenging, unorthodox music.
"I miss that whole package. I personally like the way vinyl sounds better than CDs, but that whole experience of reading liner notes and everything was something you shared with us when you bought our albums. That was great, and the problem is that's been taken out of the equation. It's not even CDs anymore, you just download stuff," laments White. "It's not just a bridge to the music, it personalizes the people making the music when you find out some information about them. Then, while you're listening to the music that added detail really connects you to the tunes."
"Of the five or six seminal bands that [jazz-fusion] comes out of, we spoke to the people a little bit more. We were a little more personable," says White. "With Mahavishnu [Orchestra], John McLaughlin announced the tunes. With Weather Report, they didn't announce the tunes. With the Headhunters, Herbie Hancock announced the tunes. With Lifetime, Tony Williams announced the tunes. But, with Return To Forever, everybody announced the tunes. We told jokes and made it light, and then played some really heavy music after that. How can you take a guy in a tuxedo t-shirt too seriously? I'm sitting there in a tuxedo t-shirt on and playing notes at 90 miles per hour [laughs]. You can't take that guy seriously!"
Continue reading for more on Return To Forever...
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