Where Have I Known You Before is a studio album by American jazz group Return to Forever, the first featuring guitarist Al Di Meola, and the second since leader Chick Corea switched to mostly electric instrumentation, playing music heavily influenced by progressive rock, funk and classical.
Contents
Background, instrumentation, compositions
Although Return to Forever's style remained unchanged since its previous album, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973), important changes took place in the band's sound and line-up. Chick Corea started to use synthesizers, such as the Minimoog and ARP Odyssey. An equally important change was the replacement of guitarist Bill Connors with 19-year-old Al Di Meola. Connors left the band before the recording of this album to concentrate on his acoustic solo career. Another reason for his departure was his reluctance to travel; he preferred to stay in the San Francisco area. Also, Bill was not happy with Chick pushing certain aspects of Scientology on him.
Between the album's longer tracks are three of Corea's short piano improvisations that all bore a title beginning with "Where Have I...".
The first track is Stanley Clarke's "Vulcan Worlds" with melodic motifs that appear on Clarke's second solo album Stanley Clarke, also released in 1974. The song shows Clarke is "one of the fastest and most facile electric bassists around". Each player except for drummer Lenny White took long solos.
The next long track is Lenny White's composition "The Shadow of Lo", a piece with many changes in mood. The last track on Side A is Corea's "Beyond the Seventh Galaxy", a sequel to his "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy", the title track from the group's previous album.
Side B begins with the collective jam "Earth Juice". Most of Side B is taken up by Corea's 14-minute epic "Song to the Pharaoh Kings", a song notable for its use of the harmonic minor scale. The track has a long keyboard introduction, after which Chick Corea is joined by the full band, and an "Eastern" theme appears. Each member of the band plays a long solo.
Personnel
Musicians
Chick Corea – acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hohner clavinet, Yamaha electric organ, synthesizers (ARP Odyssey, Minimoog), percussion
Al Di Meola – electric guitar, acoustic twelve-string guitar
Stanley Clarke – electric bass guitar, Yamaha electric organ, bell tree, chimes
Lenny White – drums, congas, bongos, percussion
Production
Shelly Yakus – engineer
Tom Rabstenek – mastering
Herb Dreiwitz – front cover photography