RTF Romantic Warrior-It's jazz, it's prog, no it's... (1 Viewer)

[Jim_F]

...fusion. Since it's release in 1976, Romantic Warrior by Return to Forever (Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, and Al DiMeola) has been one of my favorite albums ever. I finally laid hands on the JSACD of this title yesterday, and I am just thrilled to hear it sounding better than I've ever heard it before. Also available now is a regular CD made from the new DSD remaster which I have not yet heard.

I usually favor acoustic music over electric instruments and "synthesizers" for my SACD purchases, since I value accuracy in reproduction more for the former. This is one of a number of my exceptions, though, as it is an archival quality production of a monumental piece of modern music.

This 2-channel disc is my idea of sonic bliss. Excellent separation, detail, and depth throughout. My original vinyl copy has been long unplayable and it only saw a decent rig once in it's lifetime. My old CD copy is OK, just because I didn't want to be without some version of this album. The JSACD is stellar, but I have to admit some of my satisfaction owes to my difficulty in obtaining it.

If history is any indication, the fact that I searched for months for this item (ultimately paying the premium to obtain it through a U.K. importer) suggests only one thing: It will no doubt be available as a MC hybrid from Best Buy for $15 in the very near future.

I don't care, though, because I've got mine and I love it! This work has a fairly broad appeal (I presume a lot of folks here are already familiar with it) but if you like stuff like Yes and ELP and have any interest whatsoever in jazz, you just have to check this one out.

 

[Mike Broadman]

What is JSACD? And why have I not heard about a high-res version of this album? Now I wants it, my precious.

 

[Jim_F]

Mike,

The JSACD would be the Japanese import SACD. It was available at HMV.jp for a while, but I didn't grab it then (kicks self in butt) It can be found at towerrecords.co.jp (but not tower.anywhere else) by search on the catalog number (SRGS-4519) Unfortunately, try as I might, the Japanese Tower website wouldn't let me register, even when I tried to get help from their very polite support staff. I started to enlist the help of a HTF member who had access to the site to order it for me, but it just "felt" inappropriate to ask a stranger for a favor out of the blue like that.

Finally, I found it through revolutioninternational.com. The total cost with shipping was about $59 (a new record for me) but by that point I was obsessed and I don't regret it one bit.

 

[Louis C]

One of my all time favs. I will be eagerly awaiting the SACD release.
Here is my list of Jazz for Prog Fanatics