**** Light Years by Chick Corea’s Elektric Band – Quirky, Unusual, Good Music That Never Caught On

My guess is that you have probably never heard of this band, unless you are specifically looking for it, and that much I guess is unlikely.  So, to describe this band I will list some bands that you may have heard of that remind me of the material on this work; those would be Liquid Trio Experiment, Bill Frisell, and John Scofield.  If you can dig stuff from those artists, I highly recommend this album.  One thing I will say is that you are most certainly not guaranteed to like this album from Chick and crew if you like his band Return to Forever.

I originally had this one in my player for probably a year, and then took it out in order to move some stuff in to replace it.  At that point I could only recognize the songs, but by now; having listened to this album in the mix for a few years, I definitely give it a thumbs up.  Every track is worth many, many listens.

I guess though is that this music is music for musicians, and pretty much musicians only will buy this album, and most us are poor, so I can’t imagine this album sold many copies.  Chances are you will only be able to find this album on your computer, but not at a record store.  These days even record stores sometimes won’t carry something this rare.  That is a shame, because this is really good music.

Another way I might describe this as 1980s jazz.  The musicianship is great, but the electronics aren’t quite that great, and after albums like this one flopped, I can definitely understand the move to return to more of an analogue sound, such as a Hammond B3 organ.  So, the hard part of this album to sell is that it is electric, and uses cheesy synthesizers from start to finish.  I do believe that was Chick’s aim; to explore new technology and to marry it with jazz.  I believe that Chick did an excellent job of that on this album.  The music on this album is great and timeless for those that love music, but someone who is interested in sound quality may turn his or her nose up at this one.

My wife who is more laid back than I is sitting here relaxing to the music while crocheting, as I type away.  There are a few cds in the 100 disc player that I couldn’t do that with.  My wife is also a musician, and thus she is already probably more keen on listening to good music, especially a work like this which is so easy to relax to.  It is good to feel connected with her musically, such that I have been thankful for such great music that appeals to both genders, as we all know music like metal often attracts 10 males for every 1 female.