Seems I've been on a Return to Forever kick lately, but it's just a coincidence of the random draw. I was a late comer to Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, not having owned it for close to a decade later than the Al Di Meola albums. No great reason really other than I had tired of fusion as I left college and was looking for more underground European progressive rock. In the late 80s I had a colleague who told me he preferred Bill Connors to Di Meola pointing to a rawer approach. When I did finally secure a copy, it did seem a bit better to my ears, but I still wasn't overly enamored with fusion at that point, and let the album sit in the collection neglected for a long time. Only in the last few years have I pulled it out for relistens. If I were to rate all the RTF albums, the only one that is first division for me (Gnosis 12 +) is Where Have I Known You Before. And I attribute that to better songwriting as all their albums demonstrate impressive instrumental dexterity. But Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy and Romantic Warrior put up a good fight for certain. I would suggest this album as foundational to any heavy fusion collection.
Ownership: LP: 1973 Polydor. Single sleeve. Acquired from Half Price Books in Dallas (1993). An anomaly of my collection, by 1993 I was only buying CDs for commodities (and replacing LPs such as this) and was focusing my LP dollar on rarities and items not yet on CD. But I found a beautiful copy for cheap so I thought why not? Probably should have done more of that back then, but it was a different time and I had other priorities.
1993; 2011; 3/29/23 (new entry)
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