Excellent music, available cheaper directly from Chick
Ron Cronovich | Kenosha, WI | 08/28/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"UPDATE Sept 2006:
Chick Corea's website is selling this CD for $21 "for a limited time." The rest of my original review (from August 2005) appears below:
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Another of Chick Corea's outstanding records from the 1970s has finally been reissued on CD, but (at this time) only as an expensive import from Japan.
Secret Agent features some essential Chick tunes, including "Central Park" (an ambituous, exciting composition and arrangement with excellent solos by all), "Glebe St Blues" (a fun and exciting shuffle-blues, a great arrangement, excellent improvisation), and "Fickle Funk" (a tight little instrumental jazz-fusion piece with a great Chick solo on Fender Rhodes and great solos by the horn players). Al Jarreau makes a guest appearance, doing a great job on "Hot News Blues."
Secret Agent probably is most comparable to his 1980 recording Tap Step, as both feature Chick's touring band from that period: Al Vizzuti (trpt), Joe Farrell (reeds), Tom Brechtlein (drums), Bunny Brunel (bass), and Gayle Moran (vocals). The difference is that Tap Step is mostly just this band, whereas Secret Agent has tunes with more guests and more instruments (a string section on a couple tunes, more horns on another, etc). But if you like Tap Step, I'm sure you will like Secret Agent. (I think Secret Agent is a little better than Tap Step.)
If you're not familiar with Tap Step, perhaps you're familiar with Mad Hatter, which I think is probably the second closest thing to Secret Agent. Many of the same musicians are on both. The difference is that Mad Hatter has a theme running through all the tracks, whereas Secret Agent does not. But I think you'll probably like Secret Agent if you like Mad Hatter.
Like other Chick Corea CD reissues from this era (Tapstep, Mad Hatter, Friends), the sound quality of the mastering on Secret Agent is good but not great. I think CD reissues of 1970s recordings of Stevie Wonder and Earth Wind and Fire have better sound quality than CD reissues of Chick's 1970s recordings. (But, those artists probably generate more revenues for the record companies than Chick, so I guess I can understand why record companies would make the extra effort to provide better sound quality on the CD reissues.) Nonetheless, the sound quality of Secret Agent is certainly not bad.
My advice: If you're a big fan of this period of Chick's work and you can afford it, treat yourself to this fine record. Otherwise, wait for a lower-priced domestic release (which, unfortunately, nobody knows when it is coming).
Music: 5 stars
Sound quality: 3.5 stars"
One of my favorites
Jim | Milford, OH United States | 02/16/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is one of my favorite Corea albums. (I believe this one classifies as a Return to Forever effort, but I could be wrong.) It has a very heavy brass flavor to it. Jim Pugh plays trombone on this one, and has an awesome solo. I've been waiting for this to come out on CD (at a reasonable price) for 15 years, so I'm a bit hard pressed to remember specific details about the songs. For me, this album has a similar feel to the Friends album, and I remember it as being very up-beat, energetic, and warm."
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1