Leprechaun Reviews

Nothing beats the awesome cheese factor of this albums from cover, yet it speaks volumes. It's exactly how I would imagen what the music would sound like when I look at this album cover. I remember buying this album because of the samples I had heard from this very website. The opening track, Imp's Welcome, got me hooked. I love that synth so much and yes it may sound a bit too fairy like for most people but this is the 70's. It was all about experimentation with new sounds in jazz. After the awesome opening track we get a more standard stylized track with Lenore. It has some very beautiful piano melodies and it's groovy as ever! It's probably my favourite track on the album. The thing that keeps my rating from going up is the vocals. I'm never to much of a fan of singing mixed with fusion jazz like this. It just makes it sound too scripted and less improv sounding. So tracks like Looking at the World make me just want to skip it. Thankfully not the whole album has singing in it. As for funk, Nite Sprite is one of the funkiest tracks I ever heard. The fade in at the start with the quick keys is awesome. The quick paced drums and shuffled bass makes this track very fast and there is a comment from user 'dial35' about Steve Gadd using all 8 of his arms for the drumming on this track. It's true. He has 8 arms...or at least it sounds like it.

Side B is just as good as the other side. Even though there's vocals on Soft and Gentle it's fairly good with the violin and viola breaks. It's a strong track and I could see this one being a favourite among many that own this album. Pixiland Rag is a short 1 minute piece and it's no surprise Chick would title ragtime track as such. It does have a ragtime sound to it but it's gentle and nothing too special. Almost laughable. The final track, Leprchaun's Dream, is over 13 minutes and tells a tale for sure. It sounds like it came from some sci-fi movie as well. This is the track where the horns are most prevalent. The song cascades from shimmering tones to uplifting notes. It's an awesome track and a great way to end this odd tale of short green men.

I haven't rated this album too high but I've listened to it a lot because it's fairly different, even for fusion, and it tells a story pretty well. I may not be on the same planet this story was told from but it still a nice tale. This is probably one of the weirdest jazz albums I own and I often try and duplicate the funny poses Chick is doing on the back cover....just too crazy funny.

Credits:

Producer, Piano, Keyboards, Organ, Synthesizer, Percussion - Chick Corea
Reeds - Joe Farrell
Trombone - Bill Watrous, Wayne Andre
Trumpet - Danny Cahn, John Gatchell, Bob Milikan
Viola - Louise Shulman
Violin - Annie Kavafian, Ida Kavafian
Vocals - Gayle Moran
Bass - Anthony Jackson, Eddie Gomez
Cello - Fred Sherry
Drums - Steve Gadd

1. Imp's Welcome
2. Lenore ****
3. Reverie
4. Looking At The World
5. Nite Sprite Listen
6. Soft And Gentle
7. Pixiland Rag
8. Leprechaun's Dream
9. Bonus Track
Reviews from amazon:
Reviewer: Michael clarke "Originality" (USA)
I purchased this album after seeing Chick's performance at the Blue Note this past year with his "Leprechaun Band". Most of his covers were from this album and the "Friends" album. To see chick do these songs made me understand this album much more. But you really have to sit and listen because you can easily miss some key detailing of this disk. And also to mention Gayle is amazing on this disk, Granted she is not the most amazing singer but her voice compliments these tunes with a pin point acuracy. Please puchase you will see and understand what I am saying.

Reviewer: Dom Frigo "Stupid butt head" (Oak Park, IL USA) - See all my reviews
This album was terrible. It was as if Chick was talking to his wife and said, "Hey baby, why don't you sing on my album?" and she was all like, "Ok, but I really don't know how to sing." Don't buy this album. As a beginning Chick fan, I thought that all Chick Corea albums were good. I was dead wrong. After listening to this album, I was downright embarrassed for Chick, because I knew that he would look back on that album years into the future and just frown. Do yourself a favor and buy something better like Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, or even the disco album, Where Have I Known You Before? Spare yourself the humility

Reviewer: Chris Covais - See all my reviews
I'm a big fan of Chick Corea's fusion days. I love most of his Elektric Band stuff, and most stuff he put out between 1974-1992.

This album has great players on it; Steve Gadd on drums and Eddie Gomez on bass. I love both of them. And they were Chick Corea regulars around this time.

This album has some great tunes, like Lenore. One of the greatest Corea tunes I ever heard. But then, there are some boring tracks without drums, or Chick is using a vocalist.

Now I'm not a vocals fan, so mainly when a jazz musician uses vocals for a recording or two, I look in the other direction, but this album has enough good material to over-shadow the bad stuff. Still worthy of getting; make your own opinion about it.

Great playing!
Reviewer: Phil Boucher "kz1000ps" (Albany, NY USA) - See all my reviews
Yeah yeah it's from 1975 and those analog synths sound dated, but if you really wanna hear musicians play in stunning form then you will grow to appreciate, even like the quirks on here. Yeah yeah there's a few tracks that could be called throwaways, but they help to give the album a completeness of character, aka the title. Deal with it, you'll hear incredible songs AND incredible singing (listen to Gayle's crystalline voice at the end of "Lenore").
For the drummers out there, I discovered this album 2 1/2 years ago and it has become a chapter in my drum bible, God being Gadd. He's known as the best drummer with us today for a reason (but I like him better than Buddy or Gene..) and this album demonstrates as clearly as possible. However, once you're converted, you'll soon learn that absolutely ANYTHING with Steve Gadd on it shows him at his best-- just as musical as demonstrated here, because he is the best. So once you've cried over this album, go find anything with this guy on it. You form the impossible impression that this guy is literally perfect.
Back to reality, "Lenore", "Nite Sprite", and "Leprechaun's Dream Part 2" are the highlights and can be listened to thousands of times and you'll still be noticing interplay between just SOMETHING that you didn't notice before. I'll go against the grain of the drum community on this one, but I think "Dream Pt2" is the best Gadd work on here, and also (probably by no coincidence) the best song, but that's just my opinion.
Oh yeah, Chick, Eddie, Anthony and the horn and string sections were all inspiring too.


Reviewer: Andre' S Grindle "Funk Meister" (Bangor,ME.)
Chick Corea was going through a bizzare,Scientology-induced musical madness at this point.Aside from the frantic funk-fusion of "Nite Sprite" the gimmicky syntheisizers used
in playing them other songs fall embarrasingly flat.Okay stuff for Corea to do with acoustic intruments but he has a far too mechanical way with electric keyboards and doesn't tend top convay the genuine feeling,warmth or color this material deserves or that he's noted for with them.He similarly hampered
the musical progress of Return To Forever (see reviews) so we
have Chick Corea-brilliant jazz pianist-below average electric
keyboard interpretor.I do however welcome any opinion that differs because that is the problem with first impressions-you
only get to make one.
Reviewer: Riley (Hatfield, MA United States)
This is quite possibly the best lineup chick ever worked with during his fusion experimentation. Every musician in the group has something unique to say, and the phenomenal compositions of Corea stand unmatched in the realms of imagination and awareness of the many musical elements. Steve Gadd has a language of his own, and speaks it through this music. He has very unique interpretations and can see right through conformity to true pulse, and also create amazing grooves felt on a higher level than most. While I respect everything Chick did under different lights, I think this was his "best of the 70's" (to be blunt). A must have for fusion listeners.