ver the course of nearly four decades, fusion pioneer Chick Corea has embarked on myriad musical journeys, and although he has touched upon science-fiction themes on a couple of projects, no single recording has captured the speculative "sense of wonder" better than his latest venture. Inspired by L. Ron Hubbard's influential 1950 novel To the Stars, the 17-track tone poem, performed by the composer and his recently reunited Elektric Band, nicely amplifies the author's inventive characters and ideas.
The disc lifts off with "Check Blast," an explosive number that skillfully encapsulates the tense task of maneuvering a rocket at velocities approaching the speed of light. Subsequent cuts signify various individuals within the book, such as "Jocelyn—The Commander" and "Captain Jocelyn—The Pianist," two of three tunes devoted to the ship's ruthless skipper, and "Alan Corday," a piece that keenly articulates the physical and emotional struggles of the shanghaied young engineer whose plight drives the tale. Additional works evoke specific locales, including the dynamic "Hound of Heaven," named for the celebrated starship and its rough-and-tumble crew,
and "Johnny's Landing," a planet regularly visited by the vessel.
Most of the selections are separated by short synthesizer-driven melodies labeled "port views," designed to depict "the vast vistas of space viewed through the ports of a spaceship." Corea further links his compositions to the text by reprinting pertinent passages from the tome in the 20-page booklet accompanying the CD. The liner notes also contain a few general remarks from the composer and an appreciation of To the Stars by Hubbard bibliographer William J. Widder.
Melodies build upon the story
Crafting musical adaptations of renowned science-fiction fables certainly isn't unprecedented. Rick Wakeman's 1974 LP Journey to the Centre of the Earth is perhaps the most famous example, but lengthy aural excursions have also been rendered from speculative stories by H.G. Wells, Frank Herbert and Olaf Stapledon, among others. What truly distinguishes To the Stars from these works is Corea's masterful ability to augment the source material. Rather than straightforwardly interpreting the words, he generates altogether fresh instrumental sketches, fleshing out individuals and incidents in a manner that genuinely builds upon the book's inherent drama.
The two compositions penned for Mistress Luck, "Mistress Luck—A Portrait" and "Mistress Luck—The Party," are ideal examples. These Latin-tinged pieces—sometimes harsh and harried, at other times sultry and sophisticated—explore via agile bass, affecting keyboards and a soulful saxophone aspects of her character that were at best only hinted at within the narrative. Similarly, "The Long Passage" uses nimble piano, graceful guitar and a soft chorus to express the beauty and frustration of the crew's time-dilated missions, during which decades pass on Earth while only weeks go by on the ship.
In fact, the only real blemish is that the novel's central character, Alan Corday, is represented by a single cut. Though the track brims with virtuoso performances from the band, especially guitarist Frank Gambale, further exploration of the kidnapped engineer's shifting attitude toward his predicament could have made for a richer musical portrayal. Still, To the Stars is essentially flawless, adding unexpected depth, emotion and heart to a classic science-fiction tale.
