snobb After Chick Corea's fantastic success of fusion project Return To Forever's early albums and far not so glorious last RTF works, Corea was searching for new ground."The Mad Hatter" comes as really interesting work,very accessible but experimental at the same time. Unfortunately it wasn't noticed in time of release and are underrated till now.

Just imagine how ambitious is a "Alice In Wonderland" theme based project,mixing jazz fusion and opera!And Corea succeeded in it - fantastic melodies, fusion drive and energy fit well with strings and brass orchestration and Gayle Moran vocals (in part jazzy - as on RTF recordings, in part - operatic). Chick uses a huge collection of electric pianos and synthesizers,demonstrating his trade-mark analogue keyboards sounds of mid 70s, deep Eddie Gomez bass should be mentioned separately (Herbie Hancock participated on electric piano as well as Steve Gadd on drums among others).

Possible critical point of view on this release comes from its specific musical genre - far from rock-influenced fusion of RTF, this album is not a post-bop or even third stream of later Corea's works. Recorded in rare genre of its own (I would call it "fusion opera"), this album even being very accessible listening requires open ear listener to be appreciated.But for such fans it is extremely rewarding release.

FunkFreak75 I've never been certain why this album has always, since I acquired it in 1978, maintained a very high place on my all- time list of Favorite Albums, but now, after examining it from the critical perspective of a music reviewer I think I have a better grasp of it.

1. "The Woods" (4:23) a wonderfully atmospheric, psychedelic, even appropriately-comedic collection of sounds and melodies to open Chick's 1977 rendering of Charles Dodgson's famous story. What a great, perfect opening (overture). Like a soundtrack to a book-on-tape. (10/10) 2. "Tweedle Dee" (1:10) piano and cello & strings; sounds very much like one of Yo-Yo- Ma and Edgar Meyer's "Goat Rodeo" pieces from the 21st Century. (5/5)

3. "The Trial" (1:43) Gayle Moran's singing of The Queen Hearts' famous line "Who stole the tarts was it the Kind of Hearts?" is fittingly quite annoying. Perfectly appropriate for this story! (5/5)

4. "Humpty Dumpty" (6:27) great jazz jam that sounds coming from Chick's piano, Eddie Gomez's double bass, Steve Gadd's drums, and Joe Farrell's tenor saxophone that feels more based in the realm of true jazz due to the double bass play but, it does cross over into the J-R Fusion style with Farrell's sax style and Gadd's nuanced drumming palette. The song also does kind of an "overture" job of presenting melody themes that will come up (repeatedly) in later songs. Awesome high-energy, melodic jazz piece! Man are these artists skilled and talented! One of the most tightly composed and performed (recorded) songs I've ever heard! (10/10)

5 "Prelude to Falling Alice" (1:19) Chick's piano, strings, metal percussives, and Gayle Moran (and, later, horns) present the ephemeral framework of the song that follows. (5/5)

6. "Falling Alice" (8:17) Horns are the opening mood and melody setter for this before Gayle brings us into the story. Chick's electronic keyboard play in the instrumental solo sections is at its absolute best but Gayle Moran, Joe Farrell (and the horn section), Eddie Gomez, and Steve Gadd's contributions make this one of my absolute favorite J-R Fuse songs of all-time. It's even better than any RTF song! (20/20)

7. "Tweedle Dum" (2:54) Chick's piano with the strings complement (with Jamie Faunt on double bass) and Gayle Moran's ghost-like vocalise make this an excellent buffer between the album's two highlights. (1010)

8. "Dear Alice" (13:06) Chick's piano arpeggio provides all the support necessary for both Eddie Gomez and Chick's right hand (not to mention Steve Gadd's amazing subtle support on the drum kit) to issue forth two minutes of some of the finest soloing you'll ever hear. At 2:45, Gayle returns to move forward the Alice story before stepping back to allow one awesome flute solo from Joe Farrell (while Chick, Eddie, and Steve continue to provide their amazingly nuanced support.) I LOVE Chick's rhythmic Latin melodies in the background! At 6:40 we bridge into Chick's turn at the lead. It takes a few cycles for him to warm up, but once he gets cooking in the (eighth minute) it's epic! And the support from and Joe, Eddie, and especially Steve is phenomenal. While not quite as mind-blowingly perfect as "Falling Alice" this is, for me, another highlight of the Jazz-Rock Fusion's "Classic Era." Steve's drum play over the final two minutes not only rivals, in my opinion, that of the famous "Aja" sequence but surpasses it! (24/25)

9. "The Mad Hatter Rhapsody" (10:50) Chick and Herbie going toe-to-toe using some of the album's previous themes and patterns. Chick is on piano and Herbie is playing a Fender Rhodes with Eddie, Steve Gadd, and the Joe Farrell-led horns (mixed masterfully with Chick's synth horns) bringing us a rollicking race-track tune with great solos from Chick's Minimoog, Herbie's Fender, The rhythm section is so tight--even when the dance rhythm turns slightly Disco! I'm not crazy about the little Latin motif in the eighth minute, but I LOVE the way they tie it up with Gayle taking us back to the "main melody" of the Alice songs. (19.25/20)

This is an album that I find so hard to find fault with. It may not be as free and unstructured as Bitches Brew or the Mwandishi albums but this musicianship of the very highest order as well as inspired compositional genius. It will be of no surprise to me if the metric ratings for this one come out extremely high.

A+/five stars; one of the finest jazz, jazz-rock fusion, or prog albums I've ever heard/known. In a rather unexpected twist of fate, The Mad Hatter is my highest rated and one of my Top 10 Favorite J-R Fuse albums of the "Classic Era"!

gatot If you want to know how great Chick Corea composed his music, go straight to track number 8 of this album "Dear Alice". Well, you may want to start with track 7 as opener for better enjoyment of Dear Alice. Oh man ...I think this is the best jazz music composition that I have ever found on planet earth which really blew me away at first listen when I got the cassette version by the time it was released in 1978. The first time I had this album I was only interested to play Tweedle Dum and Dear Alice only because it's really great and fulfill my taste.

Tweedle Dum is basically an atmospheric intro which features mostly Gayle Moran's great vocal combined with string section. But at the end of this short track there is a very wonderful piano fills by Corea that remarks the great intro of Dear Alice. Dear Alice enters seamlessly right after Tweedle Dum finishes. It's really a wonderful transition and I really enjoy this transistion from Tweedle Dum to Dear Alice.

Dear Alice starts off with a memorable piano fills by Chick Corea in an ambient way followed nicely with acoustic bass solo. Oh an ...it's really a nice combined work of bass and piano (that plays at background). Drums starts to enter the scene, making the music in a jazz beat mood while acoustic bass still play its role in very inventive way - sort of going crazy really. The piano than wraps up the nice intro followed with great voice of Gayle "Good afternoon my dear Alice. Please don't think I have malice ....." ...oh man ... it's really great and I bet you love this part! The brass section then enters the music that is now moving in a nice crescendo with relatively fast tempo. Sometimes it changes to staccato mood when brass section plays their part. The flute then plays as soloist while at the background there are bass, drum, and piano that do not seem to play in the same direction but combined together they form a very beautiful harmony. The music is quite complex but it delivers great melody as well as harmony. And now Chick's turn to play his piano solo augmented by great brass section works. At approx minute 7:32 - 10:02 there is a segment where all instruments, especially bass, drums and piano that play in different direction but still deliver wonderful composition. Oh my God ....!!!! I cannot believe human being can create such a great composition like this one! AT the end of the track I usually replay the track again, starting from Tweedle Dum.

Sorry for writing so long only to appreciate those two tracks. It does not mean the other tracks are not good. The Woods, Humpty Dumpty and The Mad Hatter Rhapsody are good tracks. But Dear Alice is the best composition that Chick has ever made altogether with Compadres of Touchstone album. Dear Alice deserves a flawless composition - a true FIVE STAR composition. Overall, this album deserves four stars.

Gatot Widayanto