Best of

Great McCartney article

Saw Cobham live a few weeks ago. His concert was great, so I was expecting a lot from his best of cd. it didn't disappoint. Wow, what talent! He has great guest stars as well, such as John Abercrombie, Brecker Brothers, George Duke and Alphonso Johnson. this is how music is supposed to sound!

Mr. Cobham is one of the best drummers working. Saw him on the Birds of Fire tour back in the 70's and have been a fan ever since. Buy Spectrum too.

A very great album by a drummer that has played back-up as well as produced his own great music. The selection "Stratus" is especially good!

Love it He's one of my idols.

This album sounds very '70s, but perhaps that is because it is!The synthesizer drums are all but forgotten nowadays and for good reason. Buy this if you want to relive the days when rock music was scrambling to sound original, and strayed over into jazz. Jazz music in the '70s was aimless too.

After 42 years of life and listening I am going to declare this my favorite album of all time meaning if I could only have one album to listen to from now to eternity, this would be it. Its a compilation of Mr. Cobham's work over a certain period of time, but even so, I'd put it head-to-head against anyone else's compilation and I'd still pick this album. Its "all smiles" music. There are no down or dark tracks like you get from some modern hipster doofus composer/arrangers. Its not a chop fest. There are plenty of "oh damn" moments when someone plays a great lick at just the right spot. The songs are easy to grasp even if you listen to top 40. The skill level of the players and their interplay is exceptional. Its just too much fun! Its funky, but there is no "contrived" funkiness to it. Its genuine and the grooves are all original. My review is partly influenced by the fact that I literally grew up since I was a teenager listening to this (on vinyl). So saturday morning with nothing to do but listen to Billy Cobham is what it reminds me of. Thats gonna be hard for any album to beat.

This is a compilation of some 1970s LPs and doesn't cover his entire career. It's well done and if you like Weather Report, Chick Corea, Santana or Miles Davis of this period, you'll enjoy this one. At 8 tracks and just over 40 minutes, one wishes they'd be a little more generous. What's here is a pretty good mix of Cobham compositions though.