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Billy Cobham - Spectrum CD (album) cover

SPECTRUM

Billy Cobham

 

Jazz Rock/Fusion

4.27 | 666 ratings

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clarke2001
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
5 stars Here's an album that I could easily recommend to any fan of jazz-rock and to anyone who doesn't like jazz-rock, actually. Many people bought a set of drums because of this album. Many drummers sold their drums after hearing this album.

This album is technical perfection, with emphasis on drums - but how many drum-oriented albums that deserve a masterpiece status do you know?

This is not only a masterpiece, this is a desert island album. It will continue to grow on you every time you are listening to it- it's one of those damn albums where you can discover something new every time you are listening to it, even if you are familiar with it for ten years or more.

I prefer to call this one rock-jazz rather than jazz-rock; my impression is that this is a full-blooded jazz album and it rocks. It's a perfect balance of freshness & youth and maturity & musicianship.

The drums are incredible, astonishing and that is all I'm going to say about it. I do not like drum solos - but William Cecil Cobham is undoubtedly a genius, capable to balance everything in a song perfectly.

Most of the songs are interplays between keyboards and guitar with incredibly complex drumming and incredibly simple bass in a background. This formula is applied to almost all songs in the album - plus, there's usually a drum solo as an intro to the song (note the (a) and (b) parts in the track listing).

So, if the album is following some rules so strictly, what is so good about it?

Everything else. Controlled monstrosity, rock mannerism on a jazz background, brief and effective solos. Excellent musicianship. This album is pleasant, furious, focused, groundbreaking. Anything you want.

This albums is highly recommended to anyone on this planet who have some credibility as a fan of serious and intelligent music. Especially recommended to people who are not the fans of jazz-rock/fusion.

This is one of the masterpieces for the centuries to come.

clarke2001 | 5/5 |

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