A FUNKY THIDE OF SINGS

The first of a series of albums that Billy Cobham uses (with the inspiration of Bulgarian classically-oriented pianist/composer Milcho Leviev) to expose his commitment to seriously sophisticated musical composition.

1. "Panhandler" (3:50) a funk song that demands a lot of its players--especially the horn section, but these professionals are at the absolute highest echelon in music's talent pool. The song is okay but more fascinating to listen to the horn section. (9/10)

2. "Sorcery" (2:26) another great groove, this one a little less funky, on which Billy once again places rigorous demands on his horn players. I think I'm catching on to Billy's focus on this album: to show off his skills as an arranger. (9.125/10)

3. "A Funky Thide Of Sings" (3:40) a steady bass line with rich percussion contributions that sounds a lot like a blend of the DAVE SANBORN and KOOL AND THE GANG approaches to funk is complemented by a slightly less star-studded horn section. Sax player Larry Schneider is asked to lead throughout a lot of it. (8.75/10)

4. "Thinking Of You" (4:12) exploring the smoother, Disco-er side of jazz-rock fusion with a rotating crew of individuals stepping up to lead, including, synth player Milcho Leviev, trombonist Glenn Ferris, sax player Michael Brecker, trumpeter Randy Brecker, and guitarist John Scofield all getting a little time up front. (8.75/10)

5. "Some Skunk Funk" (5:07) a great song (attributed to trumpeter Randy Brecker), demanding tremendous skill to pull off, that once again lacks that special ingredient that makes one want to hum along: you want to dance, you want to study and marvel at the individual musicians, but there's nothing you'll be haunted by in the hours or days afterward. (9/10)

6. "Light At The End Of The Tunnel" (3:37) stealing the melodic rhythm track from Motown Temptation's "Can't Get Next to You" and then trying to make it different with interesting horn and lead guitar play over the top is like stealing a car and then spray painting it a different color. The solo voce drum play at the very end is the highlight for me. (8.875/10)

7. "A Funky Kind Of Thing" (9:24) solo drum play over the entire ten minutes! It always amazes me how Billy Cobham can create mood and funk with only himself and a drum set (and an engineering console). I can not think of many drummers who have this talent. (17.5/20)

8. "Moody Modes" (12:16) cymbals, electric piano, electric bass, and synths open up to create a nice dreamy "late night" motif--which is joined (bubbly slightly burst) at the 90-second mark by the horns. Piano takes over in the middle of the third minute. The pianist. Milcho Leviev is, you might recall, an incredibly talented pianist, composer, and band leader with quite a pedigree and c.v. back in Bulgaria before Don Ellis lured him across the pond to co-lead his orchestra from 1970-75. Though Ellis was quite the promoter, molder, and mentor to young and foreign talent, Don's relationship with Milcho was prompted by his tremendous respect and admiration for the Bulgarian music traditions and compositional (and piano) prowess he exuded. Billy began associating with Milcho in 1971 with the artist appearing on Billy's albums Total Eclipse (1974), this one, and Shabazz, a live album which would appear later in the same year as this one. Overall this long song plays out more like a soundtrack or classically-tinged suite than anything resembling anything else on Side One of this album. A marvellous song, though still lacking in melodic hooks and definitely lacking in infectious grooves. This one is for the intellectual music lover. (23.5/25)

Total time 44:32

A collection of demanding, sophisticated songs that all take considerable skill to perform but which somehow lack that special something that makes for a catchy earworm--a song that you want to push "repeat" for. Again, it feels obvious to me that Billy's focus on this album was most surely the task of proving he could write and arrange uber- sophisticated songs and then get the right team of musicians that he could then motivate to top-notch performances.

A-/4.5 stars; even though this isn't a favorite album--does not contain enough whistle-and-dancd along songs for my tastes--it is an album I have to rate up for the astounding skill level of the musical collaborators.

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