BILLY COBHAM

BILLY COBHAM
INNER CONFLICTS (1977)
320 KBPS

My first exposure to Billy Cobham's music came from his debut album 'Spectrum' a very over the top rock/fusion drum attack.After that the few other Cobham albums I've heard sounded more refined THEN I heard 'Inner Conflicts'-and aside from the wonderfully artsy album cover art the title track-with it's strident drum and synthesizer interaction over a great space funk-jazz groove finds Cobham playing almost all the instruments himself.Before he lets you relax though the next cut is "Muffin Talks Back",an unbelievably fluid combination of funky latin-tinged grooves and yet more spacy textures."Nickles And Dimes" is straight up horn funk featuring the Brecker brothers,"Barrio" is a maddeningly manic latin percussion jam and only on the cooly jazzy 'Arroyo" does Cobham tone down the funky excess found everywhere else here but only slightly-the tune is still rhythmic and has a great "smooth" groove to it.So aside from perhapes the similar but slightly more commercial'Simplicity Of Expression-Depth Of Thought" this album stands as one of my favorites in Billy Cobham's catalog and I would easily recommend this to anyone as an introduction to his music.

1. Inner Conflicts
2. Muffin Talks Back
3. Nickels And Dimes
4. El Barrio
5. Arroyo