Billy Cobham — Magic/ALivemutherforya
As we’ve come to expect with BGO you get a nice & classy presentation- with the double jewel case coming in a colour card slip sleeve- you also get a twenty page inlay booklet, this features original credits & original liner notes, as well as a new ten-page featuring discussing Cobham’s 70’s output, and these two albums.
So first up on disc one we have 1977’s Magic-this takes in eight Cobham compositions played by his group at that time- which was made up of a fairly impressive group of players with Randy Jackson on bass, Pete Escovedo on percussion, as Pete Maunu on guitar and Mark Soskin on keyboards. As well as a few tracks feature Alvin Baptiste on clarinet. As albums go it’s sadly fairly typical of indulgent & overtly showy 70’s fusion, with a lot of the tracks feeling a little over overcrowded & unfocused. Sure all the players here are extremely polished & virtuous but sadly many of the tracks feel like they often lack a centre, memorable melodies, or really any surprise. Sadly most of Magic seems to pass by in a flurry of dated fusion, we go from the strutting-though-not really consistently groovy layered percussive & guitar solo licked vibe of the second track "AC/DC"- which is a blend of funk & Latin-flavoured rock guitar scaping. Onto jaunting- though bland "Puffinsuff"- with cascading & prancing acoustic piano runs, miss-placed Clarinet mellowness, and sudden ill-advised darts into funk rock. Onto the epic final track- the nearing thirteen & a half minutes of "Magic(reflections in the clouds)/ (Magic- Reception)"- which blandly sails through chugging fusion work-outs, lots of drum fills, trying to be sassy-but coming off as focus less blend of grooving organ, funk bass & wailing guitar soloing, and wailing-showy male & female midway. I enjoy a few moments in some songs, but not whole songs. I guess it’s down to how bigger fan of fusion you are, or the players involved here- but I found the whole thing very overly indulgent/ bland.
The second disc takes in the 1978 live album ALivemutherforya- this takes in six tracks, with a total runtime of forty-one minutes. And while is far from fusion gold it does, on the whole, feel a lot more focused, punchy, and at times fairly dynamic in it’s shifting mood. The line-up takes in Billy Cobham-Percussion Alphonso Johnson-Electric Bass, Electric Bass [Fretless], Synthesizer [Bass Pedal] . Steve Khan-Electric & Acoustic Guitars. Mark Soskin- Piano [Acoustic], Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Clavinet, Synthesizer [Arp Odyssey, Mini-moog, Arp String Ensemble]. Tom Scott- tenor & Soprano Sax, Lyricon, percussion. Instead of purely Cobham compositions, we get four of the six tracks written by other members of the line-up. And for me the highlights here come in the form of Alphonso Johnson-penned “Bahama Mama”- this eight & half minute track is built around a bright & buoyant blend of tuneful prog rock-scaping, reggae strolling bass & detailed percussion- with some nice solo spots from Khan’s Guitar, and Johnson fluidly bending electric fretless bass work. The Steve Khan penned “Some Punk Funk”- with sailing & scorching sax work, blended sassy guitar leads over bounding blend of funk bass & jaunty dramatic piano. On the whole, this second disc managed to keep me interested throughout most of its runtime- sure from time-to-time we still dip into unneeded show-ness, but thankfully these moments don’t drag, and you're always fairly close to the tracks original melody & structure.
So in summing this reissue- Magic sadly did little or nothing for me, and it really seemed to wholly dwell in the more indulgent & pretension side of fusion- with little trace of memorable melodies or clever interplays. The live album ALivemutherforya shows both more flair in its overall composition and it’s use of melody and mood - with some enjoyable soloing appearing through many of the tracks. As a whole, I’d say this double-headed will only be of interest to a more hard-core fan of 70’s fusion- as Magic is all show & no depth, and ALivemutherforya is a passable if fairly unremarkable live set.