Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Billy Cobham’s Spectrum is one of the greatest debut solo albums ever. It peaked at #26 on the Billboard albums chart, which tells you how sophisticated listening audiences were in 1973-74. However, not so sophisticated was the opinion of self-proclaimed “Dean of Rock Critics,” Robert Christgau, who called Spectrum “slick, gimmicky, and one-dimensional” in his Consumer Guide column in the Village Voice. Right then, he should’ve been ejected from the academy. Anyway…
Recorded in a couple of days, with all of the tracks completed in one or two takes, Spectrum features the innovative Jan Hammer on Moog synth and electric and acoustic piano and James Gang/Deep Purple guitarist Tommy Bolin scorching the stereo field on several tracks. On opener “Quadrant 4,” everyone’s off the blocks like Olympic 100-meter sprinters. Bolin’s in hyper-intricate, amphetamine-fueled typist mode, with hammer ons galore, Jan Hammer’s generating crazily warped emissions, Cobham’s at his speedy and powerful best, and bassist Lee Sklar’s pumping out the roiling undercurrent. Holy shit, “Quadrant 4” is the fusion burner against which all fusion burners must be measured! Sorry, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tony Williams Lifetime, and Return To Forever.
The title track’s fluttery fusion that possesses an Airto/Flora Purim brand of jittery elegance. Joe Farrell’s soaring soprano sax solo lifts this to lofty heights while Jimmy Owens’ flugelhorn solo adds graceful melodic beauty. Ron Carter’s acoustic bass and Ray Barretto’s congas further class up the joint. Another standout is the very bullish “Taurian Matador,” in which Bolin broke his high E string during a solo while making his instrument squeal in weird tongues and Hammer frazzles nerves with his mad synth ripples.
Side two peaks with the nearly 10-minute “Stratus,” which Massive Attack famously sampled for “Safe From Harm.” A spacey intro leads into a Hammer tour de force of turbulent synth percolations as Cobham gives his entire kit an artful tattooing. Three minutes in, Sklar’s famous bass throb enters and the cooking intensifies to a simmering ominousness. Once more, Bolin asserts himself as a guitar hero for the ages, as if he were trying to out John McLaughlin John McLaughlin. Sklar thumbs out muscular Holger Czukay-like bass cable while Cobham adds athletic fills to his steady proto-trip-hop beats. “Stratus” thoroughly debunks the common belief that fusion isn’t sexy. With John Tropea providing easy-going comping on guitar and Hammer getting floridly sinuous on synth, “Le Lis” finesses some Elysian beach jazz of exquisite mellowness and pulchritude. Sweet relief!
“Snoopy’s Search” finds Hammer going HAM on Moog, which leads into “Red Baron,” a slice of subliminal jazz-funk hipness that’s become a fertile source of hip-hop and trip-hop samples for artists such as Common, Compton’s Most Wanted, Material, and DJ Food. The track’s rhythm has a rolling inevitability that demands repeat plays. In the head-nod hall of fame, “Red Baron” makes you feel 83% cooler than you actually are.
Odds are, a pretty good a decent copy of Spectrum‘s sitting in a bargain bin near you. It remains one of the top examples of cheap heat on the planet. -Buckley Mayfield
Located in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, Jive Time is always looking to buy your unwanted records (provided they are in good condition) or offer credit for trade. We also buy record collections.
