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Personnel: Billy Cobham (synthesizer, drums, percussion, programming); Jimmy Owens (trumpet, flugelhorn); Randy Brecker (trumpet); Julian Priester (trombone); Michael Brecker, Ernie Watts (woodwinds); Ruth Underwood (marimba, xylophone); Dawilli Gonga, Don Grolnick (keyboards); John Scofield, Steve Kahn (guitar); John Williams (acoustic & electric basses); Alfonso Johnson (bass); Shelia Escovedo (congas, percussion); Pete Escovedo (timbales, percussion); Jose Najeira (percussion); John Bowen (programming). Recorded at CBS Studios, San Francisco, California. Fusion fans can rejoice now that drummer Billy Cobham's long-lost Atlantic LPs have been gloriously reissued on CD, thanks to the fine folks at Wounded Bird Records. INNER CONFLICTS, a ride through both fusion and fission, is one of the best of the bunch. Though no stranger to electronics, Cobham milks then-new technology for all it's worth, dabbling in a sort of "space jazz" that few have since emulated. The title track is a supreme trek into the artistic maw of the synthesizer. This zip-zap jam session finds Cobham ripping the innards out of his synths as great walls of percussion crash apocalyptically overhead. Things get back down to Earth on "The Muffin Talks Back" (a thinly disguised reference to Zappa and Beefheart's "Muffin Man"?), a ten-minute energy blast through the veils of funk. "Nickels and Dimes" dazzles more than most of the super-cop theme tracks of the Baretta-blasted '70s, while "El Barrio" is a Latin magnum opus of sparkling percussion and vivid guitar work (courtesy of Steve Kahn). There's no conflict here-Cobham and company cook.
