Awesome, fabulous, fantastic CD of Benoit's early material !
12/01/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I can't believe I am doing the first review on this BRILLIANT compilation of David Benoit's early work! It's funny because I have been searching for these songs (specially "Life Is Like A Samba") for quite some time and I guess I must have missed them here on Amazon.com because I found this CD instead at a local CD store. Anyway, the first ever Benoit song I heard was "Life Is Like A Samba" in the late 1970s when "records were vinyl and CDs were nothing more than high interest savings accounts" as Benoit himself writes in liner notes for this compilation. I was HOOKED big time! ALL the tracks included are magnificent pieces of musical art and definitely worth the price of the CD. There is noticeable hiss which can be overlooked because the music is simply riveting. My fave tracks aside from "Life" are "Can You Imagine", "Hermosa Skyline" (which reminds me so much of Cheryl Lynn's "Got To Be Real"), "Stages" (a classic!), "Gold Coast" and "If I Could Reach Rainbows". I also just noticed that flutist Tim Weisberg did the flute (what else?) on "Windseason" which Weisberg later reprises in 1989 on his own album "Outrageous Temptations", which was produced by David Benoit. If you thought Benoit's best music came when he first started recording for GRP Records, you got another think coming! Get this CD right away!"