Dennis Coffey shifts gears with
Instant Coffey, belying the record's title with his most ambitious outing to date. If anything, the album is at times too labored for its own good. The 11-minute opener, "Sonata," suffers from its epic pretensions and overwrought string arrangement, although its sinuously funky bridge calls to mind the kinetic energy of
Coffey's strongest efforts. "Chicano" likewise benefits from the kind of mind-warping wah-wah guitar
Coffey first introduced as a session player on
Temptations classics like "Cloud Nine" and "Ball of Confusion," while a superb reading of
Lalo Schifrin's "Theme from 'Enter the Dragon'" emphasizes
Coffey's skills as an arranger, giving the composition some serious oomph with a thick, richly textured bassline. Best of all is "Outrageous (The Mind Excursion)," a wave of
Funkadelic-inspired cosmic slop. ~ Jason Ankeny