Customer Reviews

200 Mph

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This contains lots of the tightly scripted, rapid format, clean comedy that was Bill's early trademark. As well as many sidesplitting routines, you get more insight into Bill, the man, and the Cosby family (arguably his favorite subject.)

The title routine involves Bill's love of fast cars and his having been persuaded by Carroll Shelby to switch over from his "foreign" Ferrari to a Shelby special that scared the #(*&# out of Bill. This routine alone is worth the price.

If laughter does the heart good like a medicine, then Bill Cosby is digitalis!

With the bulk of Cosby's classic WB albums available on CD for some time, it's a surprise that this excellent album from 1968, one of the last of Cosby's 60's standup albums released on the WB label, has finally been released.

The non-re-release of this album for many years was due primarily to the politically charged punchline of the title track routine. Cosby, a sports car fanatic, relays the story of a specially built 427 twin Paxton Cobra, which, when simply idling, scares the crap out of Coz. Looking for a car that was "faster than anything Steve McQueen owns", a dishevelled Cosby tells the carmaker to give the fully paid car to George Wallace (former Governor of Alabama in 1962 - and again in 1970 - and a hard-line segregationalist who tried a run for the presidency in 1968).

With the release of "200 MPH" and "It's True! It's True!" in March 2005, Cosby's legendary 60's WB catalogue is now completely available. "200 MPH" made the P2P circuit for years on sites like Kazaa, which may also have had an effect on the decision to release this album, out of print on vinyl for over 35 years, and only available on cassette until recently.

This live concert album is a combination of high-energy renditions of some of Cos's earlier material with an album-side-long rap about Bill's passion for sports cars, and what happens when you buy more racing machine than your body can handle. The routine, featuring one of Cos's few political punchlines, is one of the funniest things the man has ever put on record. It's a beautiful thing that this is available on CD.

I own a lot of Cosby. This is fine material, but it is nowhere the genius of some of his other work. Before you buy this, buy Wonderfulness or Revenge or To My Brother Russel Whom I slept With or Why is there Air or Himself or Fat Albert. The 200 mph bit is the best on the CD.

This album by Bill Cosby was originally released in September of 1968. The first side of the album (remember when albums had "sides"?) featured four short routines about family and pets. These are funny, but the true highlight of the album is side two. Side two is a 23 minute routine about the ultimate sports car, which was custom built for Cos and could go over 200 M.P.H. (oh, wow). Presumably this story is not a true one, but it's an extremely funny one. Well worth getting for fans of Cos.

Given how prolific the ol' Cos was back in the day it's perhaps little wonder that it's taken a while for some of his albums to see the light of day on CD. Then again given how incredibly popular he was and still is perhaps it's surprising it didn't happen earlier.

This album - 200MPH is originally from 1968. Yep, that's more than 40 years ago from the day I'm writing this review. And the amazing this is that it's pretty much all still relevant. Mothers and fathers will always be with us and while some of the social cliches Cosby makes fun of are on the wane to a certain extent they will always ring true. Even after such a period of time the little foibles between man and wife are still with us, grandfathers are still grandfathers, dogs and cats haven't changed their routine all that much and the Europeans still make better cars than the Americans. All of which means that this slice of comedic pizza hasn't aged to the point of not being funny anymore. If anything this sense of history augments the belly laughs you'll get as Cosby varies the pace with humorous one liners combined with some nice set piece set ups.

Again, the fact that many of the older Cosby albums are now available in the CD format is a great boon to fans such as myself and I can heartily recommend this album even if I don't feel it quite reaches the dizzy heights of 'To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With' which is always the yardstick against which I measure all his other albums.

I have had the vinyl version of this for over 28 years, and found it warped badly after a move. Saw it on Amazon and bought it right then. Good price and a really great album.

A must listen for Shelby and sports car fans. Side one (30 mins or so) is a, more or less,true story of Mr. Cosby's quest for the ultimate in power. A ferocious '66 Shelby Cobra "super snake" (2 ever in existence) was built and tells of the short encounters trying to drive it. The sound of the engine he imitates is loud and unforgettable.. He recalls conversations of Carroll SHELBY then pokes fun at 60's car culture, foriegn cars, mechanics, Steve Mc Queen, and even the racial hypocricy still smoldering from the 60's era. My dad's (swiped) vinyl copy still resides in my prized collection today. The flipside routines are great as well, but this album is about the speed.

THE 200 MPH CUT IS CLASSIC COMEDY AND STORY TELLING AS ONLY BILL COSBY CAN DO..

I listened to this album probably 15 yrs for the first time. It is absolutely timeless and unbelievably funny.