Ultimate Collection [Original recording remastered]

Billy Preston | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 21, 2000)
• Original Release Date: March 21, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Hip-O Records
• ASIN: B00004S5GD
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,585 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The key to Billy Preston's success, from the mid `70's to the early `00's has been diversity. With a career that has spanned from Ray Charles to the Beatles and from gospel to funk to rock, Preston was quoted in Rolling Stone circa `71 as saying "Young whites, young blacks, old people, jazz people - I want `em all." While that sort of open-armed pursuit of music fans everywhere helped to cement Preston's position as a worlwide superstar, it also makes his place in rock history hard to pigeonhole. He's too R&B for classic rockers, too pop for the funketeer camp, and not camp enough for the folks who remember the `70's for "Kung-Fu Fighting" or "Afternoon Delight"
When you get right down to it though, it's not about the genre classification, it's about the music.
This Ultimate Collection has 20 of Billy's best, ready to remind you not only why clerks had a hard time figuring out where to file him, but why they couldn't keep his records in the store!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best of Billy Preston playing both funk and soul, May 31, 2003

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

Billy Preston was called the "Fifth Beatle" because of the session work he did with the Fab Four towards the end during the recording of "Let It Be" and "Abbey Road." While I think that in the long run producer George Martin better deserves the title, it is certainly true that no other musician was featured as prominently on Beatle songs; Eric Clapton only did that one awesome guitar bit on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and Mick Jagger was just singing with a bunch of other folks on "All You Need Is Love." The Beatles were just another stop on Preston's rise to the top of the charts. He was a child prodigy who was playing keyboards with the great gospel singer Mahalia Jackson when he was only ten and who played the young W. C. Handy in the Hollywood bio-pic "St. Louis Blues" in 1958. He even was a regular on the televiison show "Shindig." But working with the Beatles got him his own album with Apple gave him the foundation for his own hits such as "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Outa-Space," the first two tracks on this hits collection.

The cover of the "Ultimate Collection" shows the Billy Preston everybody remembers, with the giant afro and the omni-present grin. These 20 tracks provide the music we remember as well, with the dazzling keyboard work. The coverage of Preston's entire career is pretty balanced, paying equal attention to the early funky stle of "Outa-Space" and "Slaughter," along with his own version of the Beatles' hit "Get Back," as well as the smoother soul style of his duets with Syreeta, "With You I'm Born Again," "Go for It," and "One More Time for Love." Of course, his best song in this style, "You Are So Beautiful," was a monster hit for Joe Cocker. However, this equal treatment sort of makes it inevitable that you will like one style more than the other (I like the early stuff a lot better). Either way, you will find enough tracks to your liking to make picking up this "Ultimate Collection" worthwhile. Note: The reason for the live recording of "That's the Way God Planned it" is because the original was recorded for Apple and some sort of licensing restrictions apply. Billy Preston did not end up as a major artist, but he was a major player

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Songs, Great Afro!, January 4, 2002

By 

Peedy W. Legs "peedy-w-legs" (Springfield, VA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

This is the only CD you need in your collection for Billy Preston. It has all his best work. Of course, "will it go 'round in circles" and "nothing from nothing" are two fabulous hits which don't seem nearly as dated as other music from the early 70's. The CD also presents some other intersting numbers from Preston that sound like some sort of "techno-funk" if there is such a thing.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still Dancing!, August 8, 2000

By 

Leon Gray - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

I grew up in the "hood", San Francisco Haight & Fillmore. My fond memories of growing up around music from Billy Preston. I couldn't dance then and still can't but I can't stay on the wall when a Billy Preston song comes on, suddenly my legs get to moving and I can't sit. Went to a Billy Preston concert this past weekend in Santa Cruz. I sat still this time because I was watching my 6 & 8 yr old daughters groovin to his tune. They couldn't sit still, they were up doing the same thing I did when I heard Billy the first time around. His music is Timeless!!!