3.0 out of 5 based on 1 reviews. – Customer review on 02/01/2012

The Bill Cosby Collection" is a double CD containing two Bill Cosby comedy records: "My Father Confused Me..." (1977) on the first CD and "Bill's Best Friend" (1978) on the other. Though it's not the best bunch of Bill Cosby routines I've heard, they're still pretty decent and the package is good value. I picked up my copy at a locally, here in Australia, and for a rock bottom price.

Bill, in these stand-up routines talks about everything from intellectuals, languages, parents and parenthood, marriage, Chinese restaurants and cars, as well as a story or two from his childhood. He also speaks about puberty, drugs and alcoholism, which came as a surprise to me, though it's still funny stuff. Bill puts on voices, makes sound effects, and really gets you involved in the stories he's telling. The way he describes everyday activies (like going to the dentist) is really accurate too.

I have a couple of minor quibbles to make about this collection. First of all is the presentation of the tracks. Every track fades out before the end, which kind of disturbs the flow and the rhythm of Bill's material. Sometimes (like in "Puberty" on the second disc) it fades out in the middle, suspiciously like it was two routines from two different nights stuck together. I don't know if that was the case, just bugs me is all.

The CD booklet, though very thin, is rather interesting, as it has two covers to choose from, one on the front of the booklet (the purple one with a little cartoon Bill Cosby head and the title) and one on the back (an orange one with a big Bill Cosby head and no title). I prefer the orange version of the cover, so I keep it flipped that way on my CD rack.

Overall, worth a listen, but if you're a newcomer to Bill Cosby, I'd recommend one of his earlier records, like "Revenge".