loooool
while we were standing in the hallway John came over and whispered to me, ‘Can I ask you a question? I answered, ‘Sure’. He then said, ‘Herbie, I can’t tell... was that any good what we did? I mean, what did we do? I can’t tell what’s going on!’
― j., Tuesday, 18 February 2014 21:35 (ten years ago) link
In A Short Sweet Way xp
― sleeve, Tuesday, 18 February 2014 21:35 (ten years ago) link
The Down Beat review (by Martin Williams, iirc) took the repetition to be a sloppily-overlooked technical error.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 21:36 (ten years ago) link
so he noticed that it was verbatim, that's sharp
― j., Tuesday, 18 February 2014 21:38 (ten years ago) link
Gleefully anticipating the Sony Legacy 60th anniversary "Miles' Cut" Silent Way 7" already.
― Call the Cops, Thursday, 20 February 2014 15:50 (ten years ago) link
followed by the box set of bill laswell remix 7"s
― i have the new brutal HOOS if you want it (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 20 February 2014 19:32 (ten years ago) link
slightly off-topic: Bobby Previte put together an orchestra that plays Miles' electric stuff. A clip:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrEwbgzSeog
Miles At The Fillmore - Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3 4CD Box Set To Be Released March 25
― EvR, Saturday, 22 February 2014 19:34 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrEwbgzSeog
― EvR, Saturday, 22 February 2014 19:35 (ten years ago) link
so intensely, maniacly focused on such minimal material
jon l otm
― j., Tuesday, 13 May 2014 00:21 (ten years ago) link
and then he said to me, “That’s my record.’
― j., Thursday, 13 November 2014 17:54 (nine years ago) link
^^
― marcos, Thursday, 13 November 2014 18:27 (nine years ago) link
because this record never ever gets old and there are no substitutes for it
― j., Wednesday, February 5, 2014 11:12 AM (9 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
^^^
― marcos, Thursday, 13 November 2014 18:28 (nine years ago) link
^^^^
― punk rocketeer (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 13 November 2014 18:39 (nine years ago) link
^^^^x3
― I dunno. (amateurist), Thursday, 13 November 2014 20:47 (nine years ago) link
Not sure it's been mentioned in the thread but there was an excellent article on Stereogum by phil freeman about the best and worst of Miles Davis in which he mentions how part of the album is just the first part repeated - literally replayed. I can get my head around the studio work, but I find the idea of repeating the same section just really hard to parse. What was the decision behind that? How do others justify it?
― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 14 November 2014 14:24 (nine years ago) link
wow @ teo:
Teo Macero: Miles would record his stuff, and then he’d just leave. He would sometimes say, ‘I like this or that,’ and then I’d say: ‘I’ll listen to it and I’ll put it together. If you like it, fine, if not, we’ll change it.’ So I was the one with the vision. Miles also had a vision, but he wasn’t really a composer, he didn’t compose in an organized way. It was happenstance. He played with these great musicians, and when they had played enough, I was able to cut out the stuff that wasn’t good, and piece something together from the rest. When we began editing In A Silent Way we had two huge stacks of 2” tape, 40-something reels in total. They were recorded over a longer period. It was one of the rare times Miles came to an editing session, because I’d told him, ‘This is a big job, you want to get your ass down here.’ So Miles said, ‘We’ll do it together.’ And we did. We cut things down to 8 ½ minutes on one LP side, and 9 ½ on the other, and then he said to me, “That’s my record.’ I said, ‘Go to hell!’ because it wasn’t enough music for an album. So I ended up creating repeats to make it longer. A lot of the stuff we cut was bullshit, and some of it is put out on this new boxed set. I raised hell at Columbia the other day and told them it was ridiculous they’re putting this bullshit out.
― festival culture (Jordan), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 20:50 (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Friday, 14 November 2014 14:26 (nine years ago) link
How do others justify it?
because it sounds fucking amazing!
― marcos, Friday, 14 November 2014 14:34 (nine years ago) link
dl that literally has been known and liner-noted and factoided about this album since forever
justify it? like… what, are you mad about not getting your money's worth? bored that you're hearing the same sounds again? (do you also only play the record once?)
(they're not the same, if you're hearing them repeated - let alone after other sounds intervene)
― j., Friday, 14 November 2014 14:35 (nine years ago) link
The whole repitition thingy makes it all sound very classical. Bach would also always just go back from the beginning.
― Frederik B, Friday, 14 November 2014 14:38 (nine years ago) link
how did bach justify that
― j., Friday, 14 November 2014 14:40 (nine years ago) link
He was paid by the minute.
― Frederik B, Friday, 14 November 2014 14:46 (nine years ago) link
hey hey hey, don't get me wrong - i love it, and there's a strange feeling similar to a 'rewind' in dance music. but shit, i hadn't relaised it was just the first part played over again; I thought they were just playing it very very similarly.
― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 14 November 2014 14:54 (nine years ago) link
hang on, so is it the same or not?
― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 14 November 2014 14:55 (nine years ago) link
also, i mean, if there was so much stuff cut out of it, it surprises me that they'd just repeat a whole part of the record again... but yeah, i didn't know if they altered the repeated part or not - as in you get to the end of Benefit of Mr Kite and it just starts playing the first three songs from Sgt Peppers all over again or whatevs...
― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 14 November 2014 14:58 (nine years ago) link
well if you eat the same breakfast next monday you had this monday, is it the same or not
― j., Friday, 14 November 2014 15:02 (nine years ago) link
i don't throw up last monday's breakfast and eat it again?!
― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 14 November 2014 15:03 (nine years ago) link
what i'm asking is - are the two parts EXACTLY the same or are they different? I've never been able to tell.
― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 14 November 2014 15:04 (nine years ago) link
I think the amazing thing about the record is that Miles had only met John McLaughlin for the first time the evening before, and invited him to the session the next day. Such a chance thing, and yet the music is unimaginable without his contribution.
― mahb, Friday, 14 November 2014 15:04 (nine years ago) link
McLaughlin's playing on those few Miles records is some of the best work he ever did imo.
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Friday, 14 November 2014 15:08 (nine years ago) link
yea i agree.
i've found it very difficult to get into mahavishnu orchestra. i put on birds of fire here and there but i never make it through.
― marcos, Friday, 14 November 2014 15:10 (nine years ago) link
are the two parts EXACTLY the same or are they different?they're exactly the same
― tylerw, Friday, 14 November 2014 15:17 (nine years ago) link
but you're different
― tylerw, Friday, 14 November 2014 15:20 (nine years ago) link
Love that Miles supposedly told McL, a technician supreme, "Play like you don't know how to play," so Go Ahead John had to unravel himself on the spot.
― dow, Friday, 14 November 2014 15:26 (nine years ago) link
It worked!
― dow, Friday, 14 November 2014 15:28 (nine years ago) link
Marcos you should listen to him on a Wayne Shorter record called Super Nova, which also features Sonny Sharrock, similar "I don't know how to play" type playing from him.
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Friday, 14 November 2014 15:31 (nine years ago) link
they're exactly the same― tylerw, Friday, November 14, 2014 3:17 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalinkbut you're different― tylerw, Friday, November 14, 2014 3:20 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― tylerw, Friday, November 14, 2014 3:17 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― tylerw, Friday, November 14, 2014 3:20 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Love this. I think this nails it.
― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 14 November 2014 15:35 (nine years ago) link
^^^ Yes
― Pict in a blanket (WilliamC), Friday, 14 November 2014 15:48 (nine years ago) link
whoa, great post
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newseventsimages?p_image_type=mainnews2012&p_image_id=23110
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Friday, 14 November 2014 15:53 (nine years ago) link
^^^^^^^^^^^^
― marcos, Friday, 14 November 2014 15:56 (nine years ago) link
lol
― tylerw, Friday, 14 November 2014 15:58 (nine years ago) link
Just realized that this is one of those albums I have managed not to listen to in about 15 years. Crazy. (I listened to it so much between the ages of 16 to 25 that I basically have it internalized, but still ...). Gotta get a new copy I think.
― grandavis, Friday, 14 November 2014 16:24 (nine years ago) link
Every time I try and play this back in my head today, it starts seguing into a short French horn section on Beach Boys' Smile.
― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 14 November 2014 16:29 (nine years ago) link
Hah. Sounds pretty great actually.
― grandavis, Friday, 14 November 2014 16:30 (nine years ago) link
the "complete" box set from these sessions is definitely not as compelling and cohesive as e.g. the complete jack johnson stuff. but i still enjoy it.
this album was one of my proper introductions to jazz, back when i was in high school, and it's hard not to cherish it for that reason alone.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 14 November 2014 16:34 (nine years ago) link
i mean, i heard plenty of jazz before that, but i didn't really seek out whole albums, and some of the stuff i had been exposed to previously was a little jive (like wynton marsalis).
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 14 November 2014 16:35 (nine years ago) link
complete on the corner sessions is really the best of the complete sessions series imo. there is like 9 stellar albums worth of music in that collection (some of which was actually released as albums but still).
― marcos, Friday, 14 November 2014 16:37 (nine years ago) link
As the guitar had captured my brain at an early age the prominent guitar on this era of Miles really resonated with me. Such cool playing (as noted many times here) and for sure a gateway for me. Was into some other jazz at the time but pretty much none of the trad stuff with guitar worked for me that well. Still not a big jazz guitar fan, but this is of course a way different animal.
― grandavis, Friday, 14 November 2014 16:38 (nine years ago) link
i think it was maybe the electric piano that first hooked me on this record!
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 14 November 2014 16:40 (nine years ago) link
Definitely a huge plus.
― grandavis, Friday, 14 November 2014 16:41 (nine years ago) link
Just for reference, if anyone wants to gift me a Fender Rhodes I will give it a good home.
― grandavis, Friday, 14 November 2014 16:42 (nine years ago) link