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Complete Jack Johnson Sessions?


Tjazz

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The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions box does have the as originally issued mixes of the two tunes from the Soundtrack to Jack Johnson LP, i.e. "Right Off" & "Yesternow", at the end of the last disc but does not contain the final mix of "Go Ahead John" as origianlly issued on Big Fun. At least that's what the track listings I've seen indicate, with a toddler in the house I haven't had time to go lokking for a promo copy. So, at this point it seems like the way to go for semi-completist might be to buy the boxes up through In a Silent Way, then get the 2CD revisions with some bonus cuts versions of Bitches Brew and Big Fun, then back to the box for Jack Johnson. But since I already have the BB box I guess I'll have to find a used vynil copy of BF to replace the one I sold on the erroneous assumption that the JJ box would include the final mix of "Go Ahead John" (which I quite like, period production and all).

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Quincy: sorry, I forgot to say I meant the later boxes only. I have all of them save the J.J., but will get that one once it's out here, I suppose.

danasgoodstuff: thanks for explaining. Do you just go for vinyl because you prefer it, or is there a difference between the "Go Ahead John" on CD/LP?

ubu

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Quincy: sorry, I forgot to say I meant the later boxes only. I have all of them save the J.J., but will get that one once it's out here, I suppose.

I'm sorry I got interrupted while I was posting. I only brought up the '65-68 box as an example of how Columbia keeps some material as exclusive material to the box while letting out other alternate tracks from the box onto reissues. Another example is how the Big Fun reissue has 9 minute "The Little Blue Frog" while the Bitches Brew box includes that and an alternate take. Anyway, I'm pretty sure there is no "rare stuff" that is exclusive to a reissue.

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The LP, of course, only has the 4 side-long tracks and not the bonus tracks of the current 2CD set, but those are on the BB box which I have. The mix should be more or less the same but the mastering would be different, so the sound should be only subtley different...but the reason I'm going to look for used vynil is that it should be the cheapest way to pick up the 2 tracks I'm now lacking ("Go Ahead John" final mix and "Ife"). Could this be any more confusing? Yes, I suppose it could be, and probably will be when some new format causes a wholesale reorganization somewhere down the line...

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  • 4 weeks later...

Been an avid collector of the sony miles reissues since they started in the mid 90's. have nearly every box and essential album that's come out. just got the jack johnson set. i was looking forward to this one for a long time. i wasn't disappointed, but for some reason it seemed a slight letdown. probably because of the excess of multiple takes (even though some are different sections of the same tune). the best parts, i thought, were the completetly unreleased tracks (like sugar ray and ali). i thought they would be throwaways, but they are actually quite good. and it is great to have two unedited takes of honky tonk. that track always kills me!

i have managed thus far to miss the blackhawk reissue. i heard one of the old cd's about a year ago and thought it was great. how does the rest of the set measure up?

Edited by Little High People
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I don't know....

A year or two ago I borrowed a friend's copies of both of the original Blackhawk CD's (from their CD release in about 1990), and again I was pretty unimpressed by them. I found myself wanting to skip tracks fairly often, and generally the whole thing left me cold.

When I want to listen to some 'live' Miles from before 1965, I almost always reach for the "Complete Concert: 1964 (My Funny Valentine & Four More)" discs, or the "In Stockholm, 1960 Complete" 4-disc set (half with Coltrane, and half with Sonny Stitt). Or "Miles in Tokyo" or "Miles in Berlin" (though a year ago I traded them both off, in anticipation of the last Miles box set coming next Fall).

The Blackhawk material has always left me fairly cold, for the most part. I'm not saying it's 'bad' (or substandard), or even that it's Hank Mobley's fault --- but for whatever reason - I've just never connected with it. Even when I was first getting fanatical about Miles back in the early 90's (although I suspect I probably liked it better back then).

I've been meaning to borrow Free For All's copy of the new Blackhawk CD's sometime, and see if they do anything for me. Another buddy of mine (the guy who loaned me the 1990 Blackhawk CD's) loves the Blackhawk material, and clearly others here love it too. What can I say? - except maybe my ears are on crooked.

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I bought the Blackhawk set back in May or June and have played those discs on a consistent basis right up until yesterday. I never had the originals or the old remastered versions, so I have nothing to really compare the new ones to, but I know I wouldn't trade them in - ever. Miles really plays well on these sides, in fact the whole group does. The one MAJOR highlight for me, however, is pianist Wynton Kelly. His soloing is the usual hard-swinging stuff that you might expect, but his comping, especially behind Miles, is out of this world. Buy it for that reason alone.

BTW, I'm planning (tommorow) on finally taking the plunge on the Plugged Nickel box after years of salivating/procrastinating. I've had the "Highlights" cd for about four years now and really enjoyed that small taste of the proceedings. Just to make sure, you guys all wholeheartedly recommend this set, right?

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BTW, I'm planning (tommorow) on finally taking the plunge on the Plugged Nickel box after years of salivating/procrastinating. I've had the "Highlights" cd for about four years now and really enjoyed that small taste of the proceedings. Just to make sure, you guys all wholeheartedly recommend this set, right?

Absolutely

Definately

100 %

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I wholeheartedly recommend the Plugged Nickel box! Yes indeed.

I also love the Blackhawk material. . . always have. . . one of my first tastes of acoustic Miles Davis after my initial drowning in electric Miles; Wynton Kelly impressed me then and still impresses me.

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BTW, I'm planning (tommorow) on finally taking the plunge on the Plugged Nickel box after years of salivating/procrastinating. I've had the "Highlights" cd for about four years now and really enjoyed that small taste of the proceedings. Just to make sure, you guys all wholeheartedly recommend this set, right?

(Emphasis added by JSngry)

Whatever is more than "whole", that's what I'd say, yeah. ^_^<_< -_- ;)

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"Releasing this has destroyed Miles" - Teo Macero

Yeah, yeah. Except I don't buy it. (Well, I did buy the box, but I don't buy Teo's argument.) I haven't heard anything on any of the boxes (expect maybe the last couple of discs on the "Miles & Gil" box) that I would consider to be really 'sub-standard'. Least of all anything on the "Miles & Trane" or "1965-68" boxes. And really, everything on the "IaSW" and "BB" boxes was highly interesting too. And the "Jack Johnson" box has been very interesting to hear - even considering that 3+ hours of it was previously unreleased.

It's not like anybody but 'devout' Miles fanatics are buying most of these Miles box sets anyway, so what's the problem?? The "fairly big, but not quite obsessive" Miles fans are still buying the individual CD's, and the 'nuts' (like me, and many of us here) are buying the boxes.

Not all the 'previously unreleased' material is equally important. But none of it has been 'shameful' to have been released either. (Although I'm sure I would have probably been slightly reluctant to release those last two discs from the "Miles & Gil" set. But it doesn't bother me all that much that they released that material either.)

Edited by Rooster_Ties
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In the technical credits for the Jack Johnson box they say that the original tapes were mixed down to stereo and to digitial 5.1. Does that mean that we can expect an SACD box? Why not make this one hybrid like the new Dylans?

I would rather expect a SACD version of the album only.

BTW, "Bitches brew" is now scheduled for SACD release.

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Guest youmustbe

For whatever reason, Sony Legacy is in a little bit of disarray. Not paying people for ages, and so on.

But one thing which has kept them going is the old P.T. Barnum saying: 'There's A Sucker Born Every Minute (or is it second).

They know that most of you guys will buy any kind of crap...Miles farting in the studio soon to be a 6 CD Box!!! With Alternate Takes!

The Jack Johnson Box is a total scam!!! The dregs!! Most of the tracks have nothing to do with the Jack Johnson date. Why do you think Teo spliced all that shit together? Because there wasn't enough for a whole album.

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