Jump to content

Miles Davis - Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel CD set


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 80
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

I'd think not, but who knows?

Did it get a crown from Penguin?

Yes. "The Rosetta Stone of modern jazz" they called it.

I have the fourth edition of the Penguin Guide to thank for putting me on to a lot of classic albums and other essential releases like the Plugged Nickel set. Subsequent editions of the guide have been of far less value to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

If anyone's interested, there's a "used-like new" Japanese copy of the Plugged Nickel box on Amazon right now for $89.95. You'd better move fast.

Amazon

It's missing a disc from the US version.

No, I don't think so. It looks like the two discs numbered 2a & 2b have been combined into a single disc 2.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went for it. This is (according to the description) the Japanese set that was released before the US set, and was produced by Teo Macero, not Michael Cuscuna. I tried very hard to get this when it was first released, and never could. So if this is what it is I want it. Does not feature many if any of the restored edits that were in the US edition and is different mastering.

We'll see if someone beat me to it. Thanks for the headsup.

Edited by jazzbo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, the were about five tracks that tenor, trumpet or piano solos were edited from and in one instance a bit of ensemble playing edited. Also apparently there's a difference in "fades" and song intros and ending with the Japanese version containing slightly more audience sound at the beginning or end.

Also the mastering was done from different sources and different engineers, the Japanese using the tapes sent to them years before from which their initial two lp releases were made. Listeners seem to feel that a bit of reverb was added to the Japanese version.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's all really interesting. I had no idea there were such disparities between the two releases. The added reverb is a major turnoff, but the rest sounds really intriguing.

Not sure I could justify having,two boxes of essentially the same material, but this does strike me as a rather extrordinary case. Especially considering how extrodinary the music itself is.

Now you've got me prepared to head into the music room and break out my set...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A little bit of reverb is okay, my system sorts it out well enough. I mainly want this because I wanted it so bad before it was releaed and after. The US set is probably the better for listening, we'll see though, Japanese Sony cds of this vintage had some excellent mastering.

I won't count this as a bird in hand til it ships, and it's okay, I have the American set since it's release day and can enjoy over and over.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tried very hard to get this when it was first released, and never could.

For many, this material has been a Quest of/in some sort or fashion since it was first released in LP form...I remember the first guy I know who had the LPs, he got them from a store in Houston and paid something like 50-60 bucks for both,,,even more money then than it is now..and then, hell, pre-internet, rack-jobbers didn't bother with that type of thing. Peaches only handled European imports, and mail-order was a gamble, at least back in those days. I had a few shaky transactions when first experimenting that left me wary of it, especially for expensive/exotic stuff like that.

But - summer of 1980, I was touring America with a 3rd-tier "hotel show band" and we were booked for a few weeks in Des Plaines. So, first opportunity, Jazz Record Mart. First thing when walked in - DO YOU HAVE PLUGGED NICKEL????

No, they were sold out. But don't despair, they order a handful (five, iirc?) every week, and if you get here by such-and-such a time on whatever-day-it-was, you can get yours then.

So, yeah, made it there, got my copies, and felt like freakin' Cortez The Conqueror or some such.

Not at all relevant to the immediate discussion, I know, but the spell that this material has had, and continues to have, over several generations continues to interest me. This band never even made a record like these (not standard material) and the records they did make used to be not at all popular past the immediate cult-fanbase, and the PN material itself wasn't released until a while later, and then for quite a while, only in Japan. The LPs didn't even hit America until 1982, with a little extra in 1987. The the Japan box, and then - after at least a years worth of false alarms, finally the American box.

You would think that music so stealth,stealth from the money it got made through, really, today, would not be so fundamentally upheaving. But now, hey, you say "Plugged Nickel", as a description of an approach or as a group of recordings, everybody knows what you mean, instantly. People have condensed & codified the spontaneous genius of those recording and made it "the new mainstream", which, think about it, all based on stuff that it took most people almost 15-20 years after the fact to hear.

And it all started with these:

Miles%2BDavis%2B-%2BAt%2BPlugged%2BNicke436437b.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, I don't think so. It looks like the two discs numbered 2a & 2b have been combined into a single disc 2.

The first Japanese edition that came out in the early 90s was only seven discs, because they cut a couple solos here and there (slightly) probably bass solos.

95% of the music is the same as the US, but the US edition is just slightly longer here and there on a couple of disks, if I remember correctly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, I received that set from amazon marketplace.

It is indeed the gold cd edition, in absolutely pristine condition, cellophane still on the box.

Sounds is quite nice, softer, mellower sounding than the US version.

Took far too many yeas, but I have a copy. And I'm happy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, I received that set from amazon marketplace.

It is indeed the gold cd edition, in absolutely pristine condition, cellophane still on the box.

Sounds is quite nice, softer, mellower sounding than the US version.

Took far too many yeas, but I have a copy. And I'm happy.

Congrats Lon... it is great to get something long sought after. Hope you enjoy it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Stuart, listening to a disc right now, definitely enjoying it. I hope I can enjoy it with my friend Dave Laczko one of these days, he and I tried so hard to get this when it was first released, he was then (and for a total of seventeen years) the jazz buyer at Tower Records in Austin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...