Guy Berger

Actually...not...there's the band returned to the US with Sam Morrison replacing Sonny Fortune. That is starting to evolve into another direction yet, although since it ended the way it did, it could easily be heard as the sound of a band running out of breath. But either way, that stuff shows that when people talked about The Man With The Horn showing Miles picking up where he had left off, that might be truer than many of them realized at the time. Great point. I think for multiple reasons - the lack of widely available recordings when this music first re-entered the jazz consciousness, the agenda of the people who pushed the re-evaluation of this music (when was Greg Tate's article published?) - the "conventional wisdom" was/is that the 1975 and post-1980 music have no continuity between them.

I hope so. That Japan tour yielded some amazing concerts. I suspect they will do the 1971 European tour with Jarrett and Bartz next. October 1970 @ Fillmore West would be my preference. DeJohnette was still on board, and the music was incendiary. Ndudu Leon Chancelor made that 71 Euro tour, and while playing fine, was also by his own admission not quite yet ready to bring it all the way. The Japan tour, yeah, the band was tight as hell by then, some amazing shows indeed. The best recorded that I've heard came out on a boot as Black Satin, from Tokyo 6/19/73 (and w/Liebman still on the band, so it's pre-Fortune), but jeez, that's the best recorded example I've ever heard (including Columbia/Sony albums) of how that band was constantly bouncing off the time back and forth, like an Acid Technicolor Muhammad Ali/James Brown/Miles Davis band. I've really never heard another Miles performance quite like that one in terms of recorded balance between all elements. There were actually two Japan tours, 1973 (which is what Jim is talking about) and 1975 (B Clugston and Kyo are referring to that one). Both have some amazing gigs, some of which I think are better than A+P. They do have different feels as the band's sound evolved over those 18 months.

I like most of the early Beatles stuff A LOT. Please Please Me is a bit hit and miss, but the next four are great, and the non-album tracks from this period are generally fantastic. And I say this as some who thinks Rubber Soul, Revolver and Abbey Road are the pinnacle of their output. However, the fascination with the inferior American LPs is weird to me. I guess nostalgia has a powerful pull.

It's fun to hear this group play these tunes; they tackle them pretty freely. There's an even later recording of "Paraphernalia" from the summer of 1970 once Jarrett joined the band.

Not answering your question, Bertrand, but I don't think Early Minor is in there, unless there are two different compositions with that name. They DID play the tune commonly associated with that title at other gigs around that time.

Botti is very good on the the BLUE album.

Interesting to imagine what would have happened if Miles had gone with this complex composition route in his electric period rather than the long, minimalist vamps. I know what you mean, but I don't think it's as simple as that...check this out: http://www.plosin.com/MilesAhead/CodeMD.html I sorta scoffed when I first read this information (in a bootleg's liner notes, actually, albeit without the larger overview provided here...but with specific references to the music on the recording itself), sounded like retro-fitting to me, but have come around with the hearing of more and more bootlegs. The markers are definitely there, and the effect is one or composition, rather large-scale, actually...not unlike how sonny would play these longass sets that would ramble from one tune into another but ultimately make set into a suite. In Miles' case, it was the other way around, he'd make a suite into a set. Was not contesting that... but for a little bit in late 1968 and early 1969, there was complexity introduced WITHIN compositions that Miles recorded. I also didn't mean "long, minimalist vamps" in a negative way - I like Miles's 1970-75 music a lot.

Interesting to imagine what would have happened if Miles had gone with this complex composition route in his electric period rather than the long, minimalist vamps.

Steve Grossman is among my least favorite 1970-75 Miles saxophonists, but I second this - he sounded a lot better on the April and June stuff that was not officially released.

They should have a deluxe edition that comes with its own lava lamp.

I don't know how representative they were of the entire British Invasion, but Mick Jagger and Brian Jones were both born to middle class families.

For all the talk about "real jazz", the first time I heard Sugar I was struck by how much more straight-ahead it was than some of the later, more commercial BN stuff.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-25684040 i wonder what his favorite album is ABWH or YesWest?

Have been listening to the second Snakeoil album, The Shadow Man. I liked the 1st album just fine, but those who found it too "tame" or ECM-ish should at the very least give TSM a listen. Much harder-hitting.

I'm left wondering which version of pop/rock journalism was worse.

I'm in! The April 1970 concerts that weren't in Black Beauty are also worth hearing.

It's like Wagner. The guy's world view had some foul aspects that he publicly expressed. It's possible to appreciate his positive contributions while condemning the foul ones. I also perfectly understand/empathize with people for whom these foul aspects make appreciation of the rest of his work impossible, just like people who refuse to listen to Wagner for the same reason.

Love ST. Too lazy to think of my favorites, but I do find that Joyride and The Spoiler are underrated.

Unfortunately, a legacy tainted by anti-Semitism.

This is a great one - I think Discovery is even better.

Agreed 100% with Aric. Loved this.

I enjoyed this too.

I think you mean the U.S. version of Out of Our Heads I'm realizing that now. Hans, the link you posted above is awesome. THANK YOU.

Hans, thanks so much. I'm digging through this. Basically what I'm struggling with is that according to most fans, it seems the UK versions are preferable for Out of Our Heads, Aftermath and Between the Buttons. But it seems like if I go that route, I'll be missing on some essential tracks...

Hey guys, I am about to dive into the Stones album catalogue (I had a compilation previously). I'm a little confused by the whole UK/US version controversy and what's available on CD in remastered form here in the US? Can someone tell me which to pick up? I want to go completist here.