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Miles Davis: Get Up With It


Matthew

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Just some of the reasons why I love this album:

1. He Loved Him Madly. Davis' tribute to Duke Ellington. This song evokes many responses by critics, with the words "strange" and "unusual" being the most often used by the reviews I have read. It is different piece of work, according to the Miles Ahead website, there are at least nineteen splices contained in it, but it does not have that "put together feel." Sometimes I get the feeling that people expected this tribute to the passing of Duke Ellington to be more in a traditional mode, something in the style of I Remember Clifford, instead of what Miles did here. It really is a different kind of song to honor Ellington, but to my mind, it is one of the best Miles Davis songs there is, I even like the sudden ending to it, which always catches me by surprise. I find the song, exciting, lovely, melancholic, and boring, all at the same time, and also depending on my mood.

2. The way Miles plays the organ. I've never read an in-depth appreciation of the organ playing of Miles, but I love it, and I find it totally unique. So often, from what I've read in different places, I get the impression that people feel that Davis is noodling on the organ, passing the time, not too involved. I don't find that at all. For me, his organ playing is at the heart of the songs here (as well as in other albums), and he also plays the organ with a sly sense of humor, of which, his playing on Calypso Frelimo is a good example.

3. Maiysha. I have a DID burn of my favorite Miles, and this one is on it, great playing by all involved, and it is a fun song.

4. It is a fun record. I know it is heresy, but the music of Miles Davis has a ton of fun and laughter in it, and those qualities are here in abundance.

5. You have to play it loud. The best way to appreciate the music here is to say: "To heck with the neighbors" and crank it up.

As I said before: Buy it. Listen to it. Love it.

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I love Loved Him Madly, Maiysha, Honky Tonk, Rated X, and Calypso Frelimo. Side 4 (Red China Blues, Mtume, and Billy Preston) is forgettable, tho Billy Preston has a nice groove. And extra points for the glasses he's wearing on the cover!

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Probably the record that did most to unlock post-BB Miles for me. To my mind 'He Loved Him Madly' is up there was the best of Miles. Tend to listen to the tracks in other places since those boxes came out; but a fine package nonetheless.

Edited by A Lark Ascending
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One of the things I used to really like about these mis-70s 2LP sets from Miles ('Specially Priced') is that long after other LPs had run out of their 20 minutes or so you would still have about 10 minutes of noodling blissful groove still to go from the likes of 'Calypso Frelimo' and 'Billy Preston' before you had to take your Sennheisers off.

Edited by sidewinder
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One of the things I used to really like about these mis-70s 2LP sets from Miles ('Specially Priced') is that long after other LPs had run out of their 20 minutes or so you would still have about 10 minutes of noodling blissful groove still to go from the likes of 'Calypso Frelimo' and 'Billy Preston' before you had to take your Sennheisers off.

Agreed. And there was something about the audible compression necessary to squeeze 32 minutes onto an LP side that adds to the moody, mysterious nature of the music.

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Depends how things hit you at a certain time, but I've always loved this for He Loved Him Madly, and for Calypso Frelimo which I heard on the radio way back when and thought: wow. I like it better than earlier electric Miles and I think it is unmissable (well, even if a couple of tracks are skippable).

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51KxbpiqH2L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Just some of the reasons why I love this album:

1. He Loved Him Madly. Davis' tribute to Duke Ellington. This song evokes many responses by critics, with the words "strange" and "unusual" being the most often used by the reviews I have read. It is different piece of work, according to the Miles Ahead website, there are at least nineteen splices contained in it, but it does not have that "put together feel." Sometimes I get the feeling that people expected this tribute to the passing of Duke Ellington to be more in a traditional mode, something in the style of I Remember Clifford, instead of what Miles did here. It really is a different kind of song to honor Ellington, but to my mind, it is one of the best Miles Davis songs there is, I even like the sudden ending to it, which always catches me by surprise. I find the song, exciting, lovely, melancholic, and boring, all at the same time, and also depending on my mood.

Listening now. The splices are pretty apparent to me. I think you meant that the overall composition doesn't have that "put together feel"?

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51KxbpiqH2L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Just some of the reasons why I love this album:

1. He Loved Him Madly. Davis' tribute to Duke Ellington. This song evokes many responses by critics, with the words "strange" and "unusual" being the most often used by the reviews I have read. It is different piece of work, according to the Miles Ahead website, there are at least nineteen splices contained in it, but it does not have that "put together feel." Sometimes I get the feeling that people expected this tribute to the passing of Duke Ellington to be more in a traditional mode, something in the style of I Remember Clifford, instead of what Miles did here. It really is a different kind of song to honor Ellington, but to my mind, it is one of the best Miles Davis songs there is, I even like the sudden ending to it, which always catches me by surprise. I find the song, exciting, lovely, melancholic, and boring, all at the same time, and also depending on my mood.

Listening now. The splices are pretty apparent to me. I think you meant that the overall composition doesn't have that "put together feel"?

Yeah, that's what I meant.

It's interesting to read the critical reaction to this song and album (it's the only excuse I have for this post):

Jack Chamber writes of He Loved Him Madly:

There can be no doubt that this music is deeply felt. Whether it succeeds in matching the feelings to the man whose death evoked them is a separate question, and one that would be debated hotly. It is a dirge, carried by long, motionless organ chords, with occasional drum rolls as punctuation and long, spacey interludes by guitar, flute, and trumpet that add color to the organ drone without distracting the listener from it. The organ dominates, although it seems more appropriate as a background for a spoken elegy or perhaps for a musical allusion to Ellington's style. The anticipation that something will arise to fill the empty foreground is the listener's main response on the first listening, but the foreknowledge that it never comes affects further listenings. He Loved Him Madly thus reduces to a passionately understated individula response to Ellington's death, but as a composition it is too monochromatic to justify its half-hour length. (Milestones 2: The Music and Times of Miles Davis Since 1960 pg. 269)

In the same book, Chambers quotes Barry Tepperman:

Barry Tepperman, reviewing the LP for Coda, labeled it "indentifiably personal, rhythmically involved background music, compressing the limitations of his [Davis's] horn to their ultimate closure, with absolutely nothing to project it into consciousness." As for He Loved Him Madly, Tepperman states: "The only vague interest in this bonsai album comes in an artistically absurd dedication "For Duke." (pg. 270)

Again, why there was an expectation that somehow, Miles would work a dedication to Ellington in the "Ellington Style" is interesting, it seems to me that people still had not come to grips with the musical direction of Miles, and were disappointed that Davis did not "come back to the mainstream fold" on this occasion.

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re: Chambers, I thought his discussion of this album was interesting - despite his severe blind spot on the electric music (particularly that recorded after Bitches Brew), he grudgingly admits "Rated X" is brilliant.

Paul Tingen's discussion of these recordings is interesting and insightful.

I also seem to recall that in Stuart Nicholson's "Jazz Rock" book he cites Columbia's ad slogan for this album "Another Bitch, Another Brew: Get Up With It". I always thought that was funny.

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IIRC everything on Get Up with It is on the One the Corner box set. Is there any difference in any of the mixes? ARe the longer pieces less compressed?

"Honky Tonk" isn't on the box set (you'll have to get the Jack Johnson box for that one), but everything else is, including an alternate of "Mtume." Mixes are from the LP masters. "Calypso Frelimo" could use a remastering--it's always sounded partially submerged to me.

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