Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.50 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 0.99 Gb | Artwork
© 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1230~37 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc
Jazz / Fusion / Jazz Rock / Jazz Funk / Trumpet

Along with its sister recording, Pangaea, Agharta was recorded live in February of 1975 at the Osaka Festival Hall in Japan. Amazingly enough, given that these are arguably Davis' two greatest electric live records, they were recorded the same day. Agharta was performed in the afternoon and Pangaea in the evening. Of the two, Agharta is superior. The band with Davis – saxophonist Sonny Fortune, guitarists Pete Cosey (lead) and Reggie Lucas (rhythm), bassist Michael Henderson, drummer Al Foster, and percussionist James Mtume – was a group who had their roots in the radically streetwise music recorded on 1972's On the Corner, and they are brought to fruition here.

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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Miles Davis - Agharta (1975) [2CD] {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 648 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 232 Mb | Artwork -> 156 Mb
© 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1230~31 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc

The music on Agharta, a total of three tunes spread over two CDs and four LP sides, contains the "Prelude," which clocks in at over a half-hour. There is "Maiysha" from Get up With It and the Agharta "Interlude," which segues into the "Theme From Jack Johnson." The music here is almost totally devoid of melody and harmony, and is steeped into a steamy amalgam of riffs shot through and through with crossing polyrhythms, creating a deep voodoo funk groove for the soloists to inhabit for long periods of time as they solo and interact with one another. Davis' band leading at this time was never more exacting or free. The sense of dynamics created by the stop-start accents and the moods, textures, and colors brought out by this particular interaction of musicians is unparalleled in Davis' live work – yeah, that includes the Coltrane and Bill Evans bands, but they're like apples and oranges anyway. Driven by the combination of Davis' direction and the soloing of Sonny Fortune and guitarist Pete Cosey, who is as undervalued and underappreciated for his incalculable guitar-slinging gifts as Jimi Hendrix is celebrated for his, and the percussion mania of Mtume, the performance on Agharta is literally almost too much of a good thing to bear. When Cosey starts his solo in the "Prelude" at the 12-minute mark, listeners cannot be prepared for the Hendrixian energy and pure electric whammy-bar weirdness that's about to come splintering out of the speakers. As the band reacts in intensity, the entire proceeding threatens to short out the stereo. These are some of the most screaming notes ever recorded. Luckily, since this is just the first track on the whole package, Davis can bring the tempos down a bit here and there and snake them into spots that I don't think even he anticipated before that afternoon (check the middle of "Maiysha" and the second third of "Jack Johnson" for some truly creepy and beautiful wonders). While Pangaea is awesome as well, there is simply nothing like Agharta in the canon of recorded music. This is the greatest electric funk-rock jazz record ever made – period.

Mojo (Publisher) - Ranked #3 in Mojo's "The 50 Most Out There Albums Of All Time"

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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Miles Davis - Pangaea (1975) [2CD] {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 585 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 213 Mb | Artwork
© 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1232~33 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc

This is the second of two performances from February 1975 at the Osaka Festival Hall in Japan. This is the evening show; the Columbia release Agharta was the afternoon show. Pangaea is comprised of two tracks, "Zimbabwe" and "Gondwana." Each is divided into two parts. The band here is comprised of Sonny Fortune on saxophones, Pete Cosey (who also played synth) and Reggie Lucas on guitars, Michael Henderson on bass, Al Foster on drums, James Mtume on percussion, and Davis on trumpet and organ. The band, no doubt inspired by their amazing performance earlier in the day, comes out swinging, and I mean like Muhammad Ali, not Benny Goodman. This is a take-no-prisoners set. Davis seems to be pushing an agenda of "What the hell is melody and harmony? And bring on the funk – and while you're at it, Pete, play the hell outta that guitar. More drums!" If there is anything that's consistent in this free-for-all, as everybody interacts with everyone else in an almighty dirty groove & roll while improv is at an all-time high, it's the rhythmic, or should we emphasize "polyrhythmic," invention. Mtume and Foster are monstrous in moving this murky jam session along ("Zimbabwe" is one set, and "Gondwana" is the second of the evening) some surreal lines. When Cosey's not ripping the pickups out of his guitar, he's adding his hands to various percussion instruments in the pursuit of the all-powerful Miles Davis' inflected voodoo funk. And while it's true that this set is as relentless as the Agharta issue, it's not quite as successful, though it's plenty satisfying. The reason is simple: the dynamic and dramatic tensions of the afternoon session could never have been replicated, they were based on all conditions being right. Here, while the moods and textures are carried and the flow is quite free, the dramatic tension is not as present; the mood is not quite so dark. And while the playing of certain individuals here may be better than it is on Agharta, the band's playing isn't quite at that level. That said, this is still an essential Miles Davis live record and will melt your mind just as easily as Agharta. People would complain on this tour that Davis played with his back to the audience a lot – Lester Bangs went so far as to say he hated his guts for it. But if you were this focused on creating a noise so hideously beautiful from thin air, you might not have time to socialize either.

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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Miles Davis - The Man With The Horn (1981) {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 343 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 125 Mb | Artwork
© 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1234 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc

For Miles Davis, the six year layoff between the release of PANGAEA and THE MAN WITH THE HORN was marked by isolation, physical pain and dependency…a sense of inertia. At points on THE MAN WITH THE HORN you can hear him straining to get his chops back up, although ultimately, his musicianly instincts served him well during odd passages of rope-a-doping, and for every broken note there is a blast of vintage Miles.

THE MAN WITH THE HORN introduces yet another striking band, featuring future leaders such as reedman Bill Evans, guitarist Mike Stern, bassist Marcus Miller and drum innovator Al Foster. The opening "Fat Time" combines Miles' love for the flamenco airs and melodic gravity of Spain with a contemporary hard funk style. Evans and Stern act as virtuoso foils, a la Coltrane and Hendrix, the latter's influence apparent in Barry Finnerty's boiling clouds of distortion on "Back Seat Betty" (which settles into a coy, laid back blues vehicle for Miles' muted horn), and a rivetting "Aida," in which Miles reprises the rhythmic tumult of his mid-'70s band with dramatic give and take between his horn and a fiery guitar-driven vamp, as Al Foster thunders away underneath.

Miles, the avant garde experimentalist of the '70s, never revealed his affection for pop music and song forms we hear in the sentimental R&B devotionals of the title tune or the straight up funk of "Shout." But in closing, as if to reasure us, the swinging, medium-tempo walking blues "Ursula" suggests that no matter the setting or historical milieu, Miles Davis always remains…Miles Davis.

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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Miles Davis - We Want Miles (1982) [2CD] {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 555 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 185 Mb | Artwork
© 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1235~36 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc

Davis's second recording since ending his six-year retirement was one of his best of the 1980s. Unlike his bands from the 1970s, this particular unit leaves plenty of space and plays much more melodically. Guitarist Mike Stern lets loose some fury, but electric bassist Marcus Miller is not reluctant to walk now and then in a straight-ahead fashion, drummer Al Foster and percussionist Mino Cinelu are tasteful, and Bill Evans gets in a few good spots on soprano. As for Davis, he was gradually regaining his earlier form. This double LP is highlighted by "Back Seat Betty," a side-long investigation of "My Man's Gone Now" and two versions of Davis's childlike "Jean Pierre."

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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Miles Davis - You're Under Arrest (1985) {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 278 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 104 Mb | Artwork
© 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1237 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc

Miles Davis's final Columbia recording (other than Aura which was released several years later) includes his straightforward ballad interpretations of Cyndy Lauper's "Time After Time" and the Michael Jackson-associated "Human Nature," two songs he would play in most of his concerts for the remainder of his life. Other tunes (including "You're Under Arrest," "One Phone Call" and "Ms. Morrisine") were quickly discarded. In addition to Davis (who had regained his earlier chops) tenor-saxophonist Bob Berg, guitarist John Scofield and guest John McLaughlin get in a few decent solos on this competent but not overly memorable effort.

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Miles Davis - The Original Jacket Collection (2006) [30 Albums, 37 CDs] {DSD Japan Mini LP Analog Collection} (part 6of6)

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