Bitches Brew is one of the most interesting albums made by anyone ever. The album both popularized Jazz Fusion and alienated a large amount of established Jazz fans. The music is built on traditional jazz call and response patterns and shuffled together. No one really understood it at the time, not many people claim to really understand it now. In any case, the record was Miles’ first gold album, and transformed his touring experience from small concert halls and clubs to stadiums, as well as opening up to a new level of sonic experimentation, paving the way for his own albums; Live Evil, A Tribute to Jack Johnson and On The Corner most significantly, as well as establishing careers
The album was produced in much the same way as the predecessor In a Silent Way; a largely electric band plays on a handful of set themes for a given amount of time and then these are arranged into the music on the album through careful cut and pasting, as well as layering multiple effects over many of the instruments. Through the use of studio trickery alone, producer Teo Macero is probably the most significant individual voice on the album, with the title track utilising fifteen significant edits and the opening track Pharaoh’s Dance nineteen.
The Sessions box was produced in 1998 as part of the Miles Davis Metal Spine collection. However, due to the original master of Macero’s LP mix being in such poor condition, the record had to either be remixed from the original multi tracks, or use a second generation two track master. What we have as a result is completely different sounding music to what was on the album, utilising the same performances in the same order with the same instruments. The Mark Wilder remix (colloquially referred to as Butchered Brew, although I’d consider that a somewhat harsh assessment) is probably how the album would have sounded if each performance was captured in a single take, which adds to the documentary feel of the Metal Spine series; best captured by The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions. The difference is sort of like identical twins brought up in different circumstances, much of the edge is lost in the more polite Wilder mix.
Miles’ sound is a lot more aggressive than it has been in the past. There’s a sense of arrogance to the playing, which given his personality is kind of a surprise that he doesn’t play like this more often. The other standout I guess would be guitarist John McLaughlin, who gets a track named after him on side 3 of the original LP. Highlights from his playing would be his solo in Miles Runs the Voodoo Down, which is highlighted in the remix. The rest of the playing tends to get buried under its own weight; it can be hard to appreciate some of the keyboard playing when there can be as many as three at the same time, next to two basses and two sets of drums. On the plus side the remix does have more separation between the two basses and slightly more separation between the multiple drum sets and keyboards so it does do a better job of highlighting the playing of the rhythm section.
Of the original album I prefer the first disc to the second. The first is dark and menacing, where as the second is a bit lighter in tone and sits closer to the rock sound that inspired the work. Ultimately, where this set has most of its value is in its bonus material. Three hours of material is collected from session beginning on August 19th 1969 and ending on February 6th 1970. A lot of it has appeared somewhere else, for example Great Expectations/Orange Lady from Big Fun, Guinnevere from Circle in the Round and Gemini/Double Image from Live Evil. There is a definite change in tone when the Indian warmth of Great Expectations rolls around during the second disc, swimming in thick bass which has not only a breath of life missing from its original mix on the Big Fun compilation, but a fullness missing from the Bitches Brew material itself. The pace seems to slow a bit for me on the third disc of the sessions.
The box is somewhat mistitled, as the set unfortunately doesn’t cover any of the session material which resulted in the six tracks on the album. These are, however, collected in the Deep Brew bootleg, which kind of makes you wonder how these guys managed to do it where Legacy couldn’t.
In closing, it’s obviously pretty tough to decide exactly what I think of The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions. Regardless of mix pickiness the music sounds both historic and fresh, although listening to four hours of complicated music all in one hit like I just did can take it’s toll. For the actual album material, the Macero mix is where it’s at. I personally would have added a fifth disc for studio outtakes, reused the 1996 Japanese master of the original mix and left everything else the way it is. Or remixed the album for the set but left the original mix in print for the standard CD issue. Basically what I’m saying is get the Sessions, the original mix (Complete Columbia Album Collection is in print) and the Legacy Edition. I’ll shut up and give you a video now.
Pharaoh’s Dance (Teo Macero mix): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BPjO0MKU6U
Great Expectations (Mark Wilder remix): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqSzfnd-i98
No comments:
Post a Comment