Miles Davis - You're Under Arrest

Of all the great artists to succumb to the overproduced excess of the 80’s none of them were as tragically affected as Miles Davis. After a short retirement following a string of exceptional albums concluding with On the Corner, arguably the first hip-hop record, he returned to record a series of albums which became catered more towards popular music, rather than the artists music released the likes of the second quintet and the following fusion projects. There is debate as to whether this constitutes ‘selling out’. Miles began playing more popular and traditional music after leaving Charlie Parker’s band, as documented on the Blue Note and first couple of Prestige records. Miles was first accused of selling out the minute he went electric, but to any serious onlooker his artistic vision couldn’t have possibly been in doubt. You cannot listen to Bitches Brew and say that Miles was trying to be accessible. However, in his post-retirement period he seems to have gotten more accessible with each record.

You’re Under Arrest is most famous for its covers of big radio hits of its time, notably Human Nature and Time After Time, which should be an ample indication of the tone of the record as a whole. The rest of it seems to be pretty standard popular fare. This was made to sell to younger people. Let’s just cover one thing quickly, while the studio material of this band is largely pretty boring pop they were an incredible live act. The Montreux box demonstrates that Time After Time is one of the best live tracks Miles ever had, not to mention Jean Pierre, which appears briefly at the close of this record.

In summary this is a fun album, but not necessarily a very good one. The production feels more archaic than anything since ‘Round About Midnight almost thirty years earlier, the playing is good but feels unchallenging compared to just about anything else he’s ever recorded.