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Recorded: 1968/69
Released: 2001 (original album released in 1969)
Tracks: [Disc 1] Mademoiselle Mabry; Frelon Brun; Two Faced; Dual Mr. Anthony Tillmon Williams Process; Splash; Splashdown; [Disc 2] Ascent; Directions I; Directions II; Shhh/Peaceful; In a Silent Way (Rehearsal); In a Silent Way; It’s About That Time; [Disc 3] The Ghetto Walk; Early Minor; Shhh/Peaceful (LP Version); In a Silent Way/It’s About That Time (LP Version)
Best tracks: [Disc 1] Dual Mr. Anthony Tillmon Williams Process, [Disc 2] Directions I, Directions II, In a Silent Way, [Disc 3] In a Silent Way/It’s About That Time
Tracks to skip: [Disc 1] Splash, Splashdown, [Disc 2] none, [Disc 3] none
As with all of my box sets, I’m reviewing this one disc at a time.
This set is obviously the complete sessions for the In a Silent Way album and in addition to that album, we get songs that found their way onto Filles de Kilimanjaro, Water Babies, Circle in the Round and Directions. The set features some previously unreleased material and ends with the LP versions of side 1 & 2 from In a Silent Way. Lots of material covered here, even if it’s only 14 songs. If you need shorter songs, avoid this set.
[Disc 1]
I think Disc 1 is my least favorite of the bunch. For the most part it has a very relaxed, but spacey quality to it. I think it’s good for meditating, but I don’t necessarily love it for actual listening. Dual Mr. Anthony…has some nice grooves on it and is my favorite on this particular disc. Naturally, some great playing from Tony Williams on here. Both Splash and Splashdown are a bit more upbeat that the others, but I don’t think they’re as good of compositions. That’s probably why they were unreleased until this set. I like that the playing on these songs, esp. the first 3, is very subtle. The frequent stops and starts get distracting, but it’s clear that’s what Davis was aiming for with this music. I can listen to these songs from time to time, but to be honest, if I’m actively listening it’s kind of a chore to sit through all of disc 1. It sounds like the songs aren’t quite finished…I just get that feeling from them.
[Disc 2]
Now, this is the meat of this set. We get the full versions of Shhh/Peaceful, It’s About That Time and In a Silent Way, along with the excellent Directions I & II and a trippy as all hell Ascent. This disc is what makes the box for me. Ascent is indeed trippy as hell and it’s possibly the only long song on this entire set that doesn’t feel like it’s 14 minutes long. It’s a great start to this disc and clearly illustrates we’re into the serious material here. As for Directions I & II….wow. Two different takes on one of my favorite Miles Davis compositions. Directions II is probably my favorite of the two, but both are excellent. They’re not quite as frantic as they’d be on the It’s About That Time live album recorded later in ’69, but I prefer them in these ferocious, but still tame, versions. Excellent playing from everyone on here.
Shhh/Peaceful introduces John McLaughlin into the mix with a perfected version of the start/stop stuff that the band played around with on the first disc. This is cool track that goes back and forth between the 2 sections/songs. There are a lot of great, funky grooves here and they’re happily continuing on with the spacey stuff. The rehearsal take of In a Silent Way is definitely interesting, esp. to hear how the song evolved. It’s not really essential, though. It’s a bit more bouncy than the released version, but it’s a nice blueprint and something different to hear. Once we get to the song proper, though, look out. In a Silent Way is definitely one of my favorite Miles Davis tunes and possibly my favorite melody he ever played. It’s just such a gorgeous song. It’s About That Time concludes the disc with some nice, spooky grooves from Dave Holland and Tony Williams.
[Disc 3]
The last disc rounds out the set and presents 2 previously unreleased tracks, The Ghetto Walk & Early Minor, along with the LP version of the In a Silent Way album. Ghetto Walk is definitely the better of these two unreleased tracks. There’s some delay on Miles’ trumpet and the song definitely sounds like the link between In a Silent Way and the chaos of Bitches Brew, which came out later in 1969. It’s got a great, dark groove to it. Even with it being 26 minutes, I did hear an edit in there. Not too obvious, though. Early Minor is a decent track, but it’s kinda forgettable esp. being sandwiched in between the longer pieces.
I like hearing everything that led up to the album and then getting the album proper at the end of this box set. It’s a nice bit of completion to the whole thing. I think that when you’re presented with the 2 sides of the album, it becomes a lot more mysterious than in dealing with them all as individual tracks. That’s the beauty of what Miles and Teo Macero did with the album. They condensed all of this great material into 40 minutes of music that’s simultaneously creepy, beautiful, funky and intense. I prefer hearing the tracks on an individual level, but there’s no denying the power that the original album contained. My only gripe is the really bad edit at 10:43 of the LP version of Shhh/Peaceful. It’s *too obvious* of an edit, where all of the other ones are fairly seamless. Still, not a big deal.
Overall, the stuff on disc 2 is clearly my favorite, but it’s also fascinating to hear the development of this classic album. This is some pretty heady material and it takes a lot of listens to really get what’s happening on some of the longer cuts. It’s worth it though. When it comes down to it, I really prefer the whole box to the album itself. As with all of the other Miles Davis box sets, the packaging is beautifully done with excellent liner notes that have interviews with the players, session information & breakdowns of quite a few of the song structures. There’s a lot of information here and it’s great to have it available. Or, you can just sit back and listen to the music.
Rating: 94
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