Reviews by kuvien

I have no problem with this album. As a matter of fact, I love it. I never read reviews, either of new or old albums, so I never know the meta before going into an album. I just trust my ears. And so I’ll like something that’s panned or hate something that’s acclaimed. But the other day I ran across someone online talking about the critical re-evaluation of this album. Wait what? Critics thought this album was bad? What the hell! Is an artist not allowed to do new things, to stand on the corner and listen to the music of the street and then incorporate that music into his own? Now you know why I don’t read reviews. By the way, if you need further enticement, this has McLaughlin on guitar, Hancock on piano, and DeJohnette on drums.

Orbit. We think of it as flying, but really what it is is falling at an incredibly high speed. Without that speed, you'd just drop. No orbit. But what if you could walk on air? Not at supersonic speed that would make you orbit. No. Just stroll. On the air. Wouldn't that be cool? Pretty sure if I saw someone doing that, I'd assume they were listening to this album. Damn. And I didn't even say anything about the legendary 14th-century BC Egyptian queen yet. Hmmm. Well, I suppose she smiled down on Miles Davis for having the magnanimity to play on this album only pieces composed by his quintet.

All I’ve got to say is Miles’ tones are just what I need when I’m weary. Adderly and Coltrane on sax, Chambers on bass.

One day on my birthday, my friends showed up at my door with two gifts for me, this vinyl LP and a bottle of Lagavulin 16. What a great bunch of friends! This mid-60s live album is a five-track gem of some of Davis' famous and well-loved late 50s compositions. Just a joy to spin!

This album is amazing. It found my car keys. It changed coke into pepsi. It mpregged me.

Side A is a trip across a post-apocalyptic desert where the vestiges of a crumbled civilization send out their echoes, distant yet close, communicating a mystery the sojourner knows but cannot remember. Eventually he stumbles into a crossroads town where things don’t get any more normal. The sign at the town limits reads, “If you survive the fusion, the funk cometh.”

This is the album Davis made right before he dropped his In a Silent Way bomb, what many consider his magnum opus. But for me, it's hard to separate Davis' albums, for it's clear there's a natural evolution across his discography. I love this album, too, especially the title track, which always hypnotizes me, and the sexy and sultry mademoiselle, so expansive and exploratory, hinting at even greater treasures to come.

It's like this quintet (Davis, Shorter, Hancock, Carter, Williams) planted a garden, and here they are calling forth shoots, leaves, and petals with their music. That's how organic it all sounds, like their spells of music wrap around one another like vines.

It's like Bitches Brew entered the Zen Room. *close up on Tim Curry's surprised face* Squelchy funk from the beginning of "Go Ahead John" and then John goes ahead, scratching the guitar just where it itches. A lot of frenetic left/right speaker shenanigans going on here, almost dizzying. Davis comes in with the lotion and smooths things out, and then the guitar follows his lead, mellow and cool. With "Great Expectations", the album kicks off as expansive and exploratory, with everyone on the same train driving...somewhere. The horn honks, the whistle blows, and it's all aboard. Just magic! Driving to sitar land. This epic double album is a quest to find the ends of jazz, but all in a fun way. Hancock, Corea, Shorter, McLaughlin, and DeJohnette are all giant names here that I recognize. I'm sure a jazz aficionado could school me on the other musicians listed here. I love this album because I love music that doesn't sound like it has an agenda, like it's rushing to say something. This album really takes its time saying nothing.

All atmosphere and charm and noir! Quite a short album, leaving you wanting more, which is, of course, part of its charm.

There are so many thoughts that run through my head when listening to any Miles Davis album. So what about this live album? Basically this is, for the most part, guitar-hero music in the form of jazz. Some of the most serious, extended shredding I've ever had the pleasure to hear. This album is so good that at one point the trumpet meows. Wonderful fading in and out of themes, taking its time, like there's nothing else to do in life but play music... and listen to it. From swampy funkiness to pastoral mountaintop flutes, this performance is an epic journey. Eh. I recommend skipping this one, guys: I doubt you can make it through. Well, there are some wonderful minimal stretches that might give your ears a break. Loosen your collar if you make it to the end, though, because the last track swelters, emanating warmth like pavement in summer after the sun has gone down.

How about ’round about dawn with all the kids still asleep and a cup of coffee in my hand? This amazing debut is good for any time of day, as long as you’re left in peace. Although his jazz fusion stuff is my favorite, Miles is my favorite jazz artist overall, so it doesn’t really matter what style he’s playing in. I’m probably going to like it. John Coltrane on tenor sax here, too. Actually, the whole quintet is dynamite, making it all seem so easy and cool.

When you expect a faerie to step out of the hedge, but it's just some cosplay slag.

This is bonkers. Piano, trombone, cello, bass, drums, flute / clarinet all in top form, often playing in overlapping time signatures, expressing such ominous beauty, like when a storm boils in the sky. It was Davis' intention to create compositions of interactive improvisation, perhaps this accounting for the dynamism of this recording. Think of this as a musical obstacle course, where Davis is the mercurial pace car.

I'm surprised the Asian kid I know hasn't heard this yet.

This is delicate, warm dark folk of the German variety, and though I prefer the Scandinavian variants of the genre, the judicious, sparing use of atmospheric, lonely horns and hints of martial percussion on this record are a nice touch.

Although the dude looks better naked than the chick, the chick is better on the mic than the dude.

Thunder-whispering vikings with laptops taking over the cooldown/chillout part of the forest-rave. I've never been to a rave, though, so I don't know if there actually is a chillout time. And I don't know if Vikings have ever attended one.

I love the Wardruna project, and this album sounds like the dude who made it gave those records a spin or two. However, there are marked differences, like with the last track, which has an almost eastern European gypsy feel to the music. Just a heads up: track four, the song about life and death, uses real human bones as sound objects.

This has got to be the worst cosplay Ren faire pagan music cringe that I've ever heard. I gave myself brain damage facepalming repeatedly as each freshman-level line of poetry fell out of the singer's mouth. This is the music equivalent of 3D Skyrim porn.