Best Miles Davis Album 1949-1974

True, but the live records of that band are more exciting documents of that remapping than the studio records (which always struck me as relatively muted).

i dont agree with this at all. studio records largely were live recordings from this era and i would contend the difference is negligible, except the quality of the sound recording is worse.

i went with bitches brew, it is one of the albums i want to listen to the most frequently. in a silent way would have been second. i think both are far better than kind of blue.

i dont agree with this at all. studio records largely were live recordings from this era and i would contend the difference is negligible, except the quality of the sound recording is worse.

I'm not sure what you mean...the studio recordings of the mid-60s quintet were recorded...um...in a studio. They were most likely recorded "live," that is, without overdubs or too much editing. But there was no audience present, other than the studio staff. Their live repertoire rarely incorporated any of their studio compositions (there's a handful of exceptions, like "Footprints").

I don't dislike the studio records at all, but what I love about the live records -- especially the Plugged Nickel box -- is the precariousness of it all, the heightened sense of risk-taking. Tempos were taken faster than in the studio, solos were investigated more thoroughly, and the interaction was more probing.

voted for Filles de Kilimanjaro because i listen to it the most, but it was really a toss up between In a Silent Way, Get Up With It, Ascenseur pour l'Échafaud, Porgy and Bess, On the Corner, and probably a few others.... Hell, it would be hard for me even to pick the ten best.

Filles de Kilimanjaro deserves more love anyways...

A lot of these are going to get underrepped, but I I've had too many odysseys with In A Silent Way not to vote for it. Tho if we were comparing boxsets I'd probably give the nod to BB.

it may be an obvious choice, but it should be said that Kind of Blue IS in fact an amazing album, no matter how much it's been hyped as such. and it is pretty unique in Miles discography -- something about the sound is pretty magical.

Get Up With It for the win.

A lot of the electric albums are fairly interchangeable in quality, given the overlapping in sessions and the extensive editing involved, its difficult to pinpoint one in particular that is somehow a more cohesive or engaging album (particularly when the music itself is not interested all that much in being cohesive).

I've become cozy enough with electric Miles to make quite legible distinctions between releases. No doubt Phil Freeman (and others) could make even finer distinctions. They may not be cohesive (keyword: may) but they've engaged me for years.

Plugged Nickel is too fast. That shit is nuts.

Bitches, but this is like getting a menu with all my favorite dishes and having someone tell me to pick one.

Bitches ain't shit.

(Actually, it's great. I just wanted to say that. I voted for Sketches.)

I could have just as easily gone with Silent or Corner, but OPO.

where is the VOTE FOR MILES option

I'm not sure what you mean...the studio recordings of the mid-60s quintet were recorded...um...in a studio. They were most likely recorded "live," that is, without overdubs or too much editing. But there was no audience present, other than the studio staff. Their live repertoire rarely incorporated any of their studio compositions (there's a handful of exceptions, like "Footprints").

yeah i might be overstating it, obv there is a difference in a different environment but the essence of the recording is still 'live,' whether yr playing it for studio hands or a bunch of dudes drinking at a bar and i think its pretty ridiculous to imply that the live recordings were 'all better' or something when there really isn't that much to differentiate them. or rather, when certain aspects (i.e. maybe the players were trying some new + more daring shit) are balanced out by others (recording technology for nightclubs at the time was WACK)

i don't know, i think there is a pretty big difference. some of the tunes on the records are really complex, and they got to rehearse and do multiple takes. live, on the other hand, they stuck to the older Miles tunes and standards (and just played them really fucking fast and deconstructoid). that said, i like the studio records better, they're more musical and more interesting to my ears.

Round About Midnight, mostly because a lot of the early stuff (pre-59) seems under-appreciated, but also because I've heard it a hundred times at parties and in coffee shops, and still put it on for an afternoon groove.

One of the things I love on Plugged Nickel (and I guess other live stuff too) that I don't hear as much on the studio is Miles taking those extra-long pauses in the middle of his solos and letting the rhythm section fill everything in.

I'm voting for W(or|al)kin'

COOKIN W/THE MILES DAVIS QUINTET

(really a tie between cookin/workin/steamin/relaxin; like one album in four installments)
yup

workin' is my fave, so great

My choice changes daily but today it's On The Corner (and I MUST get that new box set)...

Man, looking at this list just reminds me of all the good stuff out there. Voted for "On the Corner" even though it makes me feel a bit like a johnny Come Lately hipster, but honestly of the half-dozen Miles albums I own, it's the only one I listen to. (Though the poll has inspired me to dig some stuff out, I think.)

Hurrah for that!

how did i not see this poll. awesome.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

This is going to be pretty close I think with lots of votes across the board (as it probably should be). I do wonder if A Kind Of Blue will get the lurker vote though.

Has anyone actually voted A Kind Of Blue?

Workin' for me.

Workin' for the weekend.

Workin' seems to have as many votes as In A Silent Way so far and more than Bitches Brew and A Kind Of Blue

I think I'm more wondering what albums wont get voted for. There's so many great albums in that list that certainly deserve one vote.

Tell that to the jazz drummers thread.

I'm the lurker vote, and I'm voting Porgy and Bess, as it's one of my favourite records ever. And also perfect.

Although I only own seven of these, and have only heard 11, so I may be missing out.

Has anyone actually voted A Kind Of Blue?

-- Herman G. Neuname, Tuesday, December 11, 2007 12:18 AM (18 hours ago) Bookmark Link

I did. Not because I like it more than In a Silent Way or On the Corner or Porgy and Bess or about four or five others (is nobody voting for Birth of the Cool?) But because being the cliche choice it is it's not going to get nearly the votes it deserves on ILM.

Yeah, that's why I was asking. There's about a dozen albums or more that deserve 20 votes each!
I'd hate AKOB in this and Head Hunters in the Herbie Hancock poll to get left out as clichéd choice (though H H did win the previous poll.)

I'm surprised at the lack of mentions for Birth Of The Cool too, It may not be one of my favourites but it is a landmark album.

(unless it gets the lurker votes and wins haha)

Birth of the Cool is great. altho Darn That Dream's vocal always irritated me.

i might vote for "miles smiles" or "ESP". musical equivalent of an eames lounge chair.

Every album will get 1 vote each! (Hurrah!)

I voted Miles Smiles just cause I spent a semester studying it and dug really deep into everybody's solos, really feel like I *get* it more than anything else on the list.

I still want to know if some of the stuff like Live in Tokyo is worth getting. Anyone?

Live in Tokyo is wonderful, yeah. in a silent way gets my vote and is my desert island Miles if i *had* to pick one....but there are really a dozen i could pick

Tokyo's a strange one. The band actually seems to take fewer risks with Sam Rivers on board (though in this context, "fewer risks" is a relative term). Definitely worth it...better if you can spring for the Seven Steps box, which also has the phenomenal Antibes date.

I need to check that one out then too.

Cool, thanks dudes.

I don't even know that it's close to being best but Ascenseur pour l'Échafaud has the dearest memories attached to it for me.

shocker :)

Brit ILXor inside baseball?

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.