Best Miles Davis Album 1949-1974

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.

Surprised On The Corner finished above others but a really good amount of votes. Steamin' deserved a vote but everything else did quite well considering.
This is the perfect example where having votes ranked 1-10 would've been rewarding.

Motherfucker had a lot of good albums

results not all that surprising

A discography The Beatles could only dream of!!

Water Babies is pretty interesting.

somehow Live Evil is still underrated. I voted OtC, but it's only been in the last few years that LE wasn't my pick.

Surprised On The Corner finished above others

dont be, ultimate rock crit dork choice

dude

im not saying its bad per se

(at least in that post)

I had assumed that In A Silent Way was the ultimate rock crit dork choice - which is supported by the fact that I voted for it and that it won.

In A Silent Way is the "I've outsmarted the rock crit dork hivemind, oh wait, no I haven't" choice.

i dont know if 'in silent way' is musically rock crit dork enough. too much jazz

I very nearly didn't outsmart the rock crit dork hivemind myself.

I did!