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I always had a difficult time getting into those more transitional Miles albums, especially from the acoustic to electric period albums like
Filles de Kilimanjaro and
Miles in the Sky, but there are some good pieces on both of these albums. Many people loved
In a Silent Way and I would agree that it’s quite good, but
Bitches Brew is an album that truly reinvented Miles and pushed him into even wider acclaim.
In fact, I wrote a little review on Amazon on
Bitches Brew:
Title: One Of Miles Davis’ Most Important Albums
I think at this juncture not much needs to be said critically about “Bitches Brew”. There are many people that loathe this album while there are others that consider it one of Davis’ masterpieces. For me, I lie firmly in the latter camp. I loved “Bitches Brew” on first-listen, which was probably 25 years ago. It is difficult to fathom this album has been around for 50 years now (March of this year marked its 50th anniversary). For those that haven’t heard “Bitches Brew”, please stop reading this review and just go listen to it. I can guarantee you one thing and that is you’ve never heard anything like at this point in time. The fact that it still sounds as relevant and fresh day is a testament to creativity and ingenuity of Miles Davis, but also Teo Macero who is very much a member of the band as it was his ear that helped shape this music and give it structure. My understanding is Miles brought in only a few sketches for the music, but wanted to keep the music spontaneous and lively with a thrilling, fly by the seat of your pants improvisational approach. Make no mistake there are themes in each of these pieces and each of themes are basically almost like whispers or clouds of smoke as they vanish quickly. There are some themes that stick around for a longer time like in the piece “John McLaughlin” for example.
I do want to talk a little about the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab hybrid SACD. While it sounds great throughout, there is some distortion in the last 50 seconds or so in “Pharaoh’s Dance”. I’m not sure if this is a tape issue or what as it’s not heard in the 2018 Japanese remaster from the Quadraphonic hybrid SACD release or the 1998 remaster. I found this rather disappointing, but thankfully the rest of this MFSL doesn’t have this issue. It was pointed out to me that it might be a tape issue, which is probably what it is or sounds like to me as well.
If you don’t own “Bitches Brew”, I suggest starting with the 1998 remaster to get your ‘feet wet’ so to speak. If you dig this album and want to explore more, there is a box set dedicated to these entire sessions called “The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions” and it’s worth its weight in gold. I can’t recommend the MSFL hybrid SACD for the afore mentioned reason, but there are so many other worthy masterings that I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
