Reviews by markjazz

This isn't one of my favourite jazz-funk releases but I do like it a lot and I even bought the boxset as well, which I enjoyed a ton more. My main problem with it is the first track On the Corner/New York Girl/Thinkin' of One Thing and Doin' Another/Vote for Miles and the drums it has. It's is just way to repedative for my liking but I do love how it ends with this arabic feel to it. This is one heavy album though and for it's time it was massive and I think Davis was telling a story with it. Who's on the corner these days? Well, his music tells it all. It's the freaks and geeks and the crowds at night that hear the beats. Ok, I made that up but to me it sure feels like that when I listen to it.

Black Satin continues the arabic feel and has some odd sounds moving in and out. The track has a kick as bass line but again, there's some things that annoy me about it. The wah wah trumpet and the drums.

One and One kind of continues where the last track left off but it seems to be less jazzy sounding.

Helen Butte/Mr. Freedom X is a pretty cool piece. Again, the drums, bass line and trumpet is exactly the same as the first two tracks on here. There's some organ that creeps in as well. This is an album that I think runs as just one long track because the notes and music written doesn't seem to differ enough to have seperate track titles. I will say that this album is one challenging mother fucker to get in to. If your new to Miles Davis DO NOT start with this album. Wait a few years and then get into it.

This is an album that helped get me into the jazz-funk and fusion style of jazz. It's a landmark album that set a standard for things to come. Pharaoh's Dance is a 20 minute track that starts off very mellow with organ notes, timid drums and light saxophone play. Pretty soon Miles and his trumpet enters and the pace picks up. The track never gets to heavy and it pretty chill overall. It's one of my favorite on this album and I'm a big Egyptian fan so it's even easier to like it more. Getting to the title track, Bitches Brew, this one is a lot different. Miles uses echo in his horn from the start with simple blasts here and there and being that this track is a massive 27 minute long you expect it to build up, and it does! After a couple minutes a light bassline comes in and track progresses from there. It doesn't change a whole lot but it's still a fun track.

The other half of this album I tend to like a bit more. Spanish Key is another great epic track at 17+ minutes long. I like Miles's horn in this one a lot and the track is pretty heavy at times and picks up speed right away. It never lets up. The next track, John McLaughlin, is of course titled after the great guitarist on this album and it's a cool little 4+ minute number that doesn't really escape from the other tunes on the album but it holds you down and keeps me interested enough to hear John's great fusion plucks. Miles Runs the Voodoo Down starts off pretty slow moving and is probably my least favorite track on here. It does pick up a lot and gets pretty good near the end though. Sanctuary, again, starts off slow but it's pretty moving and Miles trumpet is beautiful on here. A great ending to a good album.

The best thing about his album is that is doesn't sound rehearsed, it's sound like the whole thing was done live and improv and maybe it was. That's why I like it so much. Some people get tried by the long track lengths but if you want an album to chill out to while reading or playing a game this is a good start. Be patient and let the fusion carry you away. Having the bonus "radio" versions is cool and the DVD live perfomance is a bonus as well that I was so glad to finally see.

In a Silent Way is a very interesting album and it was just when Miles Davis was starting to move froward into the jazz-fusion era and it shows because it's not all fusion, just light hints of hit here and there. There's a lot of modal and bop going on throughout the album.

The first side, which consists of two tracks, starts of pretty much as the title suggests. It's very peaceful, slow moving and soft. I could wrap my ears around this for 40 minutes easy but it soon picks up after about 5 minutes and in come in the organ and drums that pick up the pace a bit more. There's also a softly played guitar and throughout this track there's organ motifs that have been sampled a million times I'm sure simply because they're so damn good. And just when you think your getting bored the pace picks up again and then settles you down. This is one track you have to have patience for but it's damn groovy.

The second side, which again consists of two tracks as one, starts off at a faster pace and is already groov'n with organ sighs, jamming drums and guitar. The track sounds very much like a continuation of the first two and it's great to listen to on CD because it seems like one long 40 minute track that doesn't even seem like 20 minutes. I prefer it on vinyl, like most jazz, but this is a case where having it on CD can come in handy too. All in all this album is a land mark in the Miles Davis discography and I would have giving it a 5/5 if there had been more variation but this vinyl still gets spinned a lot by me!

When these tracks were released as 10" singles back in 1957, as Classics in Jazz, jazz audiances were not ready for it and they weren't well recieved. They were not ready for the big band modal jazz but it wouldn't be too far in the near future before these tracks would become classic. As if the original title of the LP's were seeing into the future somehow. This is a great compilation of those tracks and, although short, each song carries with it a very cool sound that speaks very loudly. Having Max Roach on drums will do that. The thing that through me off a bit was the vocals on Darn That Dream. It's the only track with vocals and I wasn't expecting them. They are nice but I would rather have without, like the rest of the album. Overall I am glad I picked this up and it's worth a short to listen to if you new to cool jazz or the early Miles Davis sound.

This album is weird. They try to mix acid and trance samples with industrial and it just doesn't work. It just sounds odd at times. The album does have some good points but overall it's very lacking and they've done much better. Another weird thing about this album is the last track. It's 16 minutes long but only plays for just over 7 minutes, the rest is silent. Why not reverse it and have 8 minutes of silence and then have the song start, like other bands do for a "hidden" track?

I will say one thing for sure, if you liked the Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder album your probably going to like this one too. I find the sound to be very similar. If someone swapped tracks from the two albums I probably couldn't tell the difference, if I was listening to them for the first time that is. It's their usual blend of orchestral strings and fast ripping metal. The seem to do it so well that it seems almost robotic for them on some tracks. I also love the lyrics on here too, like most of their albums. I will also say that the insert for this album is their best looking one and I like the fact that they dedicated this album to Peter Steele. Overall it's a pretty good album, love the overall theme of it, but I found Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder to be just a little bit better.

Regarding the bonus disc. It's pretty much the same material as the album and nothing really stood out for me but I paid $15 for this double album brand new so it was worth it.

Worship
The Spawn of Love and War
Harlot on a Pedestal
Forgive Me Father (I Have Sinned)

Sacrifice
None. I don't find myself wanting to skip a track on here.

An awesome release. Scratchy beats mixed with harmonic vocals are in some songs and they rule! This is one of my favourite 90's industrial albums and I don't even own it :( One day I will but I recommend anyone that likes EBM to buy this album. It's a landmark example of how to experiment with sounds. Some don't like this album because it's to "techno" sounding but it works well for me. I wouldn't say it's their strongest album but it's damn good overall. I'd love to see this group do a noise release one day. The first time I heard the track Go Film I was in awe and I still love it to this day.

This CD has some of my favourite Covenant tracks on it, and it also has some crap. The two tracks I can't stand on this disc are Invisible & Silent and Atlas. They're so damn boring and they don't even sound like they came from this group. The rest of the album, however, is damn near perfect...as far as Futurepop goes. I'm not even a fan of the genre that much but I love this disc and it has a lot to with Eskil Simonsson's vocals. He has one of the most unique voices in EBM/ Industrial and it's actually pretty damn beautiful too. One of the tracks I find myself listening to the most on here is Rising Sun. It seemingly doesn't progress to much but it doesn't really need to. It's such a relaxing EBM track that it kind of melts my brain when I close my eyes to it. I guess another track I'm not highly to fond of would be Scared. It's pure techno with little development and repidative lyrics, but I still listen to it. Overall this album would be a 5/5 without tracks #4 and #11 but as much as I dislike them I play this album a ton and it's one of my favourite to go driving with.

Not my favorite Converter release. Most of the remixes are pretty tame with ever repeating loops of the same boring noise sample, but what I do love the most is "Subliminal Eye" and "Monster Death". Yes, "Monster Death" is just a combination of the two tracks 'Monster' and 'Death Time', but they work so well together and there is included a few extra sounds to make it a bit different.
I've heard of a few of the artists doing the remixes on this release and I was fairly disappointed by their efforts, but it is good for a few tracks overall.

Male vocal jazz is not 100% my taste but I found this release to be very well done. This was also my first taste to the wonderful voice of Johnny Hartman. He has a deep soft tender tone that, like most male vocalist at the time and before, tended to be very popular. I will say that I think this release would have done better in the 40's or 50's. It just has that approach to it and it actually surprised me to see it on this label when I first got into John Coltrane. Your not gonna find any fast tempo tracks on here. This is something to play over the Christmas holidays or during a romantic dinner. John of course is perfect and at this point it was impossible for him to screw up this style of jazz. Again, I don't own much male vocal jazz but this is a keeper regardless.