DorothyParkerWasCool said:

Good job on picking up the set.After familiarizing myself with the original album a year or so before I got the complete set , I too was amazed at how they did the editing.They removed entire melodies that are fascinating to hear when you do not expect them.It's interesting that they did these edits at all as the bits they cut are great as well...

It really is a trip to listen to ....It's probably my favorite Miles too.

MrTation said:

I agree wholeheartedly. I also love listening to gems like Early Minor. The entire set should be required listening for anyone that loves good music.

It's a masterpiece!
I love listening 2 In a silent way in headphones.
It's a trip!
/peace Manki

DorothyParkerWasCool said:

My favourite Miles Davis album.

Drifting
On a sea of forgotten teardrops
On a life boat
Sailing for...your love

Sailing home

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

Shapeshifter said:

Mine too.

Love it.

Great stuff but overlong, like most of Miles' '69-74 stuff, could have done with some judicious editing. It's not about my attention span being too short. I'm a big Fela Kuti fan!

Actually, 'Silent Way' is far less 'overlong' in my opinion than the grotesquely overlong 'Bitches Brew', an album I've never really liked. It was the age of epic, spacey jams, but even so. A jam too far. Brew's kind of like Ornette's 'Free Jazz' gone electric. It's a brave album, but if only Miles had had a producer who really understood what he was trying to do (like why not turn the bass up? This goes for 'On the Corner', etc too. Funk/groove music with an acoustic or quiet electric bass?! I know Miles was always 'ahead' but ... Funk-free funk?).

Even so, 'Silent Way' has a gorgeous intro and some beautiful passages.

Oh, and 'Early Minor' is a gem. Why was this never released when they did those old compilations 'Circle in the Round' and 'Directions'? Mad ...

Miles said:

Look what I found on Amazon.co.uk in a customer review of the box set. Quite interesting, so I just pasted the whole bit....

About the editing, October 25, 2001
****
Reviewer: Guido Jaeger from Koblenz, Germany
The four stars are for the musical and historical value of these recordings alone. The box contains the music Miles recorded between September '68 and February '69 and thereby represents the missing link between the Quintet box and "The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions". All in all, the set does not include very much previously unreleased music (actually only three pieces): most of it was already released on "Filles de Kilimanjaro", "Water Babies", "Directions" and, of course, "In A Silent Way".

However, one thing is really quite sensational: the presentation of the "In A Silent Way" recordings in their unedited form, the way the musicians performed these pieces. For this was arguably the most revolutionary aspect of "In A Silent Way": the way the editing technique was used. Certainly, Miles Davis and his producer Teo Macero used editing before (for example on "Sketches of Spain", "E.S.P." and "Miles in the Sky"), but only in such a way that two or more takes of a tune were cut together to form one final master.

Two things were completely new about the way editing was used on "In A Silent Way":
1. The composition is not determined from the beginning, but the final form of the piece of music is generated by editing together multiple different jams (and not just different takes of the same composition).
2. Large parts of the same recording are repeated unaltered.
Especially the second point amazes: only if you listen very carefully, you will notice that the first 6 minutes and the last 6 minutes of "Shhh/Peaceful" are IDENTICAL (on "In A Silent Way/It's About That Time", it's the first 4 and the last 4 minutes). It is just a repetition of one and the same recording. As a consequence, you hear the same Miles Davis solo twice during one piece of music (!). Of course, this was (and still is) very unusual in Jazz, because Jazz is always about re-interpretation.

Another thing that strikes me about the editing is the fact that you hear almost every edit pretty distinctly on the original LP versions. And I am not quite sure if it was such a good idea to edit "In A Silent Way" and "It's About That Time" together, because in my opinion, the two tracks just don't really fit together.

So it will sure be fascinating to listen to these wonderful recordings the way they were performed. I for one think that this is reason enough to get this box set.