Customer Reviews

Bitches Brew: 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

i heard Bitches Brew for the first time in a friends garage, probably 1970...(I was 19) hanging out in the evening looking out over the bay area from up near the skyline ridges south of san francisco...and of course....the music coming from the LOW end of the FM dial...and I need to stop here and thank the DJ who decided to play this music...as you probably know the cuts on this album are from 10 to 26 minutes long...Well, I was spellbound...I never heard such intuitive stuff in my life, and if you've never heard this music, it has a PULSE...it's not just some outside playing or riffing...it's a soundtrack to an exotic safari of the senses....it's captivating stuff. I remember not knowing which album of Miles to look for, but when I saw that cover...there was no choice. So now, what the heck, I just bought this box set, 40 years later and it's like manna from heaven, It's loaded with treasures...a facsimile of the famous Rolling stone issue with Miles on the cover and a great picture loaded article and interview with him...facsimile tickets to the early Fillmore shows, beautiful copies of the memos and letters written to and from Miles about the production, a grand book on the making of the album with lots of art from Abdul mati Klarwein, plus an interview with Klarwein and musicians....
But the KILLER is the DVD of the Copenhagen 1969 concert....in fabulous condition....what's going to hit you is that Jack DeJohnette is unbelievably fabulous....the true heartbeat of all this material...I've never seen a drummer play like this in my life. Corea is mind blowingly nimble and brilliant on keyboards...but as you may know, he loves to take it way, way out. I stuck with him for every solo but one....and did a bit of fast forwarding to an astonishing closing where everything gets upbeat, funky, and powerful like nothing I've seen before...Miles will blow your mind....Wayne Shorter is totally gone...Dave Holland is one with DeJohnette which is saying alot....
But there's more...and I think it may be the standout...It's the CD of Tanglewood Live 1970. I think it's the most exciting recording of anything Miles Davis has ever done. It has the cross-over elements of the later Live Evil material, but maintaining the powerful Bitches Brew material's strengths...which means....it's been funked! It drives and kicks like nothing I've ever heard before.and I've got bootlegs, the Miles Davis Radio broadcast (In eight parts)...Dark Magus, you name it. This one CD of music is worth the price of the whole box set. I played all this on a 5 channel theatre setup, selecting not the pro logic, which comes up as a default,but switched my amp to five channel stereo.....I gigantic sound difference...thrilling.
I used to play a reel to reel Bitches Brew copy when I was in Vietnam, (1972) on a four channel quad setup, (you never want to go back to two channel after that) and finally, this is even better. Do not play this stuff on some small computer speakers....
It all comes back....having this box set is a reaffirmation of all I was coming to be in my late teens...it's all a big YES.

Obviously a five-star release. This review is to inform potential buyers that the poor packaging issues seen in the Kind of Blue collector's edition have been fixed here. The CDs/DVD are packaged in a separate holder that doesn't scratch them to hell like in the other box set. Truly a great treasure - at release time, you can get it directly from the Miles Davis website for a notably lower price.

This is a great box set. A little expensive, but it's completely worthy.
The package is just great: one solid and big box that contains four LP-sized envelopes. 1) The original double-LP record which is thick and heavy and sounds GREAT. 2) The three CD's and DVD in a completely safe disposition. 3) On giant booklet with marvelous photographs, and a very detailed essay that provides the context and development of the record. 4) A beautiful poster of Miles and memorabilia that is for fans.

The whole set, i think, is an art object. Im 25 years old and never heard before this record, altough i knew it was important. I'm so happy that finally i experienced the record. I can't believe that this music sounds so contemporary; completely music that proposed something new with the tradition. Buy it. The music alone is worthy. Miles would be proud of this box set, i believe. Check it out!!

What a gift for the cognoscenti! Copenhagen and Tanglewood which have only been available as boots for years now in high resolution with no audio dropouts. (right up there with Rome 69, Berlin and the Isle of Wight as flawless performances) But there's more, the remix of the somewhat "muddy" original recording brings higher definition and clarity to the session itself. The music itself, which was revolutionary in 1970, is as fresh and relevant as ever. If you love Miles, you'll love this box. Its that simple.

Too many people have complained about the packaging: my copy of Kind of Blue is ok. Here however the CDs are almost impossible to get out so that of course I cannot damage them! This is now the fourth version of this record that I now possess: after the vinyl I bought in the 80's and the Cd followed by the Complete Box< we now have this. the main question is: compared to teh box is this worth it! well, yes and no! On the pro side there is a live show and a live DVD that ere splendid and yet another outtake that was not in the box so any com,pletist will be happy. However the mastering seems to be the same or close to that of the box and musically the Complete Bitches Brew still has the upper hand in my opinion. It is worth 5 stars or more if not for the fact that it is somewhat too close to the previous Complete box. Soembody who does not own it would be better off with the Complete Box edition.

this isn't a review of the music. if you like it, you wouldn't be buying this edition, now would you? but i bought a copy direct from the miles davis store. the vinyl skipped. after sending multiple e-mails, it was replaced with a brand new copy. guess what? the vinyl skips.

if you are interested in this set, buy it. the music is great. but you know that already. if you buy it for the vinyl version, don't. it sucks.

Commemorating 40th anniversary, Columbia released a deluxe version of Bitches Brew. The designers of this version followed the precedent box set, The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions, resultantly the album concept is on the extended line of the previous version. However, adopting vinyl record jacket size caused positive visual effect on the set. In 1998 Columbia issued The 4 CD boxed set, which attracted blame from many Miles fans. They complained about not including any raw session materials before editing by Teo Macero in the set. The original Bitches Brew album was released in April, '70. The former boxed set only compiled total 5 days studio sessions before the original album release, which columbia made another three albums, together with the 3 days Bitches Brew sessions. It should be titled like The Era of Bitches Brew, or something like that. Columbia seemed to be in deep regret for this. As Michael Cuscuna wrote in producers' note, this Anniversary Edition was focused on the music recorded at the three day Bitches Brew sessions as well as live performances of some of the same music from the Bitches Brew sessions. Miles toured Europe in Oct./Nov., '69, and performed live concerts across the USA throughout '70, which resulted in voluminous bootleg CDs. Columbia picked up two quality material from Copenhagen and Tanglewood. Greg Tate's new readings concisely illustrates the atmosphere of the era and the background of the sessions. The compilers also spotlighted on the works of Mati Klarwein and took up Serafine Klarwein's comment on Mati's relation with Miles. Music itself is emotional and touching. Bitches Brew was perfect statement for those times, '69-'70, and a bridge to the future. Mati Klarwein said if some super intelligence listened to "Pharaoh's Dance" and fed it to its computer, they would be able to decode the entire history of life on earth complete with our music, dreams and hang-ups. Miles' stirring tale catches us breathless. When the original album released, a big controversy occurred between traditional jazz fans and rock oriented music lovers. As was pointed out by Carlos Santana, so many of admirers who jumped ship when Miles made his radical turn with Bitches Brew recording. I also embraced and enjoyed all of things which came afterwards. After getting on years I can feel various aspects of this music. Enclosed memorial items are good souvenir for the Miles fans.