Customer Reviews

Live-Evil

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Live-Evil is one of the deepest and darkest albums Miles Davis (or anyone else) has recorded. Recorded either live in the studio or on stage at the Cellar Door in Washington, D.C., Mr. Davis and his band are in a wicked state of mind. The title is a palindrome and the song titles "Selim" and "Savid" are Miles Davis backwards. That is appropriate as Mr. Davis turns his fusion work inside out. Mr. Davis gets underneath the grooves and turns them inside out, exposing their underbelly. "What I Say" is a great example of him mining for sounds undreneath the surface. A truly complex and ambitious piece of work that you will find yourself putting on and on again.

There was a certain style of extended riffing that became known as "fusion" ... other artists such as the original Soft Machine were able to fuse rock and jazz in entirely different ways ... Miles and his band did it in an entirely different way from anyone else on this release.

The bulk of this album (85 minutes or so) was recorded at the Cellar Door in D.C., in late 1970. The band is tight. Jack deJohnette is kicking up dust in all directions, Keith Jarrett is at his most pointed and soulful, and guest star John McLaughlin is playing the type of brilliant solos that Miles was presumably hoping for.

"Sivad" is a killer groove piece, but "What I Say" is even more impressive. It's 20+ minutes of rolling groove placed on top of a highly aggressive beat. It's timeless energy music and Miles does some of his best soloing on top of it. Sides 3 and 4 are more deliberately formless, they're big rolling jams that don't go anywhere in particular. But Side 1 and 2 make this must-have.

OH MY GOD! The first time I heard this album, I was speechless. It still has the same impact on me every time I hear it. It is jazz, it is funk, it is soul, it is r&b, it is avant-garde, it is blues, it is hip-hop. But "Live-Evil" extends far beyond any feeble attempts at categorization...IT IS MILES! Every musician should aspire to create music so enduringly fresh.

I owned Live-Evil on Lp when I was younger and though this CD remaster is fabulous, it still sounds like a mish-mash of material. I've not crazy about the stuff recorded with the Brazilian chap, these little minature interludes between the tracks compiled and condensed from the Cellar Door sessions sound out of place and out of tune in places. Now that I've heard these a few times, I'm usually pressing the skip button to get to the next live track. I'm not sure what Teo Macero was smoking (gimme some of that) but there are some HORRIBLE edits in the live material. The feature review claims this is more focused that Bitches Brew. That is sheer nonsense, this release is horribly disjointed due to those annoying little interludes with the Brazilian chap. The tune selection is about as schizophrenic as it could get.

On Nem Um Talvez, one of those little interludes, there is a point where it sounds as though Miles has been playing his horn slightly off mic and then suddenly turns and blasts this one note right in front of the mic. The singer is slightly out of key here making for an extremely uncomfortable moment for those who's ears can appreciate staying on the note! From an engineering perspective, it sounds wretched and amature-ish to me. Note to those who "love" this stuff: This emporer was wearing no clothes at this particular moment.

While I'm a big fan of McLaughlin's work with Miles, it doesn't do much for me here. I'm thinking the band is probably better on the Cellar Door Sessions on the sides where McLaughlin is absent. His playing doesn't sound particularly thoughtful here, it sounds like he's just playing licks as fast as he possibly can. I hate to be irreverent since so may people love this release, but the guy sounds pretty sloppy (on this session)to me (I'm a life-long guitar player. I'm no John McLaughlin but I know sloppy playing when I hear it).

Gary Bartz and Miles's playing is amazing and I really mean that. The improvisations are about as hot as it gets. Jarrett, Henderson, and DeJohnette provide an incredible foundation to all that is going on here.

Airto! Mmmmmm. Not so much. I get tired of Airto trying to whack, pull, bash, shake, and tinkle everything he can get his hands during every second the tape is rolling. Dude. It's ok NOT TO PLAY once in a while. His whistling during the opening track while Miles solos is just plain annoying. He starts wailing like some Porteguese fisherman who has a big crab attached to his big toe by the claw that is chowing down on his foot. "Waaaa la duh luh duh de laaaagggggghhhhhh! Waaaaah duh luh luh du luh laaaaaaaagggggh!" This occurs in a couple of the pieces, even smack dab in the middle of one of Mile's incredible solos. He also has the annoying habit of shaking those sleighbells of his while some of Jarrett's more intense improvisations are in progress. It's very distracting. He keeps shaking this thing that sounds like a box of Good-n-Plenty... Theatre size! Much of what he plays sounds totally out of rhythmic context. Some might find this energetic and exciting but I find myself wishing Airto would just STFU most of the time. Contrast this to Airto's playing on the recently released "It's About That Time" Live at the Fillmore, March 7, 1970. Airto isn't so intrusive on that recording. I do like Airto's work with Santana and Weather Report. I just find it obnoxious and annoying on Live-Evil.

Jarrett's playing is amazing but I can't stand those nasaly little shrieks of joy he makes when he feels he's played something very cool. Surely they could have edited that stuff out. Really irritating. He made an entire career out incredible playing accentuated by those nasaly, joyful shrieks of his.

The artwork selected for this release (though painted by a white Swede who converted to Islam) is overtly rascist (turn it over) but then Miles always did have a problem with lumping all of us white folks into the same group of "white, blue-eyed devils". I love Mile's music but this was a particular annoyance. Judgement coming from a man who fathered illegitmate children in all corners of the globe and all points in between is just ridiculous.

Yeah, this review reads like I hate this disc but I don't. This really is one hot band! But there are some problems with the interludes and the inclusion of an unrestrained Airto. I love Mile's music from this period. I pull Live-Evil out and play it once in a while and enjoy large portions of it. I pull out his other material such as Bitches Brew, Tribute to Jack Johnson, Big Fun and On the Corner far more frequenly. As far as I'm concerned Live-Evil is for the complete-ist and I am a complete-ist. Maybe the Cellar Door Sessions is better? I don't know and I'm not going to spend $90.00 to find out. Maybe I'll find a used copy on Ebay? :)

Postscript: I did manage to pickup a new copy of The Cellar Door Sessions without having to take out a second mortgage on my home. It was work every penny of the $60.00 I paid for it. If you like the live material on Live-Evil then you really want to get hold of a copy of The Cellar Door Sessions. It puts all of the musicians in context, including Airto. My criticism of him did not stand up when I heard the complete performances. The perception that he plays constantly is a product of the cruddy edits that Teo made to the performances to create this mess called Live-Evil.

How is it that John McLaughlin was not a part of the full time band? He just sat in on these recordings...he just came in and sat with the band for a week during the Cellar Door sessions. That is amazing. The band is so tight you just can't believe that the musicians were always coming and going, especially McLaughlin whose guitar work is unreal. This is one of the best live albums ever recorded because their is no difference between the studio sound and the live sound. Davis knew this, he wanted a live album because he knew the power and character of the band was most apparent live. This album is incredible, I have never heard anything like it. I am genuinely intimidated by the perfection and innovation. No album has ever sounded like this, all subsequent jazz-funk-fusion recordings seem like mere echoes from the power and precision here.

This is Miles at the top of his form, hitting high notes like he never had before, and playing with an aggressiveness that he later gave up for a more minimalist approach. This is one of the last albums he did in which the rhythm section was completely interactive with the soloists, as opposed to the "lay down the groove" thing he did on later albums (i.e. when Al Foster replaced Jack DeJohnette). "Sivad" is a great bit of avant-blues, played in a strange time signature (it comes out to 16/4, played in phrases of 7-5-4). "Funky Tonk" is the same bass riff as on "Wednesday Miles" on the "Miles at Fillmore East" album, but played twice as fast and DeJohnette is going so wild it sounds like he's playing a double bass drumset, though he's not. The piano solo on that tune is outstanding, even though the Rhodes is messing up, but Jarrett, instead of avoiding the clunker keys, lays into them and gets a real exotic sound out of it. Gary Bartz is eminently soulful through the whole album, and John McLaughlin is pretty abstract but it all fits together nicely. I agree with the previous reviewer that "Gemini/Double Image" doesn't really go anywhere, but the guitar in it is so nasty I used to blast it in the college dorm to scare all the dweebs that thought "Freebird" was the ultimate in guitar playing.

As far as funk, I think that Miles' later albums were a lot funkier ("On the Corner", "Agharta"), but this album is chock full of virtuosity. The fact that they could take a lame riff like the one on "What I Say" and make it work is a testament to this.

When Miles and Co. cook on this one, they burn the house down. I remember driving home and popping this in when I got it and almost running the car off the road. The first track pounds you to death then slows down, never losing its heavy deep funk groove. Listening to it I always thought Miles' playing on this was in particular very badass. Just hearing him come in and making these weird noises with the wah pedal, then pausing and coming back in screeching and playing a ripping clean solo gives me chills. The way he paused when he played was genius; it was like he was giving you time to recover, and his solos never seemed too long because of the pauses he put in there. The studio tracks are pretty much hit or miss as reviewers have said; they're moody but for the most part very pretty in a weird loud way. The live tracks are really where the action is. Everyone really gets their chance in the spotlight on "What I Say", an incredibly funky and hot jam. Not one solo outshines another on this one; everyone is pretty much mind-blowing (although I thought the drum solo was pretty wild....maybe since it was towards the end and that's the last thing you hear on the song). "Funky Tonk" is right up there with the previous track and "Inamorata...." kicks for the most part and ends the album on a weird note. All and all this album will totally blow you away, specifically the live tracks. Weird cosmic funk that turns everything else into roadkill....probably the best description.

Live-Evil is going to find a permanent home soon- in your CD player.

There are on this 2- CD set, a few throwaway studio sketches interspersed through a smoking concert with Gary Bartz (alto sax), Keith Jarrett (piano), Mike Henderson (bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums), Airto Moreira (Brazilian percussion) and special guest John McLaughlin on guitar. Needless to say the latter fits in perfectly, and the group runs through a number of memorable themes (What'd I Say, the uncredited blues on Sivad) with energy and inventiveness that comes out of the speakers like a seven-headed monster. The music, now nearly thirty years old (!) is as fresh as anything being made today.

Very cool, and worth every penny too.

ratings are silly..but although i enjoyed live-evil when i bought it a couple years ago, having recently recieved the cellar door sessions i have to say it is far superior and really makes you question the editing work.

the cellar door box is expensive, if you can afford it its a better choice and i really think its worth the money but if you can't ...you could do far worse things than listen to live-evil.

Miles Davis' Live-Evil featured his funkiest live work and he'd continue in this direction on the studio album On The Corner. Miles' chops were still at their peak here as his solos on the live tracks are very loud and expressive. The opening track "Sivad" starts out as hard slamming funk before slowing down the tempo to a near crawl while still maintaining its massive groove. "What I Say" is a killer jam and the strongest track here. Sax man Gary Bartz, drummer Jack DeJohnette, guitarist John McLaughlin, and Miles all get a chance to shine here and their solos are outstanding. The live tracks on Disc 2, "Honky Tonk", and "Inamorata and Narration" continue in the hard funk vein and are driven by DeJohnette and bassist Michael Henderson. Keith Jarrett's organ playing is truly a standout on these tracks. Also worth noting is that the version of "Honky Tonk" here sounds nothing like the studio version on Get Up With It. The studio tracks featured here are hit and miss. The moody "Little Church" and "Gemini/Double Image" are both great tracks, with the latter featuring wicked playing from McLaughlin. However, the moody "Nem Um Talvez" and "Selim" are essentially the same track and take away the momentum of the live material. Nonetheless, this is still a great album and "What I Say" and "Sivad" are among the strongest from Miles' electric era.