Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark Sounds, December 7, 2000
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.
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Real Fusion of Rock and Jazz, October 23, 2000
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.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I love portions of this... Buy the Cellar Door Sessions Instead, May 4, 2006
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.
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