Customer Reviews

Bitches Brew

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Considering that this album has some extremely talented artists, including John McLaughlin, Lenny White, and many more, the album is really a unique experience. It takes time, however. The first time I listened to it, I thought, What is this CRAP? Why is this claimed to be such a landmark? It took me a few listens before I really started liking it.

On the first disc, Miles experimented heavily with effects and tape loops (if you read the liner notes, it states that the real beginning of Bitches Brew actually begins at about the 3 minute mark). These songs are extremely lengthy, and over the 20-some minutes of experimentation, they surprisingly manage to maintain some highly listenable improvisation. Some people will find it really odd, and that is ok; I admit the music tends to loose its melody at times, but it never loses its intensity.

The second disc contains the same improvisation, only (from what I noticed), much more melodic and rhythmic. These songs tend seem to have a more traditional jazz layout, the bass and drums maintain pretty much the same throughout the songs, and the other instruments build on them and make it interesting. The beauty of these songs is the incredibly catchy bass lines, especially in Miles Runs the Voodoo Down and Spanish Key. John McLaughlin, naturally, does the majority of soloing on his self-titled song (although this song lacks Miles entirely). Sanctuary is a mellow ending, much like an electric Flamenco Sketches (which is on the album Kind of Blue). This is by far my favorite disc.

Many people compare this album to Kind of Blue or Rock'n'roll in general, and I find that a bit unfair. This album is really neither Jazz nor Rock in particular, its a fusion. However, I must advise that I found this album particularly more listenable after I became better accquainted with the jazz genre and Miles Davis' music. This album is really amazing, just listen carefully!

Bitches brew is a revolutionary album. It is not, however, your normal, run-of the-mill jazz album. This album is for mind expansion. This is for you to listen to and try to understand what is being said. Of course if you're not a musically adventureous person, then I warn you, don't get this album.

Any album that gets two thumbs up from the one & only Richard Pryor is cool with me, and Miles Davis 1969 set 'Bitch's Brew' is one of the all time jazz records. A dark, trippy, at times even hellish soundscape of deep and dense rythmn and instrumentation. Miles was exploring the darkside here & as usual his vision always carries it through. Miles pushes the boundaries again and this is a great companion to 'Kind Of Blue', more than worth checking out. And two discs no less, you can't go wrong here.

This album is absolutely crazy, but incredibly interesting. I did not take to it easily. It has required many many listens, while I've been working or painting or not "studying it" hypersensitively to just let this one in without any biases. I think Brew may be so unpredictable and sonically irritating that it cheats itself from getting fair amounts of playtime. There are wild pockets of sound here jumping all around at frantic unpredictable levels. Listening to this honestly conjures up pagan imagery in my mind. Maybe it's the fascinating artwork in combination with the dominant rhythmic drones... It is loud, irritating, unpredicatable and violent all in a flash. There is a defiant attitude here (I hate to say almost "punk") and it is not friendly. Reminds me of Iggy and the Stooges "Raw Power" album in a jazz funk vein. Regardless of attempted classification this one is anything but boring and I am glad to have found it.

I am honestly astounded by the reviews of the nay-sayers. Some of them claim that most of the people who like this album are just pretending to do so to be "cool." Nothing could be farther from the truth for me. Out of all the jazz albums I own, this and Coltrane's Meditations are the two that I listen to when I want something with feeling and passion. I honestly feel moved whenever I listen to it, like someone has taken all the strange, conflicting thoughts in my head and set them to music.

As with most two-disc sets produced by Miles in this period (the only one I listen to substantially), both discs are great. There is not a bad or even mediocore song on here; even the "bonus" track has something to it, which is more than I can say for lots of Miles rereleases (please, save the alternative takes for the box set!). As a matter of fact, I would rate it as the best studio album he ever recorded. It's certainly the one I listen to the most. In tearms of best Miles album, period, I'd say it's a tie between this and Agharta. While Agharta focuses more on live improvisation and melodic grooves, this is more about studio experimentation; the soundscapes and interplay represented here were deliberately engineered to sound the way they do and are not so much the product of chance.

Despite the praise I have for this album, I must agree with many other reviewers in this: it's not for everyone. If you are a big fan of Birth of the Cool and Kind of Blue, please reconsider your actions before buying this. It is NOT traditional jazz at all and is not anything like either of those albums. For me, that's a good thing, but some people may not like that. Also, if you are looking for a "fun" record, go someplace else. This is not happy, this is not fun, and this is not bright at all. It is depressing, dissonant music that takes itself "too seriously," and if you don't like that sort of thing, then please stay away. As mentioned before, Frank Zappa might be a better choice for those looking for experimental 60's music with a lighter tone to it.

This cd isn't terrible, by all means. However there really isn't a "head" nor an actually melodie stated in many songs. Only shreds of ideas. Its unorganized and sounds disoriented. Although this seems to be the effect attempted, Frank Zappa and other rock greats had "fusion," as they call it, mastered much greater than this. I was never into the 'lets freak out the world" music of the 60s when an artist is trying to sound wierd over good(not to say i don't like a little psychadelic beauty, hence my name). If you want real Miles, go buy Kind of Blue or the Birth of the cool.

In his quest for the original, Miles has struck gold. I believe the second CD is stronger than the first, and the composition "Feio" is the most original jazz number I have ever heard.

Many of the musicians on this album would move on to front their own exciting combos.

Miles' playing is pointed, focused, and as skilled as I've ever heard it. Ditto Wayne Shorter, who continues to be one of jazz saxophone's most exciting voices. The backup band contributes its share of grunts, arghs, groans, and an occasional riff. The other interesting side person is the bass clarinetist. All the overrated John McLaughlin can contribute is some single-bar outbursts of speed guitar and curiously static Bo Diddley-like backup chops. Fans of jazz guitar will be disappointed.

All and all, this is one very daring journey into seemingly uncharted waters. Give this thoroughly original album a listen, if you dare.

..but it's still quite interesting. While I am a Miles Davis FREAK, I'm not a huge fan of either his fusion stuff OR free jazz in general... yet I still find myself drawn to this one.

I do agree with those who say CD 1 is weaker... both tunes meander a bit, and Miles's presence isn't as strong. But he makes up for it on the second one. Spanish Key and Miles Runs The Voodoo Down in particular have excellent grooves to them, the playing by Miles and crew is understated yet first-rate, and the editing by Teo Macero throughout is spot-on. (Don't believe me? Listen to the Complete Sessions CD's, and you'll wonder 'how did they pull this crap into an album?')

Í'd only recommend two of his subsequent fusion CD's (Live-Evil and Jack Johnson), and I go to this one more than both of those combined. Maybe it's because when I listen to it, I can hear a musical wall being torn down.

For whatever reasons that compelled Miles Davis to create this album, and there are many reviewers quite happy to elaborate on events that were documented and rumoured to have taken place around the creation of this; it is one hell of an electrically charged set of jams. Funky, wild, dark, mysterious, it is not easy listening, thank god. It is a powerful cathartic masterpiece. And these remasters are so much clearer, the difference is striking.
Yes, I was not captivated on my first listen, like many of my favourite albums, it took awhile for it's secrets to reveal themselves. Certainly not for everyone.
If I might romanticise a little, it is like praying to a storm, 'give me your worst', then being swept up in the arms of the storm and carried effortlessly into the magic and sometimes violent energy of natures forces.
Well, anyway thanks to whoever did the remaster, nice work.

Prior to In A Silent Way, Miles Davis was never one to push the sonics and structure of his ensembles. He had a formula that worked for him, and he stuck to it. And protoges such as Bill Evans and John Coltrane shared the torch when they left to pursue their own muses.

But by the mid to late 1960s, there was a process of cultural naturual selection that scared Davis into thinking he would soon become a has-been. In other words, change your thing or leave.

Times change, people change, right? And art walks hand and hand with its culture. I not only realize this, but I get disappointed when a musician stays stagnant. Music needs to change in order to survive.

But the problem with this album is that Davis dramatically changed his music, his apperance, his ensemble size, his recording techniques, and his point of view merely out of fear rather than desire.

This results in a confused and angry mess. These radical changes were done for all the wrong reasons and the music nearly collapses from its own weight. Chick Corea is especially irritating with his irresponsible electrical piano performance. Wayne Shorter can wail away, but his talent could never save this ugly blob from getting lost in its own pretentions. I never find myself in the mood to listen to this. And when I do actually force myself to listen to it, I feel like I'm on a treadmill: I'm running, but I'm not going anywhere.