REVIEW: Miles Davis - On The corner

7.5 out of 10

Find it here.

It seems like just about everyone loves Miles Davis. Why wouldn't you? That cat can really blow. Guinness book of work records lists him as "The Most Critically Claimed Musician". Take that Beethoven! Well the critics loved almost everything Miles did, with the exception of this record. In 1972 Miles Davis started listening to Sly Stone and Karl Stockhausen and with that decided to make an avant-garde funk album, that totally pissed off every jazz purist everywhere. Some of them are still bitching about it.

All and all though it's a pretty great record, that in retrospect, might have been a little ahead of it's time. The first thing I thought when I heard this album, was "Man this sounds like Can." This album has a great affinity with Krautrock, that's pretty astonishing. There is a running use of poly-rhythmic drums through out the album, along with a bumping bass line that everything is built off of. If you just leave it playing in the background, you pretty much only get a sense of the drums. There is tons and tons of stuff happening in the background, all improvised. It's cut and paste methods of production, was way ahead of it's time. It really goes all over the place, and I could see how a lot of people would dislike this sound. Most people think this is "self-indulgent" drug dribble. That could be true, but I like to think it as a work of righteous chaotic funk. . When the title track actually falls into place, it's almost has pop potential. Two of the four tracks are twenty minutes or longer, and it can lag at times. The major sin really is that it does kind of seem like one really long song, they don't have enough diversity in the rhythm. You really have to tune in to pick up the cool weird sound being produced by Miles Davis's "electronic" trumpet.

People either love it or hate it, but I'm a lover and I think more people should check this out. It's incredibly unlike another Davis record.

Bottom Line: It's a mess really, but a glorious one. A closer look shows a gem of funk and experimentation.

Standout Tracks: The whole album bleeds and melts together. It's easier to talk about parts, than songs.