miles davis

on the corner.

Lester Bangs rated this album almost as highly as the Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat", and it would be churlish to disagree.

On certain days this too can be my favourite Miles Davis statement on the human condition, and on others it might prove too abrasive. On such days maybe 1969's "In A Silent Way" might be more on the money, more on the button ; it all depends on where your head is at. Lester Bangs was a spectacular commentator most of the time. Miles Davis was a genius.

And I don't use that word lightly.

It would be an entirely pointless excercise to attempt to expound any further. Too much has already been written elsewhere, and to greater effect than anything I might add. It's almost ten o' clock this Saturday morning and I'm almost out of cigarettes. Rosa is curled up warmly in bed in a sleep as deep as a coma, and the kids are away for the weekend. I miss their laughter and bickering already but I'm glad too for the peace and quiet.

When I was a younger man and living on my own, those silences could be deafening. And that contradiction is what music is all about.

One more thing. I wish HBO's "OZ" was back on the box ; that shit was awesome.

 
▼ MILES DAVIS: ON THE CORNER from "On the Corner" LP (Columbia) 1972 (US)

▼ MILES DAVIS: BLACK SATIN from "On the Corner" LP (Columbia) 1972 (US)

Buy it!