Miles Davis- box sets

[Roundsound]

My favs of the sets:

1. Gil Evans

2. 2d Quintet starting with ESP

3. Interim group (George Coleman etc)

4. Coltrane set

5. Prestige set

6. Blackhawk live

7. In a Silent Way

8. Jack Johnson

9. Bitches Brew

I know I prefer the acoustic stuff but how do you feel about the Electric set order of preference. By the way, I love them all.

[md655321]

1. Second Quintet

2. Coltrane

3. Prestige (dont have the box, just the material)

4. Plugged Nickel

5. BB

6. Jack Johnson

7. IASW

8. Gil Evans (no box, but the single cds w/ alternates)

9. Seven Steps

10. Blackhawk (just not in the same league)

hard to rank though. The Jack Johnson album from the box is enough to put it 2nd or third, but the box as a whole isnt as great.

When cellar door is released, itll probably number 5 or 6.

Looking at that, seven steps seems way to low. But again, as a whole its not amazing. But the set with sam rivers is fantastic.

Edited September 15, 2005 by md655321

[GregK]

depends on my mood, or the day. I like them all pretty much equally, probably listen to the Gil Evans one the least, but I still like it a lot, I just dont have that much time

[Guy Berger]

I only have two of the boxes, Plugged Nickel and IaSW -- otherwise I've gone for individual albums. As far as the music, I have a heavy bias toward the 2nd quintet material live and solo. The Gil Evans collaborations, along with the '50-'53 recordings for Prestige and other labels, are my least favorite Miles.

Guy

[BFrank]

Looking at that, seven steps seems way to low.  But again, as a whole its not amazing.  But the set with sam rivers is fantastic.

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The "MD in Europe" and "Four & More" sets AREN'T amazing??

[md655321]

No, they are fantastic as well. But the studio Seven Steps stuff is just ok (in relative terms of course) and the Berlin stuff doesnt quite blow me away. Maybe I just knew what was to come.

[jazzbo]

Cellar Door!

or maybe Gil Evans!

or the Second Quintet!

or the Coltrane!

Those are at least the top four for me.

[sal]

Second Quintet takes the top spot for me by far. The greatest jazz I've ever heard!

This is followed by the Miles/Trane & Plugged Nickel. All of em are great, really...

[RDK]

All I know is that I've never really liked or gotten into Plugged Nickel.

[connoisseur series500]

I've only got three of the box sets, but have most of the others on individual discs.

Of the three sets, I rank Plugged Nickel as my favorite.

[jlhoots]

Jack Johnson is my least favorite.

[Rosco]

I've thought long and hard about this question and I've decided it's...

Whichever one I'm listening to! -_-

Push comes to shove, the Sixties quintet box probably wins for sheer listenability... I can put on one disc after the other and never tire of hearing that music.

But all of them have given me countless hours of good listening.

Although (as I've said before on another thread) I felt the Bitches Brew box was a little botched.

[gdogus]

Of the actual boxes I have, considering the aggregate of music, programming, and packaging, ...

1. Quintet 65-68

2. Seven Steps

3. Plugged Nickel

4. Blackhawk Friday and Saturday

5. Bitches Brew

Love the Prestige material, which I own as individual albums. I'd like to own the other Columbia boxes (esp. the Coltrane and Gil Evans) if I could get the metal spine versions - and if I felt I could afford them. In a Silent Way, yeah...I'm lukewarm on the Jack Johnson matrial, to be honest...

Anyone know if yourmusic.com is still shipping the metal spine versions of these?

Edited September 16, 2005 by gdogus

[Tony Pusey]

Difficult but I suppose I must, when Push comes to shove, say the second quintet, followed by Nickel, and 7 steps. They are all wonderful of course (only have the Prestige as individual albums, but I seem to play them more and more frquently as I get older, and Bitches doesnt leave the shelf as often as it did...) Really looking forward however to the Celler Door not to mention the Antibes material!!

[Alfred]

As most of the others I don't have an absolute favorite.

7 steps is the one I listen a lot lately. I'm allowed to listen to Gil/Miles and Silent way when my wife is around - the electric period is not permitted at all!

So, it's more a question of mood, ... and trouble! -_-

[Rob C]

I'd probably have to go with:

In a Silent Way

2d Quintet 65-68

Plugged Nickel

Jack Johnson

Miles/Gil

Seven Steps

Bitches Brew

I just got Seven Steps a couple of weeks ago and am enjoying it quite a bit more than I expected, so it may move up in the rankings. Jack Johnson is another one that I like a lot more than I thought I would--I was worried it would seem too repeptitive, but there's so much great music on there that the repetition doesn't bother me (and I guess the same can be said of the Plugged Nickel and Seven Steps boxes, for that matter).

I don't have the Coltrane box but I do have most of the original records--it would probably fall somewhere in the middle, if I owned it.

CANNOT WAIT for the Cellar Door box. Based on how much I love Live/Evil, it will probably come in somewhere near the top!

Whatever the rankings, if I could never listen to any music other than these boxes again, I would still be a pretty happy man. Overall, this body of work is my favorite in the world.

[Little High People]

1. Cellar Door (just cuz it's "the great white whale!")

2. Silent Way

3. Jack Johnson

4. Miles & Trane

5. Bitches Brew

6. 60's Quintet

7. Miles & Gil (still need to listen to this one more!)

8. Blackhawk (ditto)

9. Plugged Nickel (ditto)

10. 7 Steps (ditto)

Jeezis, there's 10 of them? don't think i'd realized that ... i've only heard the first three discs of the montreux box. that 73 show is killin'! and the sound is excellent ... much better than in concert or dark magus.

[king ubu]

... and the Berlin stuff doesnt quite blow me away.  Maybe I just knew what was to come.

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Now that's just *plain* wrong, Sir! (sorry! )

That Berlin set is terrific, in my opinion! Beautiful acoustics, Miles in top form, the quintet in a rather quiet and explorative mood... and again: the sound: you could hear a feather drop on the floor on that recording!

How I would rank the boxes I don't know. I think the acoustic ones would be on top, not because I dislike the electric stuff, but... then the JJ was a huge surprise, and I loved it, much because of its simplicity and clean-ness (as opposed to the collages and soundscapes of IaSW and BB).

I love the Gil Evans box, the second quintet, the Plugged Nickel... the Coltrane of course (but I knew that stuff well before the box was out, so somehow I still don't really consider that great music part of the box... rather I think in particular sessions and albums).

The 7 Steps I have but haven't made my way all through yet. True, the opening studio dates are not up to what was to come, but hey... Victor Feldman (and his tunes) I always like to listen to! And I like Coleman a lot, and loved the 1964 concert and the Antibes set long before I had the box. As for the Berlin concert, see above

[Free For All]

Berlin is *the shit*!! Great stuff for sure.

[P.L.M]

Let see:

THE PLUGGED NICKEL

THE SECOND QUARTET (1965-68)

MILES DAVIS & JOHN COLTRANE

IN SILENT WAY

BITCHES BREW

JACK JOHNSON

Don't like DAVIS & EVANS (just my taste).

And I've not feel the urge to buy SEVEN STEPS.

The studio material stinks and I've all the live, minus few bonus tracks.

Have yet to hear the CELLAR DOOR.

Edited October 3, 2005 by P.L.M

[Clunky]

And I've not feel the urge to buy SEVEN STEPS.

The studio material stinks and I've all the live, minus few bonus tracks.

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anyone care to comment on the mosaic vinyl version of this one

[Eric]

tough call ...

I probably like the Silent Way stuff the least, but I will admit I don't know it as well

Love the Jack Johnson

Most of the rest of it was etched on my brain over the course of the last 25 years ... so it is just a matter of mood.

[Brad]

I don't have all of these sets but of those that I have my faves are

Coltrane Set

Blackhawk

Prestige

Seven Steps

Evans

[Guest]

I'm rating these not by how great the material is, but by how necessary the box is. I love the material on the 2nd quintet box, but you could get that from all the albums anyway, and for me that set just doesn't really stand out. Same goes for Gil Evans. So with that in mind:

1. Plugged Nickel

2. Jack Johnson

3. Live at the Blackhawk

4. Seven Steps

5. In a Silent Way

[danasgoodstuff]

I'm rating these not by how great the material is, but by how necessary the box is. I love the material on the 2nd quintet box, but you could get that from all the albums anyway, and for me that set just doesn't really stand out. Same goes for Gil Evans. So with that in mind:

1. Plugged Nickel

2. Jack Johnson

3. Live at the Blackhawk

4. Seven Steps

5. In a Silent Way

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Not to be disagreeable, but I think both the Evans and 2nd Quintet boxes have material that appears nowhere else, and not just alt takes...someone here must have this info close to hand, it's in the other part of the house and I'm lokking after my 3 yr old...