Miles - On the Corner and Beyond

[GregK]

Wait, I thought there were packaging production problems causing this delay. Then how did they get that picture? Didn't they have to produce at least one of these to get that shot? What the hell

[nmorin]

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Config Ord Ship Artist / Title Price Detail Status

CD 1 0 The Complete On The Cor by Dav $104.20 Backorder

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Grrrrrrrr....CD universe sent me an email this morning saying that it is on backorder

[nmorin]

And overnight from CD Universe....

At the time you placed this order, the item was a pre-order. The street

date has since passed and the item is still not available from our vendors,

and is now on backorder.

You do not need to respond. We ask for your patience due to our past

success in obtaining backorders within this timeframe. Additionally, it is

very likely that other retailers are experiencing the same stock issues

with this particular item.

If we do not receive your item by 11/16/07, it will be cancelled. There

will be no charge to you unless this item ships.

Anyone else who pre-ordered from CD Universe get this?

[jazzbo]

That's what I received as well.

[PHILLYQ]

me too

[Rosco]

This is finally on the HMV stores database with a UK release date of October 29th

[Adam]

Wait, I thought there were packaging production problems causing this delay. Then how did they get that picture? Didn't they have to produce at least one of these to get that shot? What the hell

The designers would have made a full mock-up some time before delivery.

[BFrank]

And overnight from CD Universe....

At the time you placed this order, the item was a pre-order. The street

date has since passed and the item is still not available from our vendors,

and is now on backorder.

You do not need to respond. We ask for your patience due to our past

success in obtaining backorders within this timeframe. Additionally, it is

very likely that other retailers are experiencing the same stock issues

with this particular item.

If we do not receive your item by 11/16/07, it will be cancelled. There

will be no charge to you unless this item ships.

Anyone else who pre-ordered from CD Universe get this?

Same here.

[jlhoots]

This is finally on the HMV stores database with a UK release date of October 29th

Amazon UK also now says Oct.29.

[mikeweil]

Those SONY executives never learn .....

[sidewinder]

This is finally on the HMV stores database with a UK release date of October 29th

Amazon UK also now says Oct.29.

So having been relegated to the back we are now ahead of the pack?

[Aggie87]

This is finally on the HMV stores database with a UK release date of October 29th

Amazon UK also now says Oct.29.

So having been relegated to the back we are now ahead of the pack?

Best price too!

[bobbelden]

Those SONY executives never learn .....

If you actually knew them you'd feel better about making that statement....and it's CRONY/BMG ("we put the 'B' in BORING")

[jazzbo]

I believe this, coming from someone "in de know."

Well, in my crappy circumstances of the present, I won't care if I don't get this before Christmas. . .but it's sad to see the set share the "delay disease" of predecessors.

[bobbelden]

The difference between Sony/Bmg and Iraq is that at least in Iraq you get to have a gun

[JSngry]

Anybody order this from Jazz Loft (a reputable outlet, to be sure), who made the credit card charges upon receipt of the orders?

Ouch.

[brownie]

A review of the set in this week's The Village Voice'

MILES SMIRKS

Charting the genesis of the seething On the Corner across six sprawling discs

by Phil Freeman

The title of the six-CD Miles Davis Complete "On the Corner" Sessions box set is misleading, and that's good. So far, only one of his Complete Sessions packages has lived up to its name: 2003's Jack Johnson set really did contain raw, fragmented takes that producer Teo Macero spliced together to create the side-long jams ("Right Off" and "Yesternow") that made up 1970's original A Tribute to Jack Johnson. The Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way boxes, though, did nothing of the kind, instead placing those albums in a broader context, surrounding them with contemporaneous studio work (cuts from compilations like Big Fun and Water Babies) and previously unreleased material. Each set covered a period of about a year, maybe 18 months, during which time Miles and his band were laying down many more tracks than Columbia's release schedule could handle. The five-CD Jack Johnson box covered only a few months in early to mid-1970.

This On the Corner set, by contrast, gathers all the worthwhile studio recordings Miles made between 1972 and 1975. And yes, it includes raw versions of jams that were later edited to become 1972's titular album—a relentless, seething masterpiece that's been my favorite Davis disc since I first heard it as a teenager in the late '80s. But it also piles up tracks from Big Fun and the 1974 double album Get Up with It, along with the one-chord, rare non-album single "Big Fun/Hollywuud" and about three hours' worth of previously unreleased studio tracks that are the equal of, if not better than, the ones we Miles freaks have been obsessing over for years already. This is especially true of the new material on discs three and five, where the band Davis formed in 1973 (saxophonist Dave Liebman, later replaced by Sonny Fortune; guitarists Pete Cosey, Reggie Lucas, and Dominique Gaumont; bassist Michael Henderson; drummer Al Foster; and percussionist Mtume) had solidified through hard touring and was ready to spit fire in the studio.

Cuts like "Jabali," "The Hen," "Hip-Skip," and "What They Do" are based around fairly straight-ahead funk-rock grooves, anchored by Henderson's thunderous, dub-as-Zen basslines and Foster's metronomic, Kraut-rock-meets-metal drumming. Lucas plays one chord like he's backing James Brown or Earth, Wind & Fire; Mtume pitter-pats around the edges, adding '70s ghetto Afrolistics; the three lead players solo in their own styles. Cosey, a Chicago-based guitarist who backed Muddy Waters on the much-loathed Electric Mud several years before joining Miles's band, was a post-Hendrix flame-thrower whose playing—frequently from a Buddha-like seated position onstage—prefigured both Eddie Van Halen and Greg Ginn. Miles, for his part, was as deep into the wah-wah pedal as his ax man in these years, sputtering out shimmering ribbons of sound and the occasional piercing stab.

Ultimately, though, On the Corner still stands alone in Davis's discography, neither illuminated nor softened by the presence of all this other stuff. It's a throbbing hive of clatter and blare, a sonic portrait of a place I'd never want to live. It kicked off his final sprint through the studio and across the world's stages prior to his 1975-80 retirement, but it was a singular gesture, a combination "fuck you" and "welcome to my world." It was also Miles's final album-as-manifesto until 1986's ice-cold, almost all-electronic Tutu, another album I love dearly.

Perhaps this previously unreleased studio material was buried because Miles didn't feel it represented the band at its best. Certainly, none of it has the balls-out ferocity of Dark Magus or the disorienting, Afro-psychedelic power of Agharta and Pangaea (two concerts recorded in a single day). Some of it's almost . . . ordinary, in a Funkadelic-meets-Louis-Armstrong-at- Hendrix's-gravesite kind of way. Maybe Miles figured if he couldn't spin your head all the way around Linda Blair–style, better to just get back on the road, blow the walls down, and let archivists dig this stuff up when he was gone and past caring. That's what happened. And while I can understand that way of thinking, I'm damn glad this music's finally slinking and strutting out into the daylight.

[sidewinder]

Just received this mail today from Amazon UK:

"Unfortunately, the release date for the item(s) listed below was changed

by the supplier, and we need to provide you with a new estimated

delivery date based on the new release date:

Miles Davis (Artist) "The Complete on the Corner Sessions [box

set]" [Audio CD]

Estimated arrival date: 31/10/07 - 02/11/07

We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes."

I'll bet Miles is laughing his head off over all this from up there..

.... or down there

Edited October 5, 2007 by sidewinder

[md655321]

Thanks to the lovely internets, im giving this a spin right now. 'Minnie' really is a weird one, very much a discoish tune.

Im familiar with most of the previously released material. The unedited stuff is great. I'd imagine it will take a while to sink in. Of course, I have loved all electric (up to 75) Miles, so this is no different.

Im digging the subdued vibe of Peace/Mr. Foster. Definitely not an 'On the Corner' feel, but fairly revelatory compared to most (all?) other Miles from that period.

Edited October 13, 2007 by md655321

[danasgoodstuff]

Damn, I wants to hear this shit, but I wants the whole reading the liner notes, looking at the package experience...

[Aggie87]

Damn, I wants to hear this shit, but I wants the whole reading the liner notes, looking at the package experience...

So order it.

[md655321]

Damn, I wants to hear this shit, but I wants the whole reading the liner notes, looking at the package experience...

Me too, but I take what I can get. I kind of like the lack of liner notes for awhile, makes me focus on just the music. Plus, all the track info is available online.

[rostasi]

With the Cellar Door, I was able to get it a few weeks before

and shared it thru the rodcast until it came out (with delightful

comments from fellow O-Board members!), but this one

has eluded my grasp as I wait patiently for it to come out

whenever Vince decides(?)

[sidewinder]

Word has it on the other board that the box, as a physical entity, is now out on the streets in the US !

Could be bum info though..

Edited October 17, 2007 by sidewinder

[Face of the Bass]

Word has it on the other board that the box, as a physical entity, is now out on the streets in the US !

Could be bum info though..

No, it looks like its legit. Jazz Loft is reporting that they expect to have the boxes in hand by the weekend, and will ship out everything on Monday. CD Universe still has it listed as being on Back Order, but Amazon says they have theirs in stock. So it seems to be on its way.