Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Miles Davis Available Now
I recently wrote about Bitches Brew. A few excerpts:
The staff may or may not like these kinds of records, but I sure don’t. To be honest, Bitches Brew fits just fine into a section I like to call “albums I can live without.” The world is full of them.
Music is deeply personal. If you don’t feel the need to like what other people like, you and I should get along just fine.
This is music for those who want to be challenged. That’s as true today as it was 50+ years ago when the record came out.
I still don’t care for it though. In my defense, allow me to fall back on the wisdom of de gustibus non est disputandum.
A fellow left me this comment:
Really enjoyed this piece on ‘Bitches Brew’, your take on the album’s density, texture, and restless energy was a great read. It’s fascinating how Miles managed to create something that still feels both challenging and endlessly rewarding all these years later. I especially appreciated the way you framed its impact beyond just jazz, because that’s exactly why the album keeps drawing people back in. I also run a small blog with a few articles about Miles Davis, I hope you’ll take a look, I’d appreciate it.
I thought that it deserved a reply and came up with this:
Dear Sir,
The records we sell must stand the test of time. Can we say that Bitches Brew stands the test of time? In some ways, yes, absolutely. People are still writing about it. People are still buying it.
But is anybody sitting in a room, by himself, facing two speakers with the lights down low, and actually able to enjoy the music enough to get through all four sides of it? Let me put it as nicely as possible: the most likely answer would be “not many.”
We’re looking for customers who will pay hundreds of dollars for an album. One album. They typically do so with the understanding that they will want to play such an album over and over again. Maybe even become obsessed with it.