Miles Davis - Agharta [Columbia LP (dutch 1st pressing)] 24-bit/96kHz & CD-compatible format

Posted By : aksman | Date : 09 Sep 2010 21:00:52 | Comments : 41 |

Allmusic.com rating: 4.5 / 5

“

While Pangaea is awesome as well, there is simply nothing like Agharta in the canon of recorded music. This is the greatest electric funk-rock jazz record ever made -- period.

- Thom Yurek/AMG

”

Agharta is an album recorded by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis in 1975. Both Agharta and Pangaea were recorded on the same day in Osaka, Japan. The Agharta concert took place during an afternoon matinée, whereas Pangaea was recorded in the evening.

The song "Interlude" contains a version of the theme from "So What", a track from Davis's Kind of Blue (1959).

“

Review by Thom Jurek

Along with its sister recording, Pangaea, Agharta was recorded live in February of 1975 at the Osaka Festival Hall in Japan. Amazingly enough, given that these are arguably Davis' two greatest electric live records, they were recorded the same day. Agharta was performed in the afternoon and Pangaea in the evening. Of the two, Agharta is superior. The band with Davis -- saxophonist Sonny Fortune, guitarists Pete Cosey (lead) and Reggie Lucas (rhythm), bassist Michael Henderson, drummer Al Foster, and percussionist James Mtume -- was a group who had their roots in the radically streetwise music recorded on 1972's On the Corner, and they are brought to fruition here. The music on Agharta, a total of three tunes spread over two CDs and four LP sides, contains the "Prelude," which clocks in at over a half-hour. There is "Maiysha" from Get up With It and the Agharta "Interlude," which segues into the "Theme From Jack Johnson." The music here is almost totally devoid of melody and harmony, and is steeped into a steamy amalgam of riffs shot through and through with crossing polyrhythms, creating a deep voodoo funk groove for the soloists to inhabit for long periods of time as they solo and interact with one another. Davis' band leading at this time was never more exacting or free. The sense of dynamics created by the stop-start accents and the moods, textures, and colors brought out by this particular interaction of musicians is unparalleled in Davis' live work -- yeah, that includes the Coltrane and Bill Evans bands, but they're like apples and oranges anyway. Driven by the combination of Davis' direction and the soloing of Sonny Fortune and guitarist Pete Cosey, who is as undervalued and underappreciated for his incalculable guitar-slinging gifts as Jimi Hendrix is celebrated for his, and the percussion mania of Mtume, the performance on Agharta is literally almost too much of a good thing to bear. When Cosey starts his solo in the "Prelude" at the 12-minute mark, listeners cannot be prepared for the Hendrixian energy and pure electric whammy-bar weirdness that's about to come splintering out of the speakers. As the band reacts in intensity, the entire proceeding threatens to short out the stereo. These are some of the most screaming notes ever recorded. Luckily, since this is just the first track on the whole package, Davis can bring the tempos down a bit here and there and snake them into spots that I don't think even he anticipated before that afternoon (check the middle of "Maiysha" and the second third of "Jack Johnson" for some truly creepy and beautiful wonders). While Pangaea is awesome as well, there is simply nothing like Agharta in the canon of recorded music. This is the greatest electric funk-rock jazz record ever made -- period.

”

Track listing

All compositions by Miles Davis.

Personnel

Production

Dynamic Range analyzis

Technical Log

Personal Note

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Posted By: ackpct Date: 09 Sep 2010 21:21:47

Thank You!!! Nice music!!! Nice Quality!!!

Posted By: Equalizer23 Date: 09 Sep 2010 22:02:48

Thanks aksman
Do you have Pangaea also?

Posted By: slstokes2216 Date: 09 Sep 2010 22:48:52

Thanks Aksman and Awake for this. In 1 1/2 hrs I'm gonna be very happy!

Posted By: jazzfann Date: 09 Sep 2010 22:58:41

Many many thanks Aksman for this rip and upload and for all your other fantastic high resolution vinyl rips and uploads. I believe that I've downloaded also all of them.

I enjoy both Agharta and Pangaea but remember that it is only on the original LP gatefold jacket of Pangaea that the following immortal words are written (although they apply to Agharta as well):

"We suggest that you play this record at highest possible volume in order to fully appreciate the sound of Miles Davis"

By the way, I had the pleasure of experiencing this awesome band live on few occasions back in 1974 & 1975 and the sound of Miles Davis forever changed the way I listen to music. A completely and utterly mind blowing experience!!!

Posted By: aksman Date: 09 Sep 2010 23:05:19

to all:

We (Awake Et & me) are trying to purchase and rip "pangaea / in concert / dark magus'' as well. If anyone wants to help , please pm me.

Posted By: bh80231 Date: 09 Sep 2010 23:25:51

I love the old Miles, whatever phase he was in! Thanks aksman! And Awake Et too!!

Posted By: SuperFuzz Date: 09 Sep 2010 23:30:22

thanks! looking forward to hearing this. I hate to pimp my own needledrops, but seems fitting here - I've posted "On the Corner" and "Jack Johnson", on demonoid, original pressings. they both sound better than any CD version I've heard. I have several other Miles records from the early 70s, original US pressings, mostly mint. I'll get to them soon. Don't have the three that aksman just mentioned though. Original Japanese issues of Pangea and Dark Magus would probably be the best sounding ones, and the US for In Concert.
http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/2343702/2004498/
http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/2258941/1002249/

Posted By: aksman Date: 09 Sep 2010 23:38:19

"On the Corner" and "Jack Johnson" are both extremly well done rips... Any body who like the "electric" Miles should try to get them.

Hope we will see some of your Miles Davis rips also here....

Posted By: blue note Date: 09 Sep 2010 23:45:09

what an upload. 97 minutes of uncontrollable miles and
with original pressing! really exciting, can't wait to hear.

so awesome with all the jazz floating around lately.
thanks for another great release. and ofc to Awake Et too!

and superfuzz, will check you definitely out! ye, looks great. :)

edit:
this original version looks to be a bit longer than on cd. cool!

Posted By: znkp Date: 10 Sep 2010 01:56:00

@superfuzz: Are you going to put those in 24x96 here at Avaxhome? I do not do P2P; hence this query/request.

By the way, Ruskaval has published the 5 CD Boxset of Complete Jack Johnson Sessions recently.
http://avaxhome.ws/music/jazz/miles_davis_complete_jack_johnson_5cd_japan_2003_flac.html

Posted By: 0pp0 Date: 10 Sep 2010 02:00:19

Thanks for the Monster share Awake Et!

Posted By: Dr Debaser Date: 10 Sep 2010 02:08:26

Yep this is Miles really showing what he was made of ----Thank You. Will check out Jack Johnson for sure as its a great album

Posted By: redpop350 Date: 10 Sep 2010 03:39:04

@ SuperFuzz:

I would like to second the request for those rips here too. I haven't got a way into demonoid. I'm just now finally getting into later Miles, and having read the reviews about those rips I would love to have them.

And thanks aksman, for this one!

Posted By: muziclover Date: 10 Sep 2010 04:33:02

That was awesome!!! Sound was amazing... That music really takes you some where.... thanks!!!!

Posted By: susito Date: 10 Sep 2010 06:54:07

Hi aksman,
---------------- Miles Davis is incredible!!...... Thanks for RS links too!!

Posted By: cheredov Date: 10 Sep 2010 07:37:29

Thank You!

Posted By: kobaha Date: 10 Sep 2010 07:48:31

thanks aksman.

Posted By: nedjo Date: 10 Sep 2010 08:07:55

Thanks Aksman & Awake Et, Too!

Posted By: hammck Date: 10 Sep 2010 09:28:47

One of my favourite albums...awesome...

Posted By: kobaha Date: 10 Sep 2010 09:34:32

thanks a lot

Posted By: SuperFuzz Date: 10 Sep 2010 12:55:26

@znkp, redpop350 - I don't think I'll be posting those rips here, it's too much of a hassle. demonoid is a public site, I don't think you even need to register.

Posted By: redpop350 Date: 10 Sep 2010 15:31:34

Indeed, I can get <to> demonoid, but when I try to grab the torrent, I get a request to register or login and can't go any further. Registrations are closed, it says.

I did, however, find a Japanese remaster of Jack Johnson here:
http://avaxhome.ws/music/jazz/Miles_Davis_Jack_Johnson.html
not too long after grabbed this last night, and it ain't too bad at all.

This stuff is fantastic! I wish someone had turned me on to this back when it came out...

Posted By: boboeltoto Date: 10 Sep 2010 16:36:48

Thank you very much.

Posted By: d'Avignon Date: 10 Sep 2010 17:35:47

Thank you, thank you.
Dark Magus is on your agenda, aksman? That would be nice, the album was my first taste of fusion Miles; thought it was the hardest rocking album I'd ever heard..and still think so.

Posted By: Kel bazar Date: 10 Sep 2010 19:35:09

Great album, thanks to both !!!

Posted By: max2max01 Date: 11 Sep 2010 13:41:18

I just compared this version with the 2006 Japanese CD (SICP-1230+31).

This is a completely DIFFERENT MIX !!!

On the vinyl, the drums are very more upfront, there are no big "ambiance" reverb, no tweaking with the stereo on some sound effect.
The CD sounds louder because there are compressed (the waveforms looks bad).

It's really impossible to compare the 2, but I largely prefer the original vinyl mix.

I don't know if all the cd release are remix but it's a big surprise for me.
So big thanks for this revelation and great works (and waiting very impatiently Pangea and the superb Dark magus, a terrific and underrated recording !)

EDIT : confirmed on the SH forum ;-) => "You need two versions of this title: vinyl (US or Japan) and Sony Japan CD SRCS 9128/9. The vinyl has the original mix and shows far more detail than any CD version out there. The CDs are all remixes and frankly inferior.

The SRCS 9128/9 is the only version that has extra music (on Disc 2). The running time for the original second platter is around 52 minutes. The CD runs close to 60 minutes."

Posted By: aksman Date: 11 Sep 2010 19:23:22

Thx max2max01. Didn' know all that stuff. 'Awake Et' pointed me on these Miles recordings... Just read that the dutch amd the japanese pressings are identical.

However, we will try to get also 'Pangaea' & 'Dark Magus', both records are pretty rare and therefore pricey. If someone feel to support this project, PM me or contact me on Facebook (aksman.vinyl).

Posted By: JoJoPurdie Date: 12 Sep 2010 09:29:47

This is the greatest electric funk-rock jazz record ever made !!!
Great sound, thank you aksman *****

Posted By: djEterna Date: 13 Sep 2010 03:11:18

Salut!

This is a wonderful post - many thanks! I got to know this music in the seventies and it is still amazing, great stuff to listen, providing much colour for my ears and my paintings. Way back then, the critic Robert Christgau wrote about Agharta:

"This is the most commonly disparaged of Davis's many '70s double-LPs--it's said that Davis was so unhappy with his own playing that he abandoned the release to Teo Macero half-way through. But Miles isn't the hero here--he gives the album to the band, whose virtuosity is the ground of four apparently unstructured segments. Mtume, Reggie Lucas, and especially Michael Henderson provide the variable pulse, with drummer Al Foster moving from body to spirit rhythms in an effortless, guileless show of chops. Sonny Fortune triples on alto, soprano, and flute in the best reed playing on a Davis record in this decade. And guitarist Pete Cosey is simply astonishing--the noises he produces for the second half of side one comprise some of the greatest free improvisations ever heard in a "jazz"-"rock" context. Angry, dissociated, funky, and the best Davis music since Jack Johnson. Rating: A "

Christgau was one of the few reviewers who understood then the power of this music.

The electric Miles is my favourite and and you can read more about this period:

"Miles Davis's '70s: The Excitement! The Terror!"

http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/davis-97.php

Your posts are renewing my inspiration!

Thanks again and looking forward to more - "Big Fun" and "Get Up with It" are also nifty!

Posted By: papacrash Date: 14 Sep 2010 22:08:43

Thank you very much, aksman & Awake Et!!! Superb!

We Want Miles! more...

Posted By: DrexlerMcStyles Date: 20 Sep 2010 02:42:45

Alright brother,

I think we got a little ahead of ourselves and passed over some essential titles from this period. Live-Evil and In a Silent Way come to mind. PLEEEEEAASE, we need those too.

That being said I just finished listening to this and it sounds fantastic. I have the OOP Japanese import CD and this make it look like a piece of junk. Looking forward to future release of this sort by you.

Posted By: derty2 Date: 24 Sep 2010 14:05:33

Thankyou ~aksman ++++++++++++++

I disagree with Thom Yurek's review that "Agartha" is superior to "Pangaea" .
I have listened to them both many many times, and "Pangaea" prods the imagination
even after extended listening . "Agartha" goes flat on the ears after a while .

Cheers

Posted By: Nabadanga Date: 26 Sep 2010 21:16:33

Can it be a "Dutch 1st Pressings" if "Columbia Records - Wikipedia - From 1961 to 1990, its recordings were released outside the U.S. and Canada on the CBS Records label before adopting the Columbia name in most of the world."?

Posted By: SuperFuzz Date: 06 Oct 2010 22:50:38

@Nabadanga, true, it can't be a first pressing, since Sony didn't acquire Columbia records until the late 80s... but it's still a nice sounding pressing.

Posted By: aksman Date: 08 Oct 2010 04:18:26

@ Nabadanga & SuperFuzz

As you see, there isn't any "Sony" mentioned, either on the label or on the cover. The Record number named the first dutch pressing...

Posted By: SuperFuzz Date: 31 Dec 2010 15:31:22

@ aksman,

on the contrary, I can clearly see "Sony" right on the label, pictured above (in addition to "Columbia")....

Posted By: pollolpc Date: 25 Aug 2011 20:07:49

Thanks my man¡¡¡
Another great post¡

Posted By: Pinchox Date: 04 Oct 2011 15:10:21

Great album... thank you Aksman

Posted By: OdioAlImperio Date: 02 Nov 2011 03:18:30

Wonderful sharing, aksman. A new album for me. I've been listening MD since a few years ago, and i didn't know anything about this work...

Thank you, as always, man! Discovering new sounds through you, your taste and generosity!

Kindly, OAI

Posted By: perlerorneq69 Date: 08 Nov 2011 11:21:59

very happy to find this, presently downloading, hope it stays around a long time
thank you :) p

Posted By: bathingap3 Date: 14 Nov 2011 14:41:24

Many thanks aksman. YOUR THE MAN!!!!

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