I remember when this came out in 2003 I bought it at a Virgin Megastore. It's got some great music on it and a rhythm section that is funkier than a mosquito's tweeter! I'd safely say I have most of the boxsets now and all the Bootleg series. They really need to focus on the Agharta and Panagea albums now and then the comeback, 1981's The Man With The Horn and We Want Miles as it's a neglected era in my opinion. Star People, Decoy and You're Under Arrest are too slick and the music is more dated now as it was far too stylized and synthetic. Still I'd buy anything by Miles that Columbia put out as he's the master of Jazz!

Another mammoth box set of Miles Davis music to go alongside thew complete Bitches Brew and On The Corner sessions. There is quite a lot of misunderstanding about these sets as they are rather inappropriately marketed, most of the other boxes are not music from the sessions that produced the tunes but collections of tracks loosely related to the era the main albums were created. Some like Bitches Brew became fairly redundant as the extra tracks were added to the individual albums like Big Fun so if you have them you don't really need the box. The complete In a Silent Way box had some interesting outtakes but also a lot of material that many people already had on the Filles de Kilimanjaro and Water Babies albums.On the Corner was the most interesting as it combined a lot of unrelated music and the longer edits of the key tracks in my opinion actually improved on the released edits and allowed much of the music to really breath in a way the claustrophobic LP did not.Which brings me to the Jack Johnson sessions which i have just got hold of. Again this is a mix of sessions featuring 3 days and material that contributed to Live Evil and Big Fun as much as the Jack Johnson album. I was initially put off as it featured multiple takes and to be honest Jack Johnson is not my favourite LP of his from this era, being rather boring boogie rock, it just never clicked with me in the same way as On The Corner or Live Evil. However I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the music. Hearing tracks like Willie Nelson and Go Ahead John evolve is fascinating and the takes and inserts are all different enough that you can listen to them without feeling bored. Many of Miles' tunes from this era were 20 minutes+ so hearing the many versions of Willie Nelson often just feels like a super long jam. I particularly enjoyed Go Ahead John as the separate parts before Teo Macero's editing and studio effects transformed it into the 28 minute monster on Big Fun. As with On The Corners unedited takes it is a pleasure to hear such great players jamming, working their way through such new music. Without the studio trickery Go Ahead John feels much more alive and vibrant, much more raw and bluesy than the psychedelic final mix with it's panning and skipping drum edits.Tracks like Archie Moore and Sugar Ray are more fragmentary, Archie Moore being a blues jam with John McLaughlin tearing it up. Interesting but not essential. However I did enjoy the multiple takes of Johnny Bratton with it's fuzzy bass lines, in fact the most prominent voices on these tracks are Dave Holland and Michael Henderson's huge bass lines and McLaughlin's jagged guitar. I don't think I have heard a better tone on a Fender bass than on these sessions in fact! The session that created the Jack Johnson album I found more appealing than the real album. I do enjoy Teo's edits on many of the albums like Live Evil but some of his work on Jack Johnson seems rather random with the introduction of parts from In A Silent Way spoiling the flow. The jam takes are great as long performances and in my mind replace the album as my go to when I want a bit of Jack Johnson era Miles on my headphone.Other highlights include the mysterious Konda and the dissonant The Mask. I had heard the Mask (as well as Willie Nelson) on some live albums and it is nice to hear the studio versions. Konda had been released before but this is unedited and it is a shimmering and serpentine tune that harks back to In A Silent Way for it's vibe with a melody that reminds me of a Water Babies tune.A lot of people dislike the Hermeto Pascoal tunes that make up disc 4 but I always thought that worked well as a pallet cleaner during the intense Live Evil album and were an interesting side step that Miles did not pursue. Hermeto Pascoal is himself a very interesting composer and worth checking out. The Mask is pretty scary stuff and is one of Davis' most experimental tunes along with the later Rated X. The fact he could churn out this music and then not release it is amazing. Of course this box is for the Miles Davis fanatic but I feel it contains enough cool music that any fan of jazz or experimental rock and blues will find something to enjoy if they really listen. If you spend a £100 on it then that is too much but if you get it for around £20-£25 as I did you will not regret it.maningrey @ london school of sound