"Great Expectations" Some weird stories for me with this one. The first time I bought it, as a used album a couple years after its release, I didn't discover until I got it home that it was caked with some gritty substance -- sand, probably, or maybe salt. I'd never encountered anything like it before (or since). The surface noise was outrageous and I could only imagine what it was doing to the stylus. Then, years later, buying it as a CD, a record store clerk became abnormally excited that I was purchasing it. "Oh boy," he kept saying enthusiastically. "Big fun. Big fun!!" Just about anything from a record store clerk needs to be taken as sarcasm on some level, but he seemed sincere enough about it, and in fact I think it made me like these Miles Davis slabs even more. Not that they aren't perfectly fine all on their own. They are. But human psychology -- I'm starting to think it's nothing but a joke.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Big Fun (1974)
"Great Expectations" Some weird stories for me with this one. The first time I bought it, as a used album a couple years after its release, I didn't discover until I got it home that it was caked with some gritty substance -- sand, probably, or maybe salt. I'd never encountered anything like it before (or since). The surface noise was outrageous and I could only imagine what it was doing to the stylus. Then, years later, buying it as a CD, a record store clerk became abnormally excited that I was purchasing it. "Oh boy," he kept saying enthusiastically. "Big fun. Big fun!!" Just about anything from a record store clerk needs to be taken as sarcasm on some level, but he seemed sincere enough about it, and in fact I think it made me like these Miles Davis slabs even more. Not that they aren't perfectly fine all on their own. They are. But human psychology -- I'm starting to think it's nothing but a joke.
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I love, love, love this album! On "Go Ahead John" the way McLaughlin's guitar sounds like a bee trapped under a glass that's being lifted up and set back down in rhythm is pure genius. Then there's the stereo panning... Way overlooked and WAY ahead of its time. Awesome post.
ReplyDeleteYep, that's one of my favorite moments too -- and there's no shortage of good moments here. Thanks for stopping by.
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