Run the Voodoo Down

Bubbling electric pianos, sharp stabbing guitar chords, low rumbling oddly sinister bass clarinet, funky bass and drums, occasional soprano sax wails and running trumpet arpeggios. It must be Miles Davis, it must be Bitches Brew. Strange how unremarkable it now sounds, not in any way to diminish the quality and playing of Wayne Shorter, Bennie Maupin, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Larry Young, Joe Zawinul, Dave Holland, Harvey Brooks, Lenny White and Jack DeJohnette but the revolutionary nature of the album has become faded with time. Is that because it was successful in spawning many imitators or conversely because it proved to be a blind alley ? As so often with these things, the truth is probably somwhere in between. But I would urge any gainsayers to put on Miles Runs The Voodoo Down at top volume and then still try to say that the fire, passion and committment was a waste of time. What is slightly sad I think is that the album didn't really have a lasting connection with the constituency for which Miles really recorded it, that of urban black American youth. I expected the album to sound dated but it is far less so than most of what immediately followed such as Weather report or Herbie Hancock's Headhunters. In many ways it sounds just as timeless as Kind Of Blue and has the same right to stand on its' own as a fine piece of music.