Big Fun

An epic double set from ’74 which gathers together various Miles Davis Afro-futurist-psychedelic-funk-fusion-modal-jazz tracks from the previous five years. The tracks were painstakingly pieced together from parts of different recordings, utilising tape loops, noise gates, delays and other effects to create a space-age avant-garde sonic tapestry. The result is a mighty, ominous, brooding, storm cloud of an album that churns with polyrhythmic funk, and is full of abstract timbres, spacey textures, haunted drones, along with the nine-note voodoo organ chords that would scare Sly Stone when a visiting Miles played them. It’s one of Miles’ funkiest outings with plenty of single-chord vamping, funky drums à la The JBs, and judicious wah-wah, interspersed with some wonderfully tranquil yet intense, minimal, shifting-soundscape moments. Controlled intensity, hypnotic grooves, deep, murky, musical introspection, sharp-edged expression, it’s all here.