In A Silent Way - Miles Davis

I took about a year on Spotify till I really started to get into this album. But now I must have it, as I have come to realize just how wonderful it is.

My question is, with all these delicate passages throughout this masterpiece could someone please recommend to me a which release to look for. I think my system will do a really nice copy justice.

 

Look no further than the Mobile Fidelity reissue.

Vinyl: Miles Davis - In A Silent Way (Numbered Edition 180g Vinyl LP) | Shop Music Direct

SACD: Miles Davis - In A Silent Way (Numbered EDITION Hybrid SACD) | Shop Music Direct

 

Seconded on Disionity recommendations. The MoFi releases are wonderful. Shh, peaceful.

 

I'm sure someone will eventually slam it but that MoFi is the one I like and always listen to.

 

Hard to imagine a better version, the MOFI's are special.

 

MoFi or an original. different yet the same.

 

Another for the Mofi.

If you care to dip into the sessions around the making of the album, you may want to check out The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions sometime.

 

I wish We Want Miles got the MoFi treatment.

 

This was my first non-ECM jazz album. Heard it at a party in 1983-84 and went straight out and bought it. Doubt mine is original, but always thought it had a great vibe.

Also didn't know MoFi did a version.

I love all that late '60's Miles Quintet stuff in general -- Nefertiti, Sorcerer, Filles de Kilimanjaro etc.

Is the Complete In A Silent Way Sessions worth seeking out?

 

Yes, it is because it has the complete unedited takes of all the IASW material. Lovely to hear the full pieces and also nice to be reminded what a genius editing job Teo Macero did with what he was handed.

 

Thanks! I'll try to find one or just borrow it from a friend who has everything, and rip it.

BTW, my record says chet after the usual matrix/runout on both sides.

I have The Complete Columbia Album Collection. Haven't plucked IASW out from the pack yet. I just play the record.

 

I recommend the Complete In A Silent Way Sessions, not just for its completeness, but also because I prefer its more open sound to that on the mobile fidelity sacd.

 

I first heard the edited remix by Bill Laswell on Panthalassa, and went out and bought the blue-bordered Columbia CD, which didn’t sound as good. When the Complete Sessions box came out, I grabbed that, and more recently the Complete Columbia set (sounds the same as the box to me). I wanted a vinyl copy so got the MoFi. That is a wonderfully detailed slab of vinyl.

The ‘Complete’ set is misleadingly titles as one of the three discs contains tracks from Filles de Kilimanjaro - a different band, sound and session. However the other two discs are worth the price of admission: you get the wonderful Ghetto Walk, which could have been Side C of the album, plus the unedited takes.

 

My favourite album by Miles.

 

I seem to have acquired several versions of In A Silent Way over the years...

My two pennorth's worth is that the Mo-Fi sounds best, especially if you have a decent SACD player, and the Complete... is necessary for the context of the album. And I like Bill Laswell's Panthalassa version.

For something different again Bob Belden's Miles From India has the title piece, amongst many other Miles pieces, or Waddada Leo Smith and Henry Kaiser's Yo Miles! Sky Garden set opens with It's About That Time.

 

For some unknown reason I just can’t get into IASW. Love most of his work that went before and after, but this album doesn’t do much for me.

 

It is a Miles album that has grown in significance to me over the years. Of the 25 Miles albums I have it is definitely in the top 3 -5 favorites.

 

What's number 1 & 2?

 

Kind of Blue and Sketches Of Spain

 

Sketches of Spain is on deck for tonight then.

 

@jamesc we were just discussing this great album.

 

I had bad luck with this MOFI vinyl. I got two copies... both with significant noise for at least 6 minutes to start one of the sides.

I kept it... but kind of gave up. First time I've had difficulty with a MOFI vinyl.

 

As I already said, In a Silent Way is my favourite Miles's album.
I'd like to add that my favourite track on the album but also regarding whole Miles' fusion catalogue (I'm never listening to Miles' pre-fusion stuff, that's just not my cup of tea) is Shhh Peaceful 1/2, mostly due to beautiful cosmic vibe on it; Zawinul's keys are amazing.

 

"Shh/Peaceful" IMO just happens to be one o' those pieces of music that just takes you on a trip whenever you hear it. To use the word "transcendent" may seem like a buncha pimply hyperbole, but if the shoe fits...

 

The blue border Columbia discs of this and ...Brew put me off electric Miles for at least a decade; I had so much trouble trying to find the appeal, but it was all buried in the muddy sonics of both that I gave up until I got the Complete Columbia Collection box. Then, it all made much more sense, like someone had wiped a layer of dirt from a window.