We’re happy to have a debut article from friend and Contributing Author minor major 7th as they tell us all about their Version (2.0) of our Occasional Series, ‘My Perfect Songs and Records.’
Miles Davis – In a Silent Way
There is a clip on You Tube in which John McLaughlin recalls how Miles Davis asked him to play the introduction to the song “In a Silent Way” alone. The guitar hero recalls how this request made him nervous, to which Miles Davis said: “why don’t you play it like you don’t know how to play the guitar?”
The result is a lush and moving performance.
I think this is a perfect record because nothing sounds like it. In other words, there is everything else and then there is In a Silent Way. It is a stark mediation on time and memory, going from melancholy to sublime. Every time I listen to it, I am convinced that every note is perfect. There is an A-list of players on this album. All bringing their A game. The unsung hero is Tony Williams. At times he plays nothing but his hi-hat. Yet his attack and rhythm is incredibly poignant, sometimes it evokes a mountain breeze or a desert wind.
It’s a perfect album because all the music sounds as though it came from pure intuition.
Fun fact: a few years ago, I checked out a record show in a suburb north of where I grew up. I had my biases about this record show. Let’s just say my Honda Civic was the outlier in a parking lot filled with huge trucks. Wouldn’t you know it: I found an original pressing of In a Silent Way.
Steely Dan – Aja
If we are ever able to quantify perfection, that is, capture and measure perfection in units, (let’s call them “perfectiles”), then Aja would have the highest amount of perfectiles. Enough has been written about what makes this perfect. I agree with all of it.
tnocs.com contributing author minor major 7th
Television – Marquee Moon
I can’t remember the poem, but a professor in undergraduate said to us: “this poem captures all of Renaissance England.” There is no way for me to verify this, but I believe Marquee Moon captures New York City in the late-70s. This album is my time machine.
More importantly, as a guitar player, I hear it as the best example of merging technical ability with melody and harmony. It’s jazz inspired but the songs have hooks. Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd shred, but the attitude is all punk.
2:01 to 2:05 on “Friction” may be my favorite guitar moment ever.
XTC – Skylarking
Skylarking is perfect because it executes its concept in a beautiful and moving way. When I listen to it, I do feel like I have traveled through the course of a single day–and a lifetime. It’s universal. Don’t get me wrong. I love The Wall but I’m not a strung out rock star. I love Sgt. Pepper’s but the burden of having to assume a new creative persona is not really something I can relate to. Skylarking is perfect because I can “get behind” its concept every time, as it goes from the grass of the English countryside up to the satellites.
It’s also an album that keeps on giving. I know this is immature but I do enjoy the ongoing feud between Andy Partridge and Todd Rundgren. They are both geniuses.
I feel if they were to reconcile, it would actually take something away from the album.
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In 2001, VH1 came up with a 5 part show, The Greatest 100 Albums of All-Time. Of course it skewed towards the Beatles and 1960s overall, but on the strength of its review, I went out and purchased Television’s Marquee Moon.
It is an amazing album!
I also bought two Miles Davis’ albums, and a Beatles one: Kind of Blue, Bitches Brew and Rubber Soul.
Thank you thegue.
Rubber Soul is a strange one in the sense that, I always forget to mention it in any discussion about The Beatles’, only to be reminded later on that it may, in fact, be my favorite by them!
Great post! In a Silent Way really is special, even for Miles Davis, and that’s saying something. Early pandemic, I took some edibles and did a homemade “surround sound” experiment, playing In a Silent Way on three different systems, two of them on low volume and slightly out of sync so that they were like echoes of the first. Truly mind-blowing. Of course, no gimmicks or drugs are needed to be blown away by the album, it really is perfect.
Marquee Moon is another favorite, just a master class in guitar cross communication, but one that someone like me (who is decidedly not a “guitar guy”) can really appreciate. Not to mention the puns! Tom Verlaine’s glorious bad puns. (“I get your point. You’re so sharp!” or the more complicated: “Broadway looked so medieval, it seemed to flap like many pages; and I fell sideways laughing with a friend from many stages”). Wordplay as swordplay indeed, Sir.
And yeah, Skylarking is pretty darn perfect (though sometimes I’m tempted to excise “The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul”). I believe that Andy Partridge did finally admit that Rundgren was right about the album’s production and sequencing. I think it’s great that he took them outside of their comfort zone, and forced them to make their great music even better.
Thank you, Phylum.
Sounds like an incredible experience. You are much braver than I.
“Wordplay as swordplay”. Love it. A great point that has me thinking even more about Marquee Moon.
(Not gonna lie, I stole that from Robert Christgau 🙂 )
I was gonna call you out on it. RC’s review of Elvis Costello’s Get Happy, I believe.
As someone who doesn’t love punk or New Wave, even I have to admit that Marquee Moon is thrilling. But I’ll take Pretzel Logic over Aja.
I’ve been playing “Aja” for two decades now. My friend who went to the Berklee School of Music swears by it. I guess you have to be a musician to appreciate it. I think he got better returns out of our cultural exchange. Whereas I know not to play “Aja” when I’m driving home at night, my friend had so much Jonathan Richman knowledge, he fit right in with his new classmates.
Things I learned not to play while stuck in DC traffic:
Pretzel Logic is a great one, Archie. Notwithstanding my love for Aja, “Rikki don’t lose that number” might be my favorite Steely Dan tune.
I am also guilty from stealing from RC. No judgment here, Phylum. 🙂
My utmost thanks to mt58 for supporting the submission and formatting the post.
Question to all of you: further to thegue’s comment above, is there any interest in a post about Miles Davis’ discography? I would be happy to write one.
Certainly, although a short series might be more reasonable!
You are most welcome. We appreciate the time and thought that went into the piece. Thank you.
Well done, mM7!!! Excellent debut!!!!
So I take from that the Perfect Music for you is that which puts you in a particular laid back, chilled mood?!
Thank you for your kind words.
That is an interesting question, dutch. I had not noticed the laid back “streak”, in my selections. I have noticed, however, that as I approach 40, I am chilling out. I present the following evidence.
Exhibit A: I recently listened to a 90s metal playlist on Spotify, consisting of Megadeath, Sepultura, and friends. I freely admit, I had to stop as it, yes, made my head hurt.
Exhibit B: I have very little interest in shredding or riffin’ on the guitar these days. No disrespect to any of the virtuosos I adored in days gone by–and I will still practice things from Steve Vai, for example, to maintain dexterity. But when it comes to actually playing on my own, I am mostly working through the old jazz standards.
Exhibit C: last weekend, I told two teenagers to get off my lawn.
The last one really says it all.
Aja, Marquee Moon and Skylarking are indeed perfect albums. I’m not as familiar with In A Silent Way but it it’s anything like Birth Of The Cool or Kind Of Blue, then I’m on board.
It’s actually closer in spirit to a CAN album, although my wife has asked if it’s Brian Eno before, which speaks to the fact that it’s prettier and spacier than a CAN album.
Phylum is correct, Virgindog.
How to put it? In terms of genius-level playing, yes, it’s on the same level as Birth of the Cool and Kind of Blue. As for the music itself, it is certainly something different (although just as amazing as) cool jazz or modal.
Welcome to the team mm7. Jazz is a big blind spot for me but always interesting to get a new take on it and read why it inspires someone. Steely Dan are one of those bands I see referenced so often but again, I’m afraid, I’ve never been able to find my way in.
Marquee Moon though, I’m very much onboard with. The title track is one of the greatest songs ever, love that in the midst of the punk and new wave boom where brevity was the order of the day they made an exquisite 10 minute epic. Plus one of the great guitar solos.
XTC are another great band though in my case I’m more of a casual fan familiar with the singles rather than the albums. Think I’ll give Skylarking a listen today to put that right.
Thank you JJ.
If I am not mistaken, I believe you are located in England. If you are interested in getting into jazz, this is a fortunate time. London is one of, if not the, epicenter of jazz right now.
A good starting point is a compilation titled, We Out Here. It was released a few years ago and provides a good overview of who’s who in the London jazz scene. On that roster, Ezra Collective may be the most accessible. They know how to keep a killer groove. Thereafter, check out anything with Shabaka Hutchings or Nubya Garcia. Both are incredible players.
Another route into jazz is the classic hardbop era, from the late 50s to early 60s, albums such as Moanin’ by Art Blakey, Song for my Father by Horace Silver or Soul Station by Hank Mobley.
Of course, you can always dive in with Kind of Blue by Miles Davis.
Am I the only the person who found Kind of Blue a little hard to get into? Don’t get me wrong, I love it now, but it was my first exposure to the powerhouse that was John Coltrane, and his presence at first seemed a little incongruent with the mellow vibe that everyone else was laying down. Now I know that the major/minor key fluidity was basically the conceptual groundwork for the whole album, so it makes more sense.
Maybe it’s enough to know what to expect going in rather than go in expecting something like “Dinner Jazz”, but it did take me a while to appreciate how subtly quirky the album can be.
Sort of a different tack, but whenever I talk to a jazz fan, I always wonder: where do you stand on Lambert, Hendricks and Ross?