MILES DAVIS — On the Corner (review)

MILES DAVIS — On the Corner album cover Album · 1972 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Abraxas
Abusive Funk

Released in 1972, one of Davis’ last 70s studio albums, it is yet another explorative and improvised album with yet another genre in mind. Before it had been with rock, succeeded in Jack Johnson and sort-of exceeded in Live-Evil, psychedelic rock was simply a piece of the puzzle that Bitches Brew was. With On The Corner it was funk the genre that Miles had in mind to delve deep into its roots and make it grow like something that doesn’t sound like funk in any way.

I’m simply guessing by saying that this is inspired by Funkadelic and Sly & the Family Stone, the former being the psychedelic funk continuation of Hendrix, while the latter would give the basis to Hancock’s supreme funk-fusion. But saying that On The Corner is a funk album is simply being deaf, it is actually far from anything the aforementioned bands did, like I already stated at the beginning. Avant-garde funk? Yeah, that’s a bit closer, but what does that actually mean or sound like?

It’s actually easy to imagine if you already know other Davis’ 70s works, it is a pretentious project consisting of a line-up of the highest calibre, among those the ever-so majestic McLaughlin on guitars and Hancock being one of the keyboardists on board, including percussion (tabla amongst them!) and electric sitar for the first time in Davis’ career. The music that resulted in here is way out there, with African and Indian echoes interpolated with psychedelic passages and repetitive weird grooves, all in all making some, to quote Fela Kuti, “expensive shit”. ‘Expensive’ because it’s so rich in textures and rhythms, plus the always incredible spacey ambiences that Miles pulls off with his wah-wah and the rest of the band. ‘Shit’ because it’s bombastic and incoherent at first listens, and it may be incoherent for some people forever, and I can’t blame them, it’s a hard and lengthy ride and not for everyone’s appeal.

I really have no idea what in the hell was Miles thinking (smoking?) when he said that this album was intended to connect with a wider audience, mainly black. I’d call this also ‘abstract music’, a term that fellow reviewers use to describe Thrust by Hancock, where there’s absence of actual melody and there’s only a theme that is repeated all along in the four compositions and there are musical adventures that grow on top and beneath them.

Yeah, ‘expensive shit’ indeed. Not an album I usually listen to, and admittedly not one I’m completely fond of, but still it was worth my money listening to such crazy jams, and really cool to listen to it alongside real funk albums, the comparison between them makes my mind explode. Recommended and not recommended, you should have already figured out why is that.
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