Miles Davis - Pangaea (1975) (2CD)

PANGAEA was the last album Miles Davis made before his 5 year retirement. Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet, organ); Sonny Fortune (soprano & alto saxophones, flute); Pete Cosey (synthesizer, electric guitar, percussion); Reggie Lucas (electric guitar); Michael Henderson (electric bass); Al Foster (drums); Mtume (congas, water drums, rhythm box, percussion). Recorded live at Osaka Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan on February 1, 1975. Includes liner notes by Kevin Whitehead. The companion set to AGARTHA, PANGAEA presents the Davis band in that evening's concert performance at Osaka Festival Hall on February 1, 1975. The difference in moods is readily apparent, as the band comes out on fire–particularly the trumpeter, who was in a more reticent mood during the afternoon's festivities. With PANGAEA Miles peeks out from the eye of an electronic hurricane to impart the darker side of his soul. Davis was on the verge of a total mental and physical collapse when this concert was recorded, suffering from a variety of degenerative physical ailments, in the throes of a cocaine haze, glaring out at the world from behind the protective darkness of his shades, amidst the grungy blare of his Afro-blue psychobabble. Whether these sounds derive from Davis' malaise or occur in spite of it, it's amusing to recall that this dangerous, relentlessly edgy music was widely held to be proof of Miles' commercial aspirations. Yet only in recent years did Ornette Coleman & Prime Time, The Black Rock Coalition, Living Colour and John Zorn's Naked City approximate PANGAEA's mysterious power. On side one, some fierce acid funk gives way to an aquatic percussive melange; likewise, side two's lyrical folk themes (as epitomized by Sonny Fortune's lovely flute and Miles' coy wah-wah trumpet) are transformed into a serene, mysterious blues of surprising delicacy. Throughout PANGAEA, guitarist Pete Cosey plays with heroic freedom and epic ferocity over the ritualistic roar of drummer Al Foster, bassist Michael Henderson, and percussionist Mtume. ©cduniverse

Song Title
CD1
1. Zimbabwe
CD2
2. Gondawana