Miles Davis - Dark Magus

Short post this time. I'll try to force myself to write something longer later, so here's the short version now.

Dark Magus was released only in Japan in 1977, and is a live album from 1974 featuring the "Pete Cosey lineup" of Miles Davis' voodoo funk band. It was finally released in the US on compact disc a decade ago, and has never been seen here in its original vinyl. That happens to make it something of a collector's item among the turntable crowd. It also happens to be just about the hardest, heaviest assault of greasy tribal funk-meets-thrash-metal ever conceived.

It's another monster, running two hours long. It sounds phenomenal. It will rip the paint off your walls. This is the album Max Cavalera has been trying to make ever since Sepultura's Roots. Never has an album title fit so perfectly. Dark Magus, indeed.

It goes without saying, of course, that the album cover and gatefold look fantastic. Japanese design at its best. The Japanese kids got to rock out to this, and the American kids? Disco.