Post 'Bitches Brew', amid the slow disintegration of the second great quintet, at a time when Columbia didn't know or even care how they marketed Miles, Davis produced this pearler. 'On the Corner' would follow, a series of mishandled live albums, and then ill health combined with his ongoing cocaine addiction would see Davis disappear for the greater part of the seventies.

The energy on this record is palpable. A tangible electricity flows through the 2 tracks that make up the standard edition release. Davis was never just Davis though, in the early days of be-bop he was in the shadows of Charlie 'Yardbird' Parker, with the birth of cool jazz it was Davis and Gil Evans and his quintet with Coltrane, Bill Evans, 'Cannonball' Adderley, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Later came the groundbreaking quintet sitting alongside Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter and perhaps most importantly of all, in the producer's booth, the mercurial Teo Macero.

British guitarist John McLaughlin perfectly demonstrates why he is THE British guitarist, letting off volley after volley of musical pyrotechnics, bruising hooks, subtle fades and intricate combinations. The cliches WILL keep coming I warn you. Herbie Hancock returns to the fold on organ, tight and compact, taking the blows from the rest of the band, biding his time before exploding into life, while all the time Steve Grossman on soprano sax weaves in and out of the action, floating like a butterfly and...well, you know the rest....

Miles? He's there alright, hunched in the darkness, back to everyone, just waiting, counting down, deciding when he's going to take the track back, wrenching it from the band with licks that display a newfound conviction in his playng. Dynamically exploring a full range, Davis batters 'Right Off' into a bloody pulp. Poetic? No. Powerful, awe-inspiring, pretty damned blistering? Yeah.

If this were a fight, it wouldn't have got past the third round, and it would've had you down in the first for sure. A couple of standing counts, and then, you ain't getting up no more.

The Columbia release of this disc keeps peace with Davis and has his figure on the cover, bent back looking every part the boxer, and placing his name above that of Johnsons. It's backed with an amalgam of the original cover and a later edition. An illustration of Johnson, in a fast car with (presumably) fast women in the back seats. Originally Davis' name sat below that of Johnson, so other than the fact he hated the cover and his billing, Miles loved it.