Of Miles Davis And The Vacuous Experience of Best Of Compilations

Some musicians should never be experienced through a "Best Of" compilation. Chief on my list: Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Woody Guthrie, Michael Jackson, and of course Miles Davis. Never. I can give you many reasons for this but it's too early in the morning to engage myself in a bout of intellectual hubris. Besides, I have got to get on my paper about the impact of commericialization pressures on translational research. However, the main reason for this is that only few artists have perfected the album delivery. Putting aside the existence of concept albums and its recent resurgence in the fight against filesharing, only very few artists (in my view) have the power to hold you spellbound on a release, from opening to closing note (this is not to say that every concept album is worth the listen from start to finish). For this few, each realease is an experience you either love or hate, but demands that you follow its trajectory of thought, storyline, beat, and lyricism. This is probably the reason why many fans never agree on the worthiness or unworthiness of songs that make it into a "Best Of" compilation.

The "Best Of" phenomenum is very common with musicians of yore, the same ones who brought us music through vinyl records and cassettes, those formats which made skipping songs less attractive. One could argue that part of the artistry of making music at that time was to convey a body of sound and thought that was best experienced from start to finish. One could also argue that I am on a vain rant here. However, now that the digital age is upon us, many label execs find that the best way to cash in on established artists is through the vehicle of the "Best Of" or even lamer "Singles" compilations. For moi, I favor "reissues" and the "remasterings". Now, that is how to use technology right, by bringing us the same sounds as originally released. Now folks, I have to end this here, cos I don't know if there's any harmony to my thought processes anymore. Maybe I am just reissuing my usual jive talk.

Lest I forget, this was also supposed to be about Miles Davis. Well, the story goes like this. I only just began to properly experience MD recently, when I decided that for the profound effect this prolific musician has had on jazz (I was also prompted by a colleague), my wife's "Best Of" collection just won't cut it. So to begin, I got myself Kind of Blue, Bitches Brew, and Sketches of Spain. Doing this led to this post.