Ascenseur Pour L'Échafaud

by

Miles Davis

Edit

I kept this baby on 'repeat' all last night and it was the perfect companion. For all the haters who quibble about the 16 (supposedly missing) tracks here's a thought; some of us like works the way the artist originally concieved them not the excessive, remastered editions with superflous material added to simply fill out the running time on a CD. This is simply gorgeous music that embraces the spirit of brevity while living and breathing totally in the moment. An unjustly forgotten and underrated classic. Essential.

Verve has really been talking about their sole Miles Davis release lately, especially because the film (under the title Elevator to the Gallows) was released on DVD by no less than Criterion. I thought that when they got around to re-mastering this CD, they'd do a good job. Instead, they reissued the original 10-track LP, stripping the CD of 16 bonus tracks. This is an abomination; Miles and Louis Malle deserve more.