Another great Miles collection
343173
Great collection.  It's fun reading them together because you forget how the early stories mesh, and now you can see how he grew and see more about his relationship with his grandfather.
786341
I've always been a die-hard Miles Davis fan. But I'm kind of different than any other Miles fan. Unlike most fans, my favorite sides are his Prestige sides. And 'Muted Miles' documents Miles' best sides on the Prestige label, and it features talents such as John Coltrane, Red Garland and Charles Mingus.

This collection features many of Miles' best sides on the Prestige label. I absolutely love 'Surrey With The Fringe On Top.' It's one of his all-time classic tunes.

I absolutely love Miles' take on 'In Your Own Sweet Way.' I've heard almost everybody cover that song, but Miles' version is very original. Great trumpet work throughout, one of his best Prestige sides.

During his career, Miles did many versions of the jazz standard 'Round Midnight.' This version, however, is slightly inferior to the Columbia version. It's still great, but I would recommend listening to the Columbia version over this one.

I love the opening track here, 'Just Squeeze Me.' Duke Ellington wrote this song during the early years of his career, and Miles definitely does the song justice. I think I may prefer this version over Duke's version. It's that good.

And his version of 'My Funny Valentine' is essential to any jazz fan. It's one of his best ballads, actually. The trumpet work is great throughout, and Miles' version of the song is essential to anyone's record collection.

Overall, this is highly recommended for any Miles fan. His Prestige sides are often overlooked, which is a real shame. If you have never heard his Prestige sides, than start here. This is the ideal Prestige collection. Pair it with 'Prestige Profiles' and you have a great Prestige years Miles collection.

Highly recommended for any Miles fan. A great compilation. ENJOY!!!
2568917
This is a great collection of his poetry.  I really have enjoyed reading this on the go from my kindle.
1521996
This is as all of Miles recordings a true work of musical art. This is in fact the very formation of and the epicenter of jazz-rock fusion. Miles would remain in this groove for the rest of his career. Experimentation with sounds and colors, layers of chromatic tones, cycles and funky grooves. Never predictable and always on the fringes of the cuff, Miles never stops short of an amazing audio adventure (in space if you will). With the stellar lineup of Mr. Davis, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock and George Benson (contributing on 1 track) it is a huge piece of jazz-rock history and a must for any fan of Miles or this genre of music. Do yourself a favor and check it out today. Along with this recording you may also want to check out obviously "Bitch's Brew", "E.S.P.", "Nefertiti" and "Filles De Kilimanjaro". All masterpieces and should be in any jazz collection.
4751935
I have dozens of Miles Davis' CDs including those from the two "great quintet" periods (one with Coltrane, the other with Shorter). This live set doesn't belong to any of them. However, I confess this is my most favorite of all. Miles is jumpy and inventive. Mobley is soulful and beautifully relaxed. The rhythm section is tight and full of spices. I enjoyed this Blackhawk live (both CDs) even more than Kind of Blue or 'Round Midnight. Listen without prejudice and it will bring a smile on your face.
1013374
This CD is fantastic and hard to find at retail stores.  I highly advise any Miles Davis fan buys it.
4655078
Another fine collection that makes you lament the fact that Steven Utley wasn't able to write a couple of more collections of short stories.  Here's hoping that other talented writers will take up where Utley left off.  At first I was upset that Invisible Kingdoms seemed to focus way too  much on the "parallel worlds" concept rather than on the possible "time travel" one as an explanation for the hole or the anomaly's existence.  And several stories seemed to angle into a horror type which I didn't care for.
"
But Invisible Kingdoms has the outstanding "There and Then" which was actually the first of the Silurian Tales plus "The Real World" which in a way is both a beginning and an ending  story.  It looks at the first human traveler through the hole but the framing story seems to be set decades AFTER travel through the hole has apparently halted.

Finally "Five Miles from Pavement" is an amazingly in depth story that is arguably one of the best of the entire series.
296733
Complete in  a Silent Way Sessions by Miles Davis is a worthy addition to my collection of Miles Davis such as Kind of Blue, The Sorcerer, Bitches Brew, but in its own brilliant way very different to those three albums. Its blend of sometimes subliminal sounds with jazz and rock fusion creates a sense of mysticism which I found mesmerizing.  The 3 CD complete package which included a booklet was superb and easily better than my expectations.  Anyone who is a Miles Davis fan would want this CD pack.  Purchasing it through Amazon was also a breeze.
4957130
Miles' Decoy is a great fusion album. If you rate it lower than 5 stars be prepared to rate all 80s fusion albums below it. Why? Because it retains the originality and style Miles has always had, and it hasn't yet moved into "cover tune" territory. Miles allowed his players to put their individual stamp on his music. Jones, Scofield, Foster, Marsalis, etc. All place a great stamp of their own on Miles' Decoy. It has a modern feel to it, and yes, there are synths on it. I like that. The band is performing better than any "fusion" bands of the time, and they are remaining harmonically, rhythmically, and melodically original--unlike most of the Fusion and all of the past-derived "jazz" that was starting to hit the scene at the time. There are metric modulations and interesting changes happening here, unlike funk-influenced "pop-jazz" or "cool Jazz" fusion that was all over the place back then.

I was really just starting to get into Miles Davis when Decoy was out, in the mid-80s. I bought this on cassette when LPs were waning in popularity and cassettes were starting to gain more prominent use. CDs were around but they were a new format. I played this album lots when I bought it and it was my "gateway" Miles Davis CD that got me hooked on Miles. So, I can say with confidence that there is a musical "density" to this music that definitely puts it on par with Miles' other music before and, certainly, after.

The improvisational quality of this music is such that it can withstand repeated listens and still you find something new--that is the consistent quality that all of Miles' best recordings have. So I suggest that Decoy is incredible for you whether or not you're a "completionist" fan of Miles Davis.
106211
Destination: Romance is an enjoyable collection of five love stories, spanning both miles and years.  Due to the limitations of space, romance happens pretty quickly in these novellas, but there is plenty of detail to pull you into each story.

The only one of the five authors I was familiar with was Kim Vogel Sawyer.  As always, her story was a delight to read.  Even though she had a much shorter format to work in than her usual full-length novel and her setting was considerably different from her usual, she still wrote about characters in a way that you could share the feelings and passion that make up their story.

The other authors did a good job as well, sharing engaging stories in a variety of settings and time periods.  I was particularly happy to be introduced to the excellent writing of Kim's daughter in the final novella in the collection.

Thanks to Kim for providing an advance copy of this book.  I was happy to share my own thoughts in this review.
570709
Being a big SK fan, I couldn't wait to read this one.  Mile 81 was the only short story in this collection I had read.  I loved UR, Bad Little Kid, The Dune, and Drunken Fireworks was laugh out loud funny.  Some I liked better than others, but I would read anything this man wroteeven his grocery list would be intriguing.  Thanks for another great one!
2132245
These six tales are well worth reading.  I especially enjoyed the story about Cat Morgan- a man who captures mountain lions.  Every story has L'Amour's signature Western style, with tough men facing big odds in the name of justice.  These very much resemble the author's full-sized novels and compliment a collection very well.  Also, the introduction goes into detail about L'Amour's career as a short story writer in the early days before he became world famous.
4055996
Cole really went all out to get interviews with the band members and other key people in this phase of Miles' life. If you don't like the music of the period covered (1976-1991), this book isn't going to change your mind about the records. But you will still get a great deal of insight about Miles as a person from many voices (I think 31 band members, road crew members, producers, and others). In cases where memories have dimmed and conflicting accounts have been given by different interviewees, Cole puts those quotes together and makes a best guess about what really happened in the instance being discussed. It's extremely thorough writing--Cole also cross references his interview material with published accounts from magazines and other books on Miles. It's worth a look, and isn't a second rate rehash of the other books on the electric Miles period.
3896853
This collection is a great way to appreciate Sergio's work, bringing some of his margin art to the forefront. This is one of the best MAD artists' collections out there.
1532325
This is a great collection of short fiction. I'm posting this 5* review now since I expect the movie Arrival to arouse interest in this retitled collection. Arrivals is based on Story of Your Life, one of the pieces in this collection. I have yet to see the movie, so this is all about the book.

Although Story of Your Life impresses me greatly, and impressed enough others to win a Nebula award, other pieces in this collection are just as impressive. For example, the Tower of Babylon was perhaps my favorite when I first read the collection, and also won a Nebula.

Every story is thought-provoking without being heavy going. Chiang's writing is graceful without being showy.

So: these eight stories earn five big bright stars from me.
4012344
For an overview of Mark Knopfler's career, this is great to have, or people who haven't listened to him since the days of Dire Straits that he's continued to put out music. A bulk of the collection is Dire Straits with a new song with Emmylou Harris at the end that's nice.

I like this one better than the "Sultans of Swing" collection because I like "Sailing to Philadelphia" a lot.

I'd advise anyone to pick up all of Dire Straits' studio CDs including "Alchemy" (which would make for a great CD/DVD combo), the BBC sessions, and "On the Night" which cover the various phases of their career.
4620667
I agree that the slick packaging of this CD is a bit off-putting.  But that in no way detracts from the quality of the music contained on it.  It's still 100% Miles.  His majesty, subtlety, tenderness and pain come through on every track.  And his sidemen are great.
I understand the label wanting to package this CD in a "smooth jazz" sort of way.  For me, a diehard traditionalist who can't stand smooth jazz, this is somewhat excruciating.  But if it exposes more people to Miles who would otherwise be buying Kenny G albums, I'm all for it.