Art Jackson's Atrocity Bankrolled By Miles Davis

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by masswriter, Mar 13, 2009.

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  1. masswriter

    masswriter Minister At Large Thread Starter

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    New England
    according to this site it was:

    http://nevergetoutoftheboat.blogspot.com/2009/03/art-jacksons-atrocity.html

    Gout (1974)
    Unreleased Miles Davis Proteges

    From The Boat's May, 07 Archives
    Back by... uh, popular demand. This is the story of one of the great lost experimental jazz/rock albums. According to legend, Gout was bankrolled by Miles Davis in 1974, delivered to Columbia Records and pressed for promotion... then summarily abandoned by the label. Reasons, besides its lack of commercial potential, are unclear. Though theories range from guitarist Art Jackson's already developed heroin addiction to Columbia's desire to distance themselves from a band that may have included a few radical Black Panthers. Reportedly, when Miles (with his own drug problems) began withdrawing into seclusion, so did the desire to release Gout. Specializing in free form, live-in-the-studio, jazz/rock experimentation, The Atrocity was a chaotic, 8 to 11 piece collective fronted by the 20 year old Art Jackson - whose guitar explorations were prone to both violent outbursts and spacey sonic excursions. No charts, no songs, no rhyme or reason. Driven by extra heavy propulsion drumming, the musical interplay between the players suggests a drug fueled free for all, so it's no surprise Columbia balked at its release. A long lost curio ripped from a vinyl promo and a release subjected to much speculation.

    Shaft In Afghanistan (7:39)
    Arabian Fabian (8:59)
    Available Bush (7:11)
    Available Bush Tomato Reign (16:20)
    Gout (6:22)

    [I for one like this stuff, I am very surpirsed it was never released!]
     
  2. Great Deceiver

    Great Deceiver Active Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Any idea where to get a listen of this? (sorry Gorts if that is too far!)
     
  3. Gene Parmesan

    Gene Parmesan Forum Resident

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    PA, USA
    It's a hoax, or more than likely is.
     
  4. swandown

    swandown Under Assistant West Coast Forum Resident

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    Portland, OR
    Sounds too heavy and too well produced to be from 1974.
     
  5. Gene Parmesan

    Gene Parmesan Forum Resident

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    PA, USA
  6. Dewey

    Dewey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jacksonville
  7. I totally agree based on the song on the blog player (I didn't download the whole thing). The drums really almost sound triggered to me.
     
  8. I've just been listening to this album, and there's NO WAY it was recorded in 1974. It has such a modern sound, I wouldn't be surprised if it was recorded in the 90s or even this decade. There are parts were the guitarist is absolutely shredding! That was NOT the style in 1974.

    Does anyone have any more information on this hoax?
     
  9. Dewey

    Dewey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jacksonville
    Totally disagree. Hendrix was shredding in 68, this guy just sounds like he's more into fuzz. Some of it reminds me of Funkedelic's early 70s stuff with Eddie Hazel (aka Maggot Brain). But it's REALLY got that John McLaughlin free form electric sound from Miles Davis' in 1970-1972 (though I can't remember exactly what years McLaughlin was with Miles). That Live/Evil, Jack Johnson & Fillmore stuff Miles was doing. This shredding is actually a few years BEHIND Miles' stuff. Whether that makes it real or not is another story.

    Some guy at Julian Cope's forum said it was pure Pete Cosey, who I'm not really familiar with...

    "If, like me, your favorite era of Miles Davis is his electric era, specifically the 1973-1975 years in which Pete Cosey was his guitarist, then you've probably wondered why that super-fantastic lineup of his never cut an album together, after Miles decided to retire in late 1975. I mean, they were the greatest group in history, with Pete Cosey's phenomenal, psychedelic guitar (the man was BEYOND HENDRIX, that's all there is to it)..."

    http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1824
     
  10. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Something very fishy about the cover. That's a stock album, if this can be believed, not a test pressing or promo-only release. I've never seen it or heard of it...Unless it was pressed, the release killed, and then a few slipped out and away from the bulldozer, this doesn't ring true.
     
  11. Edgard Varese

    Edgard Varese Royale with Cheese

    Location:
    Te Wai Pounamu
    Defintely not Cosey. Cosey's playing is much more harmonically sophisticated than what's evident here.

    I agree that this sounds too modern for 1974, at least in terms of the engineering and production.
     
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  12. Dewey

    Dewey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jacksonville
    Did Cosey shred in 73-75? Some of that live Miles stuff from that period was totally outside (Aghatha, Dark Magus, Pangea). I've heard all that stuff but never studied it.
     
  13. Edgard Varese

    Edgard Varese Royale with Cheese

    Location:
    Te Wai Pounamu
    In a way, yeah. What was interesting was that he started off with Miles as a somewhat more orthodox jazz player, although he did play "out" (and he had some very strange tunings as well); the orthodoxy had more to do with his amp set-up and his overall sound, which was not terribly overdriven (if you listen to anything from '73 you'll hear this).

    What I've noticed is that sometime during '74, perhaps as a result of having the more rock-oriented Dominique Gaumont in the band, Cosey's sound started to take on a more acidic (in a good way) tone. You can hear this on Dark Magus, for example; Gaumont's solos have nothing like the inventiveness of Cosey's (Gaumont actually sounds a bit like he's ripping off Hendrix here, but later in the year the evidence suggests that he'd improved), and Cosey is much more forward in terms of tone. Finally, listening to Cosey on the '75 Japanese tour, he seems to have gone completely over to "the other side"; here he sounds much more Hendrix-ian in tone, but while retaining the sophistication I mentioned earlier.
     
  14. Dewey

    Dewey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jacksonville
    Did you listen to all of Art Jackson's stuff or just the one streaming track? That reviewer from Cope's site thinks they were seperated at birth. Does his assessment jive? I need to get back to those live Miles discs and listen some more, been a while.

    "The five long tracks on Gout center around Jackson's guitar, and the kid is Pete Cosey reborn; the stuff on here sounds almost identical to what Cosey was performing on the Agharta and Pangaea albums. That same sort of ****ed-up, psychedelic distortion which goes from raging and chaotic one moment to spaced-out drones the next, the strange tunings, the works. Only thing is, unlike Cosey, Jackson's not above playing a power chord or three, so the album packs a definite metal-rock punch. I mean, it's fantastic, the whole thing."

    http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1824
     
  15. Edgard Varese

    Edgard Varese Royale with Cheese

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    Te Wai Pounamu
    Just the sample thus far. I'd have to listen to the whole thing to make a proper comparison. :thumbsup:
     
  16. Dewey

    Dewey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jacksonville
    Obviously, I don't know about this album, but when I hear talk about it sounding too "good" for 1974, I just think of albums like In The Court Of The Crimson King from 69, whose drums still sounded better than most other albums did 10 years later. As for shredders, there were plenty of them before this. You sound like you're saying Cosey and Jackson styles aren't all that different, just that Cosey's a better player. Or not a junkie, as the story goes.
     
  17. Edgard Varese

    Edgard Varese Royale with Cheese

    Location:
    Te Wai Pounamu
    On the (albeit) limited evidence available, Cosey's better. As for different... well I've heard a lot of Cosey and about seven minutes of this guy. :)

    The guitar playing on the track actually reminded me of Gaumont's playing on "He Loved Him Madly" more than anything.

    What seems most anachronistic about the sound of the piece are the bass and drum sounds, which have sort of an 80's sheen to them, if you will.
     
  18. Dewey

    Dewey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jacksonville
    In fact, listening to this again, the drums are certainly not triggered. And what sounds unusual to me is just that they're mixed LOUD, instead of behind the players. With a more conventional mix, this might sound like it was straight from 1974. I get the general skepticism, I have some myself. But, I don't necessarily hear the evidence of anything yet.
     
  19. Dewey

    Dewey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jacksonville
    Which Miles album is that from?

    Yeah, maybe with the drums. I don't hear any "sheen" at all with the bass. I'm not an expert, though. The drums just sound loud to me.
     
  20. Dewey

    Dewey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jacksonville
    More than anything, this sounds overly EQ'd to me. Maybe by the ripper?
     
  21. Edgard Varese

    Edgard Varese Royale with Cheese

    Location:
    Te Wai Pounamu
    Get Up With It



    The bass sound reminds me of the sound Zappa used to get from Arthur Barrow and Scott Thunes in the 80s. That's hardly conclusive evidence or anything, but that's sort of what it sounds like. :)
     
  22. PaulT

    PaulT Spuzzum

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    B.C., Canada
  23. Dewey

    Dewey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jacksonville
     
  24. There are things on the internet from this from as far back as 2007. Some of the really rapid bass drum bits mark it as post-1980's music since no one was really doing that kind of fill before then. Nonetheless, I found a download of the whole thing, and it's pretty good if you are into 70's Miles Davis-style music. I'm surprised there isn't an entry for it at www.snopes.com.
     
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