DOO-BOP

This album is great! The last Miles Davis album. Coincidentally, It shows how truly he was ahead of his time. If you were to put this album on and I didn't know what it was, I would think it was made maybe in the last 6-8 years. Nay, this album came out in 1991. It's Miles Davis' attempt at acid jazz/hip hop and it is amazing!

The first track Mystery has this quality I feel in modern jazz-rock, acid jazz, and funk. The groove is nice and Miles plays some cool lines. It's like a combination of his earlier late 50s albums with his new direction. It then goes into The Doo Bop Song which is really good and has a cool chorus. I like a little rap, so this song is alright. The beat is good, and the rappers are not the main focus. Only this 2 other songs have any rap.

The next 2 tracks are 2 of the best tracks. Chocolate Chip is very funky and Miles' playing is very nice here. The bass lays it down everywhere.

Next track will make you want to jump in a car and drive very fast, I kid you not. High Speed Chase may be one of the best Miles Davis songs ever. You have to hear this song.

Blow is good. More hip hop on this one. Miles plays a great solo. Did I mention they're everywhere and are all great? Well, anyway, the next track is great. Sonya sounds a bit dated because of the drum sounds, but is still an alright song. The electric piano towards the end is nice, I like it.

Fantasy and Duke Booty are funky as hell. Fantasy has some rap but only for a little bit. Then Miles plays another good solo. Duke Booty is a lot better with a great groove going on. Miles being very funky. Excellent.

It ends with the Mystery Reprise. A culmination on everything you've heard. Giving the album a proggy feel for no reason. The original theme of Mystery comes back the groove returns. Another great Miles Davis solo. It really is a great way to end the album.

This album isn't really prog in the strictest sense, only a moment or 3 of anything. However, the music is very progressive, as Miles always tried to be. I see it as a fitting ending to a career that lasted over half a century. It makes sense, and I could see why he would take this direction after all the music he had made, and you have to remember what was going on back then. We'll never know where we would have taken this, but he never stopped advancing.

If you're open minded and not exclusively looking for prog but just great music, pick up this album. I can't really call it a masterpiece but it is definitely progressive. I give it 4 stars because it's a great album and very underrated. Not a good first album to start with but once you're familiar, especially with a few of the 80's albums, check this one out.

Miles could have made the ultimate progressive psychedelic trippy instrumental hip-hop album, and a lot of us were waiting for him to do just that but instead, soon after he died, we got this. This album has always sounded incomplete to me, a work in progress, hurriedly released in an attempt to bring in a few more dollars by slangin Miles name one more time. This was supposed to be Miles' attempt to capture the street sounds of NYC in the early 90s, and he brought in Easy Mo Bee, one of New York's top rap producers to help him achieve just that. I don't think Miles' style of trumpet playing really matches these sort of raw stark productions. Personally I think someone like Bill Laswell, with his modern dubbish post-psychedelic approach could have done a better job of bringing Miles quirky trumpet playing into the age of sample and loop rhythms.

Most of these songs feature a basic looped rhythm on top of which Miles plays a melody of sorts and then improvises on that melody. These songs aren't complicated, nor are they very well developed, but to their credit many of the looped grooves are quite good. What is lacking though is the presence of some other soloists, as well as some sort of song like development. There are also some less than stellar vocal performances on three tracks. Poetry set to a beat can be as progressive and interesting as any other form of music, but the 'raps' on here are nothing special, and already sounded out of date before the album was released.

In small doses this can be a fun record and can sound great in an acid jazz mix or part of a progressive DJ set, but it is frustrating knowing that Miles could have done much better.

Last Miles Davis studio album is a real disappointment. Not because he plays hip-hop there, it 's not a first time playing such music in his career. Just there is not music enough on these recordings, that's the reason.

Who could imagine Miles' last album will be played (?) or ,better, made by studio engineers. OK, besides of Miles there is one more (!) live musician - rapper J.R. All other sounds are loops and rhythm machines with simplistic Miles trumpet soloing over them. And the main problem is not only the music isn't alive enough, but it is far not NY street raw sound. It's simplistic polished studio sound (very close to European acid jazz). Nothing to add - happily there are few melodies, but not strong enough to add even minimal spices to this tragic brew.

Possibly, could be used for DJ mixing... have no other idea how to use this music.

"Why don't you play some hip-hop while you're at it?" Miles replied: "You want me to doo-what?"

There was this day in 1990 where an extremely annoyed fusion fan told Miles in one of his concerts, while the crowd was 'booing' at his 80's poppy jazz: "Why don't you play some hip-hop while you're at it?!". Miles answered back: "You want me to doo-what?" The fan replied: "Yeah, you heard me!". For the fans amusement, but especially for this specific annoyed fan, Miles did try to fuse chilled jazzy tunes with rap. You can even read in the inner liner notes: 'Thanks to this fan of mine for giving me the idea, hope you enjoy it sucker!'

So yeah, this is like a "you see, I can do this too!" album. Miles Davis, musically, was not that far from the hip- hop beats, so it wasn't really that far-fetched, but still, listening to someone rapping on top of Davis' trumpet is odd!

Mind you, this is not "true Miles" in the sense that he doesn't add or make a unique twist to hip-hop as you should have expected Miles to do, it's pretty straight-forward and simple. The music behind the rapping, which is sparse and not annoying, and trumpet playing, reminds me a bit of acid jazz with the groovy keys and punchy beats, so that's good for me.

To sum it up, I can chill pleasantly while listening to this album, though just like Tutu, that means it really isn't worth for the music for what it is, just pleasant background music with simplistic and catchy grooves, nothing noteworthy.

2 stars: if this was annoying or plain crap I would rate it 1 star, and by the way, I admire Miles for doing this, he sure was one of the greatest musicians that the human race lost in 1991, and this last album of his is more than welcome despite not being excellent. Oh, in case you've been wondering about the story, that didn't happen actually *laughs*.