Woe Colossus – “In A Silent Way”
I’ve had this track on a split 12″ for quite a while, but I just noticed the song title yesterday and investigated more. Apparently, it’s not supposed to be a cover of the Miles Davis classic as such, but it was inspired by it. Whatever it’s supposed to be, it’s a glorious epic racket and testament to the wide influence that jazz and Miles in particular has thrown over all types of noi….erm…I mean music!
p.s. Woe Colossus is actually two bands, a collaboration between one of my favourite UK noise-rock bands Hey Colossus and a band I know nothing about called Woe.
p.p.s. It came out as a limited edition 12″ of 200 copies, and I love limited edition 12″s of 200 copies!
p.p.p.s. I listened to it side by side with Miles and couldn’t really hear any similarity, but more discerning musical ears may tell me otherwise.
p.p.p.p.s. some jazz fans may want to skip this post!
Speaking as a non-jazz fan I quite enjoyed it. The start however reminded me of the Jazz Club thread on The Fast Show, which I cannot resist the temptation to post!
Niiice!
Hope you didn’t mind me putting that up – it is an affectionate piss-take methinks.
not at all, I loved it at the time and was pleased to discover it’s still pretty funny when so much of that era’s comedy is now pretty dated. thanks for putting it up!
OK, so I haven’t made it all the way through yet, but I can sort-of hear Shhh/Peacful under there somewhere. Slowed down and much muddier, of course, but definitely there. As with the Miles album, it’s a jam on one chord and, for my money, the more interesting of the two. Much more expansive harmonically and dynamically. The end (I got there!) is oddly similar to the end of the GD Feedback track from Live/Dead that I keep posting.
Must run now, I can see a hippo charging this way…..
Chris – I was hoping for your musical expertise and i’m so pleased to hear that there’s at least something there from In A Silent Way, (which I should say, I absolutely love) and glad there’s a Dead connection too!
The In a silent way theme occurs at 1.42, for example.. didn’t hear any Shhh/Peaceful, though, which isn’t necessarily surprising as In a silent way was actually composed by Joe Zawinul (check his eponymous Atlantic release from 1971 for the “true” version, Weather Report used to do it as a duet between Shorter and Zawinul) and was only “borrowed” by Miles to bookend the jam It’s about that time, so this recording may well have nothing to do with the Miles album. Zawinul was always a bit pissed about having his tune nicked and the edges cut off it; Miles pared away everything but the theme. Zawinul’s version sounded more like this.. theme gets going at about 2.30.
From 5:45- the descending bass vamp from It’s about that time… so it is clearly based on the Miles album. (I’m just getting through it now). Quite like this sequence, though it’s a bit ploddy compared to the way Miles’ live band did it.
8:50- The reverse, ascending bass vamp from It’s about that time quoted here, quite nice the way they’ve stretched it out.
Generally though a bit long and ponderous for my tastes.. nice idea though.
thank you as well nilpferd! I was hoping you might shed some light, and it was a super-smart dissection as always. Will listen to the Joe Zaniwal track properly tomorrow. Had no idea of the history of the track either….I was a bit worried about backlash when I posted this, but all of these pointers and the extra information are just going to make me enjoy both (or should I say, all) versions even more now! Yay for the spill and it’s collective wisdom, knowledge and skills!
@JP- Seeing as it’s close to being my all-time favourite piece of music I’ve boxed a selection of live recordings of It’s about that time… chronologically, first up is Fillmore East, March 1970; followed by Fillmore West, April 1970 and The Cellar Door, December 1970. In the first two it’s the rock-out effect, particularly at the transition into the vamp, kicked on by Jack Dejohnette’s polyrhythmic drumming and Corea/Moreira’s wierd sound effects. Both tracks break down into kind of a free-jazz whirlpool after Miles’ solo, with some awesome noise especially towards the end of Fillmore East. Saxophonist is Wayne Shorter on the early track, Steve Grossman on the later one, otherwise the bands are the same.
The last recording is much more ambiguous, sparse, and downbeat; almost a reggae rhythm. Lots of diversions into deep, down beat grooves, much more of an R&B feel from all concerned. John Mclaughlin on guitar, Keith Jarrett on E-Piano, Gary Bartz sax, Michael Henderson e-bass, Dejohnette drums, Airto Moreira percussion.
I’ve added Tanglewood from 18 August 1970, probably the most straight-ahead funky performance, by a band featuring Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett, with Dave Holland on bass (Holland also played the two Fillmore sets). Bartz on sax and DeJohnette on drums. This is the same line-up which played the awesome Isle of Wight concert, which I highly recommend checking out, it’s on Youtube.
Absolutely no offence taken by the post Panthersan.. your task however should you wish to avoid having the grass stalk bent by the hippo’s forefoot is to listen to all of these versions… right through… no skips… there will be a test to follow….
I’m intrigued! Not sure it’s worth me turning the cricket commentary off for, but given I have an unexpected evening back home with a totally empty house, I’ll give it a go later.
I surprised myself by liking this – but then I’m not a jazz fan – this reminds me more of the prog rock type stuff I used to listen to,or Steve Hillage / Gong / Pat Metheny (not often combined in the same sentence)
if you are still reading this far down the thread, thanks a lot for dropboxing those for me Nilpferd – i’ve been in the mountains for a couple of days, taking in the healing waters of the hot springs.
Had a preliminary listen through when I get back last night, the Fillmore East version did indeed have a nice whirlpool of noise and unidentifiable (by me) sounds – great stuff! Thanks, and i’ll be having a second closer listen later.
You’re welcome! Glad you found something to like. Most of the distorted noise is being created by a ring modulator on Chick Corea’s electric piano. The documentary A different kind of blue (it’s on Youtube in full length) is an interesting look at Miles’ electric period, with lots of interviews with the musicians concerned.
thanks yet again Nilpferd, that doc. looks great……..that’s my evening sorted then!
just finished watching….very interesting and most enjoyable too. I like the way they had the opposite view and the flash forward to the musicians now (well, in 2003), I can’t believe how ‘normal’ Herbie Hancock looks!
The bit at the end when they had to play a tribute to Miles was ace.
I’d never heard of his wife-for-a-year Betty Davis, but she sounds like a very interesting character. What’s the general view? is she seen as something of a Yoko Ono? or more like Tom waits’ Kathleen?
Betty Davis was a musician in her own right, a very talented and driven person. She produced three albums in the seventies together with ex-Santana musicians (look up her work on Youtube, most of it is there) and then withdrew from music entirely; she is currently living near Chicago, I think. If you search for her name on Guardian Unlimited you’ll see a few recent articles on her. I think her relationship with Miles certainly opened his eyes to rock and funk, as well as fashion- she was also a designer. He put her picture on the cover of his album Filles de Kilimanjaro and dedicated the track Mlle. Mabry to her (I wrote about this track on the “old” Spill); she allegedly also introduced Miles to Jimi Hendrix, though it’s not certain whether the two men ever met, or just talked on the phone.
The relationship (Miles-Betty) foundered basically because he thought her too wild, and she found him too jealous. I think in terms of artistic exchange it was a pretty even match.