Consumer Guide Album

Miles Davis: Water Babies [Columbia, 1978]
Double whammy. Not only isn't this new Miles, as people were quick to figure out despite the pseudo-streetwise On the Corner-style cover, but it isn't quite vintage Miles, either. Recorded in the late '60s, these were outtakes, and one of them--"Dual Mr. Tillman Anthony," a thirteen-minute piano ostinato showcase without even the justification of a heavy funk beat--should definitely have remained one. The rest is better, but I thank CBS's marketing whizzes for sending me back to Davis's great work with the same group--like Sorcerer and Nefertiti, both still in catalogue. B+