Miles Davis - The Last Word: The Warner Bros. Years

Despite the title, I don't have much to say about this because it's already been said elsewhere, but here are the important details. It's a four disc box set that Warner Bros. prepared for release in 2001 that was supposed to contain remastered versions of every Miles album they released, several soundtracks, multiple guest appearances and a healthy helping of unreleased studio and live recordings. Somewhere along the way though everything went to hell in a handbasket. It started with the set originally being six discs and including three Prince composed recordings, one co-performed by Prince. Prince, being the mind-bendingly confusing person that he is, decided to withhold permission for Warners to use those recordings. Other problems followed with Miles' estate and despite promos of the six disc version having been sent out the whole thing was edited down to four discs and the process began again. Warners pulled the plug on the box set for unspecified reasons and it ended up in limbo until someone leaked the whole thing a few years back, though Warners apparently was still trying to release some kind of lengthy retrospective of the portion of Miles' career they owned. That eventually happened last year when they issued a two disc collection named Perfect Way: The Miles Davis Anthology - The Warner Bros. Years, though it's essentially a two disc edit of the four disc version of The Last Word. Messy eh? Nonetheless, despite Miles' WB catalog never approaching the status of anything from his Columbia decades, it's really unfortunate that all those recordings were remastered and the majority will likely never see the light of day, at least not officially. With that said, below you'll find links to several important articles which will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about this collection, links to download the four disc version in V0 MP3 and a listing for where each track is taken from. I'll post this in lossless sometime next week, although I hadn't originally planned to do so since some of the material doesn't look purely uncompressed. It may be that this material was traded in MP3 and then compressed, though the quality of the source is still better than most MP3s. Nonetheless, this should keep you entertained for the weekend! The unreleased tracks are rather good too! Enjoy!


Rhino Records Press Release for The Last Word, dated June 21, 2001

Paul Tingen's introduction

Paul Tingen's unused liner notes for the six disc version of The Last Word

The track listing for the six disc version of The Last Word

A deleted blog post from Bethlehem Records on the box set

Details on a cd-r bootleg of the box set

An All About Jazz article about the box set from 2002


Miles Davis - The Last Word: The Warner Bros. Years

Disc 1: Tutu + Previously Unreleased Studio Recordings

01 Tutu
02 Tomaas
03 Portia
04 Splatch
05 Backyard Ritual
06 Perfect Way
07 Don't Lose Your Mind
08 Full Nelson
Tracks 1-8 Tutu

09 Maze
10 Rubber Band
11 See I See
Tracks 9-11 1985 Rubber Band sessions, Previously Unreleased

12 Digg That
Track 12 1987 Previously Unreleased

13 Street Smart Cues
Track 13 1986 Previously Unreleased recordings for Street Smart soundtrack


Disc 2: The Soundtrack Albums

01 Lost In Madrid Part I
02 Siesta / Kitt's Kiss / Lost In Madrid Part II
03 Theme For Augustine / Wind / Seduction / Kiss
04 Submission
05 Lost In Madrid Part III
06 Conchita / Lament
07 Lost In Madrid IV / Rat Dance / The Call
08 Claire / Lost In Madrid Part V
09 Afterglow
10 Los Feliz
Tracks 1-10 Siesta soundtrack

11 We Three Kings Of Orient Are
Track 11 Scrooged soundtrack

12 Murder (Edit)
13 Coming To Town
14 Bank Robbery
Tracks 12-14 The Hot Spot soundtrack

15 The Arrival (with Michael Legrand)
16 Concert On The Runway (with Michael Legrand)
17 The Departure (with Michael Legrand)
18 Trumpet Cleaning (with Michael Legrand)
19 The Dream (with Michael Legrand)
20 Paris Walking II (with Michael Legrand)
21 Going Home (with Michael Legrand)
Tracks 15-21 Dingo soundtrack


Disc 3: Amandla + Studio Guest Appearances

01 Catembe
02 Cobra
03 Big Time
04 Hannibal
05 Jo-Jo
06 Amandla
07 Jilli
08 Mr. Pastorius
Tracks 1-8 Amandla

09 The Struggle Continues
Track 9 from 1985 Artists United Against Apartheid - Sun City

10 Don't Stop Me Now
Track 10 from 1986 Toto - Fahrenheit

11 In The Night
Tracks 11 from 1988 Cameo - Machismo

12 Big 'Ol Head
Track 12 from 1989 Kenny Garrett - Prisoner Of Love

13 Capri
Track 13 from 1989 Paolo Rustichelli - album unknown

14 You Won't Forget Me
Track 14 from 1991 Shirley Horn - You Won't Forget Me


Disc 4: Doo-Bop + Previously Unissued Live Performances

01 Mystery
02 The Doo-Bop Song (with J.R., A.B. Money & Easy Mo Bee)
03 Chocolate Chip
04 High Speed Chase
05 Blow (with Easy Mo Bee)
06 Sonya
07 Fantasy (with Easy Mo Bee)
08 Duke Booty
09 Mystery (Reprise)
Tracks 1-9 Doo-Bop


10 Opening Medley: Theme From Jack Johnson / Speak / That's What Happened (Live)
11 Time After Time (Live)
12 Portia (Live)
13 Tutu (Live)
14 Mr. Pastorius (Live)
15 Hannibal (Live)
Tracks 10-15 Previously Unissued Live Performances, Dates Unknown


BONUS TRACK: Prince & Miles Davis - Can I Play With U? (Long Version)
This is the long version which leaked last year. It would have appeared on the six disc version of The Last Word and it is assumed to have been leaked by a Miles trader who had a test cd-r of that version of the box, although it sounds like it might have been processed via tape somewhere along the way.

PS - I "borrowed" the post photo from here. It's a painting of an Anton Corbijn photo. Pretty damn sweet!