Miles Davis - You're Under Arrest

It is commonly said that this album was Davis’ stab at a commercial hit. As if him covering two of the day’s recent pop hits (Human Nature and Time After Time) was ever going to get him into the top ten. I don’t think this is the case, and I'll tell you why.

First off, the usual way for jazz players to score a money-generating crossover hit back in those days was via the dancefloor, hence you get jazz-fusion albums with soul singers added for a couple of tracks, see Wilton Felder (feat. Bobby Womack), Sadao Watanabe (feat. Roberta Flack), Ralph McDonald (feat. Bill Withers) etc, not by recording two instrumentals of slowish-tempo pop hits, slathered in John Scofield’s chorus pedal-laden guitar.

Secondly, no-one has ever said, “We need a pop smash, get John McLaughlin on the phone!” And McLaughlin is all over this album like a twiddly-jazz rash. Sometimes, it’s both him and Scofield. Jazz foot & mouth.

Thirdly, it’s always been part of jazz to take a slab of popular music and do something special with it. Davis has done this before: Porgy and Bess anyone?

Finally, Davis kept both of the covers in his set for the rest of his career, which he would be very unlikely to do if he didn’t value them highly.

So, let’s talk about the covers, shall we? Human Nature, was written by one of Toto and discovered and finessed under Quincy Jones’ keen eye, for inclusion on Thriller which gives it a bit of a ick-factor. However, it is arguably NOT just a Noncey McNonceface song, and it is helpful to untether the song from its most famous singer. Davis’ version of this is just wonderful. I just wish it were longer.

Cyndi Lauper, who wrote and first performed Time After Time, has undergone something of a revision of her status as an artist, so her work is no longer seen as pop drivel, as it largely was at the time, but as something of greater import. That’s fine: times change. However, it’s important to bear in mind that Davis had selected this song from the depths of the low-status, disposable shite pile, where it dwelled at the time.

I'm on my fourth or fifth spin of this album, and I like it a lot.

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