Miles Davis, On the Corner (side A)

1972's On the Corner is of course best remembered for its funk rhythms.  The cover, with its populist imagery, reinforces the idea that Davis has taken a step toward a mainstream audience.  On listening now, On the Corner is far, far stranger than the pulsing bass that provides its groove.  The drums, even, are too stripped-down to effectively reinforce the rhythmic bass lines.  They're also sometimes augmented with percussion playing counter-rhythms, which often work against any sense of dance music that's been created.  The guitars and trumpet that move against the rhythm generally play freely, also without reinforcing any sense of propulsion — these parts tie the album more closely to Miles's other albums of this era, like 1971's Live Evil or 1974's Get Up with It.  The extended, slowly-evolving pieces relate, in structure at least, to dance music from later eras than anything happening in 1972 — even something like the Temptations' 1973 oddity "Masterpiece" has far more song structure than any of On the Corner's free-flowing tracks.  The sound is impressively even and well-balanced, with the bass guitar sitting perfectly and the treble frequencies clear but never shrill.