I’m sure you have a bargain shop equivalent in your town, some sort of dollar store. Ours here is called Dollarama, and it sells the shitty Chinese shit that’s even too shitty for shitty Mall-Wart to sell.
I don’t go in there often, though it is a good place to get those clear crystal mints for the glove box in the car…
Anyway, I had occasion to be in this establishment recently and made a major, major score. 3 CDs (count them, THREE) of Miles Davis. For $3. They were packed in a box set called Original American Classics. The label here is Direct Source Special Products (out of Plattsburg, NY – hey, I’ve been there!), so you know this is a major player! 😉
Of course, at that price, I had to bring it home.
I played it through last night, as I worked on this or that around the house, and it’s really quite excellent. These aren’t remastered or fancy at all. It does have a booklet, with a brief history of Miles’ life in it. But the sound quality is excellent, probably equal to the original CD issues of the original tracks (these are not reissued albums, but compilations).
Have a look for yourself, I think this was a pretty damn good score.
CD1 – Milestones
The original 1958 LP ran:
A
Dr. Jekyll (aka Dr. Jackle)
Sid’s Ahead
Two Bass Hit
B
Miles (titled Milestones on later releases)
Billy Boy
Straight, No Chaser
On the CD reissue, the running order was the same as the original, plus alternate takes of Two Bass Hit, Milestones and Straight, No Chaser.
On this box set, it looks like this:
Milestones
Willie The Wailer
A Night In Tunisia
Move
Jeru
Venus De Milo
Budo
Moose The Mooche
Godchild
Tune Up
So… they must’ve just thought it was a cool CD title because only the track by that name is the only one in common with the original…
CD2 – Jazz Legend
This looks to be just a bunch of collected tracks:
Boplicity
Darn That Dream (f. Kenny Hagood, vocals)
Billie’s Bounce
Moon Dreams
Deception
Israel
Rouge
Conception
It Never Entered My Mind
Rocker
CD3 – Miles Forever
Again, just a bunch of collected tracks:
Ornithology
Donna Lee
Chasin’ The Bird
Buzzy
Sippin’ At Bells
Tasty Pudding
Ah Leu Cha (w. The Charlie Parker Allstars)
Constellation (w. The Charlie Parker Allstars)
It’s Only A Paper Moon
***
Like I said, it was $3. But this was damn enjoyable.
keepsmealive 
I just found this at my local Dollarama recently too! Already had Milestones & Miles Forever, but $3 ?? HELL yeah, great deal!!
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Great minds think alike! It’s a bunch of Miles at $1 a disc! It had to be bought. Had to.
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At same time I found a 4!! disc “A Night Of Jazz” for $3 too- mostly laid back Duke Ellington, Chet Baker, Lena Horne, but a few great Billie Holiday songs I didn’t have, couple rip-snortin’ Sonny Rollins, Monk, Dizzy, Bird, Art Tatum, Brubeck, and a rare Charlie Christian.
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No Nuthin about Miles Davis but I still enjoyed the read about the visit to Dollarama!
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Oooo Deke, a whole world awaits you, if it ever interests you. Miles is pretty awesome.
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Mmmm… nice! They’d have scored extra points for calling it “Tasty Pudding” but never mind!
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Gene Simmons would agree. He loves pudding. HIs tongue can reach the bottom of the cups…
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It’s pretty embarrassing going out for dinner with him actually. No decorum. He just loves his pudding!
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I know, and he puts those big boots up on the table and belches loudly when he’s done. His make-up’s all running down his face from the sweaty exertion of eating…
But what are you gonna do, he’s GENE SIMMONS, right? I’ll tell you what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna go get the man some more pudding cups, that is what you’re gonna do.
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Also awesome – comments on a review of a Miles Davis collection go straight to Gene Simmons’ tongue.
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Yeah that escalated into a Gene Simmons pudding escapade pretty quickly. The only Gene Simmons/Miles Davis connection I can think of is that they were both in Miami Vice.
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Please tell me they were on that show AT THE SAME TIME.
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‘fraid not. I think if that had happened it would have probably been some sort of augur of doom or something. Cthulhu would probably have turned up as well.
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Doom? Psh, that Cthulu’s getting worse as a house guest, as the years go by. He’s started flicking his beer caps across the room again, trying to hit the cats. I thought we’d put a stop to that the last time. Anyway, mostly it’s the smell. He comes ’round so rarely now, it takes DAYS for the stench to lessen enough for the air to be breathable again.
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