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It features less memorable tunes but the improvisations go even further away from the jazz mainstream. "Nothing Like You" is an odd vocal tune, a leftover from Gil Evans/Miles Davis sessions five years later that offers a bit of comic relief after the ominous music that precedes it; and two alternate takes ("Masqualero" and "Limbo") round out the album. Sorcerer is even darker and moodier than its predecessor, Miles Smiles.
There's also "Pee Wee", a Williams ballad with some beautiful playing. If you like Miles Smiles and E.S.P., this is essential. The other three tunes are similar -- haunting, dreamy themes coupled with complex group interaction.
May 1967 was the beginning of an amazing burst of studio creativity for Miles Davis; the first recordings in that burst are on this album. Another one of Shorter's compositions, "Vonetta", takes a quirky ballad and marries it to martial drumming by Tony Williams. But try those albums first.[This review is based on the 1998 reissue; both versions have identical tracklists].
(And even for a Miles Davis album, this is very moody and very dark). "Masqualero", a Wayne Shorter tune, is essentially an anything-goes performance with a Spanish tinge; there's a lot of fireworks in Miles's solo as the rhythm section rumbles under him, and Herbie Hancock's solo is a textbook example of tension and release.
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