Miles Davis – Pangaea

The artwork and packaging is right on the money. Even the label are incredibly cool. Imagine buying this back in the 70s or even 1981 and chilling out while listening to it turned up loud! It's the stuff that dreams are made of.

Outstanding sound. The quieter moments are presented as transparently as the LOUD parts. Pressing is high quality with no discernible surface noise. Beautifully intricate and precise.... detailed, open and wide as intended.

Highly recommend this pressing, perhaps even over the Japanese pressings, if you can get over the fact it's not an "original".

This is the stripped-down version without all the extra effects added by Teo. It's presented as if you had been at the concert with the instruments panned as the band were standing. Much prefer the original, which has since 2006 been the only one available, but if you love this album you should have this Mastersound version as well for a totally different perspective. Agharta same story for the 2000 release there.

A superb remastering and digital transfer. Epic resonant bass, clean sparkling highs, and the hiss of analog tape.

I don't mind the sound of my 4mwb pressing. I'm sure I'd prefer the Japanese pressing too but at least this one sounds better than not having it at all. Nice heavy gatefold and cute insert to boot.
As for the music itself, it's Miles+band blasting off on a wild space journey. This is jazz. But in my opinion, it is also a killer psych rock album. The group goes through all kinds of different changes, some really crazy guitar playing, and enchanting psychedelic rhythms. A real treat!

Still by far the best vinyl issue.
Purchased 1981 Japanese reissues of Agharta and Pangaea and both sound amazing.
Both have the original mix which so far have not been reissued on vinyl.
Beware of other versions as most if not all were terribly remixed.

Nothing to do with recording quality or mastering, just an observation.
In 1975 at the youthful age of 15 fed on a diet of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd I would listen regularly to the John Peel Radio Show. Then one day he played an entire side of Agharta and if it freaked the minds of “ Fans of Jazz” you can imagine what it did to mine . From there on in I went in search of the magical trio of Agharta, Pangaea and the very Dark Magus. Virtually impossible to find on LP as they weren’t released outside of Japan for many years I managed to get a copy of Agharta and it took until the CD era to actually get a listen to Pangaea and Dark Magus.
Here we are in what would be 2018 before I finally picked this up on record and guess what, it no longer sounds strange and outer worldly but just normal .It’s taken, well me any way , at least 40 or more years to catch up with what Miles was doing and I can still enjoy them to this day.

Essential Miles Davis’ album. Second performance on February 1st, 1975

While Agharta might be the stronger of the two performances from Festival Hall, Pangaea is actually becoming more of a favorite for me. Case in point: the ending of Gondwana (Part II) on Pangaea concludes with some remarkably sensitive interplay between Cosey, Lucas, Mtume, and Foster, with Miles occasionally providing some complimentary organ. Paul Tingen argues that this last track "dissolves into entropy again, leaving Cosey alone on Synthi A to play out the concert," but to me it just sounds pleasant, emotional, and, at the very conclusion, pretty damn avant-garde. Also, the sound quality of the 1975 Japanese issue of Pangaea actually sounds cleaner to me than the '75 edition of Agharta--not sure why--with great separation between the instruments and, as wplj mentioned below, an "airy feeling." Worth it.

This pressing has a very airy feeling to it that I like. Balanced and nice, details emerge in this open landscape. Necessary for music like this.