"Somethin Else" was the subject of heavy debate here in this thread about two years or so ago. For anyone interested it might be worth searching the thread’s "archives" for some of that commentary. One of the points of contention was whether "Somethin Else" was a "better" or more important record than "Kind Of Blue" as some asserted. As I recall I was a lone voice with my opinion that, while it is a great record, it was not a particularly influential record the way that KOB was. I also recall that it seemed that there was an unfortunate bias against KOB simply because of the fact that it is an audiophile favorite.....those pesky audiophiles 😎. I like "Somethin Else" a lot and it is a classic. I do have a couple of thoughts about it; one that was also controversial during that previous discussion. First, imo, I think it really is Miles’ date more so than Cannonball’s eventhough Cannon is the "leader". Cannonball was a sideman in Miles’ band and I can’t imagine Miles taking a back seat to one of his sidemen. The proof is in the pudding and as great as Cannonball sounds on the record, to me it is obvious that he is playing with less exuberance than usual and accommodating Miles’ more sparse and introspective style; not a negative and just an observation. My only "issue" with the music is also a personal one. I have never really liked Art Blakey very much as a sideman. His drumming style is a little laid back, almost a little lazy, to my ears. Again, not necessarily a negative, but it might explain Ghosthouse’s reaction to the record. It should also be noted that the title tune is a Miles composition. Definitely one to have in one’s collection.
