Miles Davis - You're Under Arrest (1985 Japanese CBS/Sony Gatefold Vinyl LP)

Miles Davis - You're Under Arrest | Vinyl LP - 1985 Japanese CBS/Sony (28AP 3034, gatefold sleeve and foldout insert)

• Miles Davis's final Columbia album, featuring pop covers of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" and Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" alongside originals dealing with politics, racism and urban life
• John McLaughlin returns to a Miles Davis studio for the first time since On the Corner in 1972, playing guitar on "Ms. Morrisine", "Katia Prelude" and "Katia", while John Scofield handles guitar on the remaining tracks
• Japanese gatefold pressing on CBS/Sony with obi strip, foldout insert and Japanese liner notes by Takao Ogawa, mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk

Miles had originally wanted Gil Evans to arrange the pop covers on this album. Evans's health made that impossible, and Miles eventually redid the sessions in a few concentrated days during the winter of 1984 to 1985, producing something looser and less polished than Decoy. "One Phone Call/Street Scenes" opens with Miles narrating in his gravel voice over a funk groove, Scofield's guitar stabbing between the dialogue. Sting, introduced to Miles by bassist Darryl Jones (who was playing in Sting's band at the time), contributes French dialogue to the sketch. "Human Nature" follows as a straightforward reading of the Steve Porcaro and John Bettis melody from Michael Jackson's Thriller, Miles playing muted trumpet close to the original vocal line with a tenderness that borders on devotion. "Something's on Your Mind", the D-Train song, is the most spirited track on Side A, with Miles blowing open horn over Robert Irving III's synth arrangements and Scofield trading phrases with the trumpet.

Side A closes with three tracks that form a loose suite: "Ms. Morrisine", "Katia Prelude" and the full "Katia", all featuring John McLaughlin on guitar. McLaughlin had not played on a Miles Davis studio date since 1972, and his presence changes the texture entirely, the guitar work sharper and more angular than Scofield's blues-inflected playing on the earlier tracks. Side B opens with "Katia" continuing from the prelude before "Time After Time" arrives as the album's quiet centrepiece. Miles kept this in his live set for the rest of his career, and the reason is obvious: the Cyndi Lauper melody, with its suspended harmonics and slow resolution, sits perfectly under his muted trumpet. Scofield's title track is the hardest-swinging piece on the record, and the closing medley reprises "Jean Pierre" from We Want Miles before circling back. Produced by Miles and Irving III, co-produced by Vince Wilburn Jr., with Al Foster and Wilburn splitting drum duties. Cover illustration by Miles.

This is the Japanese pressing on CBS/Sony (28AP 3034) in a gatefold sleeve with foldout insert.