Music: Nasty Gal; Is It Love or Desire

Membership Ticker

You come to Mother Jones for unique journalism, and we love doing it for you—especially at a moment like this. That's really it. That's the upshot of our fall fundraising drive, and we're hoping to raise $250,000 in a much shorter than normal three-week window, by November 5, so we can keep right on doing it. Please pitch in early to help us get there.

$250,000

You come to Mother Jones for unique journalism, and we love doing it for you. That's it. That's the upshot of our fall fundraising drive, and we're hoping to raise $250,000 in a shorter than normal three-week window so we can keep right on doing it.

Fight disinformation. Get a daily recap of the facts that matter. Sign up for the free Mother Jones newsletter.

Funky siren Betty Davis should have been a ’70s superstar: She projected an aggressively sexual persona that made Tina Turner seem timid and set the stage for Prince. The reissue of Nasty Gal, first released in ’75, features the romantic ballad “You and I,” written with her ex-husband, jazz immortal Miles Davis. (Although the two were only married for a year, Betty had a lasting impact on Miles—she introduced him to Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone.) Recorded in ’76, the previously unreleased Is It Love or Desire finds Davis mixing raunchy jams like “Whorey Angel” with the surprisingly tender “When Romance Says Goodbye.” Alas, conflicts with her record company kept the LP out of stores until now, and for unknown reasons Davis hasn’t released another album since, though she did contribute her insights to the extensive liner notes.