OK, so I've just bought both of the Weather Report 5 disc Original Album Classics "cheap as chips" box sets.
So now own: Weather Report (first) / Tail Spinnin' / Heavy Weather / Mr Gone / Weather Report / I Sing The Body Electric / Sweetnighter / Mysterious Traveller / Black Market / Night Passage
I've had Heavy Weather on Vinyl for years - but don't know any of their other albums.
Quick question: Where to start on these - what are the best albums / stand out tracks?
Thanks.
Their best album (imo) isn't included in those box sets.
It's a live album, and it's called 8:30.
Start from the beginning.
Its different bands & styles, I like most of it, but returns most often to the pre-jaco albums.
Pretty much my sentiments as well,except i have none of the Jaco era stuff.Originally Posted by Zeuhlmate
"please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide
Album tracks as opposed to?...they weren't a 'singles act', definitely have to play the albums in full.
Favourite albums, Black Market and Mysterious Traveller. Not familiar with anything after Night Passage myself. Be aware that those two boxes are not in chronological order, not that it matters in itself, only if you wanted to play them in sequence.
Live In Tokyo(1972) is a must have.
"please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide
My favorite Weather Report albums are, "Tale Spinning", "Black Market", "Mysterious Traveler" & "Heavy Weather". Favorite songs include, "Nubian Sundance", "Blackthorn Rose", "Mysterious Traveler", "Black Market", "Cannonball", "Elegant People", "Lusitanos", "Badia" & "Birdland". As others have pointed out, each album had a different lineup (and a different feel) so spend a lot of time listening to the albums and let them sink in.
The Jaco written tracks always got my attention more than Zawinul or Shorters compositions, as good as they are themselves.
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Individual tracks? I'm a big fan of 'A Remark You Made'. The main theme is a lifelong earworm.
My favorite WR track overall however is one not on the albums mentioned but 'Where the moon goes' on Procession. Shorter's playing on that song after the vocals fade out is one of the most sublime bits of sonic bliss I've ever heard -- but nobody else seems to talk about this song or album much.
My favorite WR track from my favorite WR album
The ones you like
Many thanks for the speedy comments folks - they are really helpful.
Looking forward to exploring these albums later tonight, along with a few beers ...
The first song by WR I heard was "Unknown Soldier" from I Sing the Body Electric so that's what I suggest. Still blows me away.
Enjoy! And here's a great website for fans of WR; news & overviews of all the albums (along with reviews of most of the individual songs).Many thanks for the speedy comments folks - they are really helpful.
Looking forward to exploring these albums later tonight, along with a few beers ...
http://www.weatherreportdiscography.org/
My favorite band, in all incarnations. Jaco's a bass hero, but some found that era a bit "commercial." I don't.
On any given day, I can name a different fave WR album or track. Lusitanos is today's. Yellow Jester's link is a great source of info, and I agree with the analysis there, for the most part.
"And this is the chorus.....or perhaps it's a bridge...."
I bought "Heavy Weather" several years ago and the girl at the counter told me what a great purchase I was making. Honestly, I thought it was a lot lighter than it was "heavy", and I don't mean that in a metal or hard rock sort of way. It just seemed very smooth and uninteresting. However, I haven't listened to it since, and I'll give it another chance inspired by this thread, although perhaps I'd like their older stuff better.
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Heavy Weather has some great compositions. Definitely give it another try. At this point, after listening to them for 35 years, I prefer their early stuff, which is a bit more abstract and improv oriented. The first album, and Live In Tokyo are what I listen to these days.
Heavy Weather and Mr Gone are probably my top two.
These would be some of my favourite cuts, still have a very modern sound
- Weather Report (first) 1971 and I Sing The Body Electric 1972 (and Live in Tokyo 1972) are great in their first mostly-improvised incarnation... if you like that sort of thing
- Sweetnighter 1973 is kind of a transitional album, with long soprano sax improvisations over ostinato backings
- Mysterious Traveler 1974, Tale Spinnin' 1975 and Black Market 1976 are where they really hit their stride for me. The tunes are composed, the playing is stellar and they're full of really great ideas
- Heavy Weather 1977 got played to death on the radio, to the point where I'm still sick of it. I agree, some great composing... but I can't listen to it anymore
- Mr. Gone 1978 was their followup to Heavy Weather. To me it feels like outtakes from the HW sessions, with weak tunes, dated keyboard sounds and no cohesion
- 8:30 1979 as has been mentioned is a great live album from the HW period
- Night Passage 1980, Weather Report 1982 and Procession 1983 are where they began to run out of steam for me, eventually becoming just Zawinul's backup band with little or no input from anybody else
Favorite tracks? "Black Market, "Cannon Ball, "Barbary Coast" and "Hernandu" from Black Market. "Lusitanos, "Bados" and "Five Short Stories" from Tale Spinnin'.
The ones you like is a good post...Sweetnighter worked for me...this cover did too.
My favorite.
Since we are recommending live albums, I also like Offenbach 78 quite alot.
Please don't ask questions, just use google.
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Tracks may be individually great (and so so many are), but I always take the album as a whole too. Each has at least some merits and favs are always down to personal taste. For me, Mysterious Taveller and Black Market are the best of the bunch.
Heavy Weather's a fairly good one--it was my intro too, but I don't come back to it much anymore either. It succeeded at what it was aiming for with the catchy song-based angle (for lack of a better description), but its strengths just turned out to be very different from the groove/improv/world-beat facets I ended up gravitating to the most.
groove/improv/world-beat facets...
A good description, and what also drew me in to those you mention, as well as Procession for example. It also has lead to discovering other groups such as Human Element...
Ed
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