Customer Reviews
A true classic - By: Alan Calderwood, 25 Aug 2007 
Yep, another album branded "a classic". It's a term often bandied about, but,in my case, I apply it to a mere handful of albums. I bought this when it came out - having been vaguely aware of the preceding Weather Report albums - i was quite keen on "difficult" music at that time of my youth. What an eye-opener! Basically this album comprises two massive dance tracks (yep, that's not a typo) & a number of "mood poems" (ooh - pseuds corner!) The short pieces invoke a sense of place or mood & are beautiful. But the two biggies are quite simply awesome. The wonderful basslines, with Shorter & Zawinul riffing over the top, with a bucket-load of drums & percussion. I remember Spike Milligan talking about going to see themin concert around this time & being frowned upon for going down the front & dancing. "but it IS dance music!" as he said. I actually saw them a few years later ("Birdland" time) with Jaco Pastorius on board. It was a thrill & honour to hear Wayne Shorter, but, for me, by this time the music was too much about "flash". This is THE WP album to hear, buy & love for years to come. Oh, & it was indirectly responsible for getting me off "difficult-for-its-own-sake" music & into music with "feel" - the wonderful (original) Little Feat. Another reason for me to be indebted to this album.
The funk takes hold - By: Gordon Dent, 19 Feb 2003 Coming after the determinedy avant-garde recordings that were "Weather Report" & "I Sing The Body Electric", "Sweetnighter" was the beginning of Weather Report's journey into funk. While the rhythm section of Miroslav Vitous, Eric Gravatt & Dom Um Romau remainedin place, it's the rhythm, rather than the feel of Zawinul's synths & Shorter's saxes, that sets this album apart from its more academic predecessors.
It would be possible to write 1,000 words about the 13 minutes of "Boogie-Woogie Waltz" alone. In fact, the album would still deserve 5 stars if the remaining 32 minutes of its playing time were made up of silence or white noise. Let's say no more than that "Boogie-Woogie Waltz" is spectacular: a measured crescendo of funk rhythm, pulsating bass, crackling electric piano & synth & staccato sax that resolves into as fine a piece of ensemble playing as Weather Report ever produced. If you're familiar with Cannonball Adderley's live recording of an earlier Zawinul composition, "74 Miles Away" you might be prepared for the pace of the build-up & the intensity of the climax.
After that, everything else on the album is bound to be a let-down, so it's probably appropriate that the next two tracks are low-key hark-backs to the days of "Weather Report". "125th Street Congress", however, provides some further indication of the directionsin which the band's music was to progress, acting as a pretty accurate trailer for the content of of "Mysterious Traveler" & "Tale Spinnin'". Although the production is as spare as that of side one of "I Sing The Body Electric", the feel is warmer & the rhythms retain some of the funk of "Boogie-Woogie Waltz". "Will" is even more of a future echo, sounding very much like an out-take from the "Black Market" sessions. The album closes with "Non-Stop Home",in which synths & bass build an elaborate bridge between the poles of rattling percussion before Wayne Shorter joinsin with some fierce sax blowing.
It's very difficult to recommend one Weather Report album before any other, but if I had to recommend just one song it would be "Boogie-Woogie Waltz".
FREAKIN' FUSION FRENZY... - By: , 09 Aug 2001 THIS IS THE MOST INCREDIBLE ALBUM BY WR. NO TEENTOWN OR BIRDLAND IN SIGHT...! A PSYCHEDELIC JOURNEY INTO SPACE AND THEN GROOVIN' DOWN INTO THE ROOTS OF THE EARTH. A JAM TO END ALL JAMS... ONE HOUR OF ECSTASY & AGONY AND ALL ELSE THAT LIES BETWEEN. BUY THIS ALBUM AND HEAR THE FUNKIEST, MOST RAW JAZZ FUSION EVER MADE. ABSOLUTELY AN ENLIGHTENING EXPERIENCE...THE LAST TRACK, NON-STOP HOME, LEAVES YOU REELING AS THE ALBUM FINISHES...PRESS REPEAT...PHENOMENAL, STUFF OF DREAMS.
