Since it's come up, and I was a totally gonzo Weather Report fan back in the day I thought I'd give my report on which albums are essential. All of this stuff is available from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/60035/o/qid=977155726/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_pm_1_3/105-2858937-4322336 ESSENTIALS: Weather Report -- Eponymous first record, most immediately influenced by Miles Davis -- in whose group all of the original WR lineup played. "Milky Way" was by Zawinul hitting tone clusters on the piano with the sustain pedal down, and then cutting off the attack. It will remind you of some of Jeff Mills' ambient experiments. The rest of the album is very abstract, with amazing drumming -- a constant in Weather Reports recorded career. I Sing the Body Electric -- more limber, abstract jazz. Sweetnighter -- for me their best album. Long pieces based around incredibly funky drumming are very much percursors of techno, plus some really lush slower/beatless pieces. '125th St. Congress' is a James Brown Groove that builds and builds. 'Boogie Woogie Waltz' is similarly amazing both for it's unstoppable groove and loopy ensemble sections. 'Mysterious Traveler' -- the first album with synths. Cucumber Slumber is the groove track -- Zawinul raises the art of funk keyboard art to a whole new level.. 'Tailspinnin' -- absolutely mad, dense synth workout. ALSO-RANS: Basically after 'Tailspinning', with Jaco Pastorius on bass something was lost for me. 'Heavy Weather' contained their one 'hit' -- Birdland, which went on to become a cliche tune, covered by Manhattan Transfer to dreadful effect. To my ears, they settled on a smoother, more commercial sound that does little for me, though there are always one or two tracks per album that have something of that original groove.... kent williams -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://jump.to/cornwarning -- Iowa's First Techno Record Label http://www.mp3.com/chaircrusher -- tunes
