WEATHER REPORT — 8:30 (review)

WEATHER REPORT — 8:30 album cover Live album · 1979 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
Sean Trane
First live album that came out after the two most popular WR albums (BM and HW) and obviously focusing on those two, with a predominance of HW. If you read my studio albums reviews of WR, you’ll know that I am not much of a fan of their jazz-funk period (from Mysterious Traveller onwards) as opposed to their jazz-rock era (the first three albums), but this doesn’t mean that I dislike it. Let’s just say that from Black Market onwards the group became very prone (much more than before) to showing off their virtuoso skills, and I attribute this to Pastorius arrival in the group, because when Alphonso Johnson was there before him, I hadn’t really detected this “flaw”. Line-up-wise the only new arrival is Zawinul’s brother, Erich, on percussion. Graced with a typical Afro-American artwork of the era, this double live album

From the first disc, the only track I would pull is MT’s best track, Scarlet Woman, the rest leaving me fairly cold. Indeed, with Pastorious’ Teen Town and then Slang (an excuse for a lengthy bass solo), this is exactly what I don’t appreciate much, and this comes from a would-be bassist. Not only do I moderately appreciate those albums, but I also happen to disagree with the track selected on this one. Least of all the Zawinul-penned straight jazz Birdland and Remark You Made.

The second disc isn’t much an improvement if you ask me the highlight being the Badia/Waltz medley), and it is completed with four out-of-context tracks (on the Cd version, since I’ve never seen the vinyl), none of which click with this writer, Brown Street actually reminding me of the rather poor Mr Gone album to come. Also completely off the bat is the weird Orphan track where the Zaw-Shorter duo play with a ten kids choir. Best avoided, if you ask me, and if you should indulge into some live WR, there are a few later releases that are available and will be more representative of the band’s live shows.
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