Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Remark I Made, 20 Dec 2006
This set is a bit frustrating, unlike the numerous recent Miles Davis sets the tracks have not been re-mastered or remixed and there is not much in the way of `bonuses or unreleased music here. Apparently Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter chose the tracks and the aim seems to have been to show the development of the bands sound and compositions over their years together. The band had only one hit 'Birdland', which is included of course, but other signature pieces are missing. You won't find `Boogie Woogie Waltz' or the `Moors' on the first disc and the Johnson years are poorly represented on the second, `Between the Thighs', `Cucumber Slumber' and Shorter's epic ballad `Lusitanos' are not included but you do get a live version of The `Nubian Sundance' which suggests the song was tough to play in concert. Zawinul has always claimed that `Madagascar' recorded with Erskine, Thomas and Pastorius was one of their great improvised compositions but you won't find it here or Wayne's tenor out burst on `Fast City'. The third disc which mostly covers Weather Reports final years is actually the most rewarding because this music was undervalued at the time but holds up well now and the selection leaves less to quibble about.
The inclusion of music made by Joe and Wayne before Weather Report takes up space when a mention in the booklet would have sufficed. Most fans have at least heard their work with Miles Davis and the two other tunes are still in print. Isn't there an unreleased Blue Note album with Shorter as leader with Zawinul and Vitous in attendance? If so, will it ever see the light of day?
Long time fans will welcome the previously unreleased versions of `Eurydice' (lovely) and `Directions' (choppy) but the remix of `125th Street Congress' (included perhaps to support Zawinul's claim that he invented hip hop) sounds more dated than the original and certainly has less invention.
The DVD brought back some great memories of their shows, for instance their seamless and surprising blending of styles, sounds and rhythms. There are also reminders of things best forgotten i.e. the sight of Shorter shaking a set of bells when I'd bought a ticket to hear the man play sax. The picture quality of the video is a bit muddy, but the tracks it has in common with the 8.30 album all sound better here. The tunes from `Mr Gone', the record they were touring, are given more punch than in the studio. It is good to hear Wayne cutting loose a bit on `Young and Fine' and Erskine plays a blinder throughout. Zawinul's playing is evocative and adds lush exotica to the quartets sound. Some of his stunts and set pieces have aged badly however; he wasn't to know that his radical keyboard sounds would be the factory pre-sets of the future so his occasional flourishes on piano come as a relief from some of the whizzing and banging. Pastorious does his thing in each tune.
The actual box has a striking photo an image that says everything and nothing. The booklet is fun if not profound; it contains mistakes but reads like a long enjoyable concert programme. Shorter's comments on his music are revealing whilst Erskine and the unsung Bailey, Johnson and Vitous give some idea of how the band worked. Zawinul tends to speak in superlatives so in the end he offers little real insight. The `stunning photos' tell their own story. The challenge that pre-Pastorious Weather Report presented to CBS marketing department can be seen. Zawinul bald, moustache, open shirt and with his hairy chest looked like a closet medallion man and Shorter had the CV but not the bearing of a jazz legend. Pastorious gave the band a selling point visually and musically they had lacked before and coupled with their `hit' they had a way into the mass market for better or worse.
As a long time fan of the band you know you want this box set because you have waited so long for it to arrive, you will need to hear the unreleased stuff and you have to own the video so you can set your volume at 11 sit back and be transported back to all those nights at the Rainbow or the Hammersmith Odeon in the 70s. CBS must love us anoraks we will buy things we already own just to here the odd gem thrown in as a bonus..
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good compilation with some bonuses., 8 Dec 2006
Most people will have most of this; the audio includes 3 hitherto unreleased tracks - the original unedited 11-minute take of "Eurydice", a studio version of "Directions" ("we always solo and we never solo"...yes indeed) and a storming, straight-off-the-mixing-desk live version of "Nubian Sundance"...I didn't think it was possible. The 'remix' of "125th St" is rap rubbish, however. Then there is the DVD; Erskine and Pastorius on top form and when they really open up (and they do), the power of this line-up begins to come through. Boy could these guys play!! Even Jaco's show-off-Hendrix-riffs-then-jump-on-my-bass solo is ok. The last time I ever saw Weather Report it was this line-up at London's Rainbow theatre. There was a clock on the wall above one of the exits, and after I'd sat through Jaco's solo for half-an-hour, no exaggeration, I decided to get up and leave; I was furious with Pastorius for trying to (as I felt) destroy my favourite band but I just don't have the choice to stay or leave any more, do I? Alas, no-one does. The DVD captures the line-up at a peak and it is better than the "8.30" album. The booklet should have had a better quality cover and the clear plastic CD trays in my copy aren't glued in properly. Some copies may have a problem with CD2; this is a CBS/Sony product but my Sony CD player has a bit of a problem reading the TOC and the titling (1st track on CD2 only) is wrong. Worth 5 stars for the DVD but the rap remix - though mercifully short - is horrible.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why can't you get the DVD separately?, 22 Oct 2006
This is an impressive package with a truly wonderful concert captured at long last on DVD! However, I'm surprised the DVD isn't available separately for those of us who already have the original Weather Report albums...
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