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First of all, this album has been reviewed to death, so I won't go into why this is such an important album by one of the seminal jazz groups of the 70s and early 80s. That right: I won't diminish them by calling them a "jazz fusion group," because that label is far too constraining for this group of cutting edge players and composers.
If you follow the individual careers of the two founding members, you already know that before Weather Report, Joe Zawinul had paid his dues with Dinah Washington, Cannonball, and Miles. Wayne Shorter got his start with Art Blakey and was in the quintessential quintet with Miles. Not to mention chalking up an impressive solo career.
Weather report was a direct outgrowth of those formative experiences and as such, these musicians (and their illustrious band mates) had no choice but to constantly seek musical authenticity in both their playing and writing. There's a logical progression from one album to another. The band morphed from post-Bitches Brew freedom to a gradual development of increasingly complex compositional structures that gained in formal structure as the band grew. Some diehard fans felt (and I totally get it,) that the best Weather Report occurred on those early recordings, and that by Heavy Weather, the band had become too commercial. Yet listening to this album today I'm stating unequivocally, "This was simply not the case"
This album is a deeply musical as anything in the band's output. Just listen to "Palladium," a Shorter tune with teeth. That the tune has a catchy rideout isn't a crime - at the time it was an innovation - and check out the writing, and Shorter's muscular solo on that outro...Or Zawinul's tune, "The Juggler": Deep, evocative, dynamic and utterly uncliched.
No, this music shouldn't be denigrated with the derogatory term, Fuzak. This is way too nuanced and harmonically complex music for that facile term. Perhaps some people have simply listened to this album too many times to hear it with fresh ears. Imagine for a moment what this album must've sounded like when it first came out in 1976: Revolutionary.
With regards to the SACD. I believe I am in a unique position to comment on it as I own not only the original vinyl, the 1997 Bob Belden remaster, but also the Japanese Mark Wilder remaster (from the box set, 2007) and the Sony Japanese SACD (SAME 1999.)
In a nutshell, this is now the definitive remaster. I believe mastering engineer, Kevin Gray has wrung just about every detail one could hope for out of the master tape.
That doesn't negate the fact that from a purely audiophile standpoint, this is a flawed recording: the album still sounds anemic in the bass, and the recording still has an overly bright sheen on the top end. Yet compared to the previous versions, it simply blows them all out of the water. Whereas the other versions either have a problem with a brittle, thin high end with not nearly enough bottom (Wilder,) or suffer from a lack of high end definition but have a little more punch in the low end (Belden), or suffer from lack of mid range warmth (basically, all of them) this puppy has achieved a nice compromise.
Also, as noted by the first review, the sound stage is very wide here - and I mean huge. The end result is a stunning remaster that probably can't be improved upon unless one took on the arduous task of locating the original tracks, getting the rights and remixing the project. Knowing that will never occurr, this is probably the best sounding Heavy Weather we're ever likely to hear. And like Audiofideilty's remarkable remaster of Tale Spinnin', which I have grown to admire more and more since it's release, this one will probably grow on me as well, despite its obvious sonic shortcomings.
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Customer reviews
This item IS a 180 gram re-issue of Weather Report's "Heavy Weather" release by label Friday Music (do your research); however, it is NOT an audiophile pressing of this recording. Amazon's product description is very misleading.
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Top reviews from other countries
igloo
Good sound quality, fresh sounding and detailed given the age of the original recording
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 24, 2020
Ian Thumwood
Weather Report's popular tip towards big band jazz
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 30, 2018Ken jones
Pure genius from incredible musicians
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 24, 2019Ian Murdo MacDonald
No rain today!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 17, 2021
