weather report - forecast : tomorrow

[etherbored]

out today is a new three-disc/one-dvd set from legacy dedicated to the body of work from weather report. having long held off on completing my conversion of their catalog from vinyl to digital due to inferior mastering (which is ironic given the nature of zawinul/shorter/et al's ever-looking-forward prowess), i'm curious how these sides stand up. are they remastered? remixed? straight transfers of currently available masters? this is one small chance for columbia to do right by weather report and release something decent. my hopes are that this one delivers.

???,

-e-

ps: for those who haven't seen the track listing, the set contains a condensed, alternate of "in a silent way" with miles and the title track to shorter's "super nova" as a way of presenting an arc of how the primaries evolved.

-------------------------------------

1 In a Silent Way Zawinul 4:18

2 Super Nova Shorter 4:51

3 Experience in E [excerpt] Zawinul 5:44

4 Milky Way Shorter, Zawinul 2:32

5 Tears Shorter 3:24

6 Eurydice [Full Version] Shorter 10:46

7 Orange Lady Zawinul 8:42

8 Unknown Soldier Zawinul 7:59

9 Directions Zawinul 5:31

10 Surucucu Shorter 8:19

11 Second Sunday in August Zawinul 4:12

12 125th Street Congress Zawinul 12:14

13 Nubian Sundance [live/#] Shorter 13:07

14 Blackthorn Rose Shorter 5:00

15 Badia Zawinul 5:22

16 Cannon Ball Zawinul 4:38

17 Black Market Zawinul 6:33

18 Three Clowns Shorter 3:24

19 Havona Pastorius 6:02

20 Birdland Zawinul 5:58

21 Palladium Shorter 4:48

22 The Pursuit of the Woman with the Feathered Hat Zawinul 5:03

23 The Orphan Shorter, Zawinul 3:17

24 Sightseeing Shorter 5:35

25 Dream Clock Zawinul 6:29

26 Three Views of a Secret Pastorius 5:54

27 Port of Entry [live] Shorter 5:08

28 Dara Factor Two Erskine, Pastorius, Shorter ... 4:27

29 Procession Zawinul 8:42

30 Plaza Real Shorter 5:31

31 The Well Shorter 3:58

32 D-Flat Waltz Zawinul 11:12

33 Domino Theory Zawinul 6:10

34 Predator Shorter 5:20

35 Face on the Barroom Floor Shorter 3:59

36 Indiscretions Zawinul 4:08

37 125th Street Congress Zawinul 5:03

38 Black Market Zawinul

39 Scarlet Woman Johnson, Shorter, Zawinul

40 Young and Fine Zawinul

41 The Pursuit of the Woman with the Feathered Hat Zawinul

42 A Remark You Made Zawinul

43 River People Pastorius

44 Thanks for the Memories Rainger, Robin

45 Delores/Portrait of Tracy/Third Stone from the Sun Hendrix, Pastorius, Shorter

46 Mr. Gone Zawinul

47 In a Silent Way Zawinul

48 Waterfall Zawinul

49 Teen Town Pastorius

50 I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good/The Midnight Sun Will Never Set on You

51 Birdland Zawinul

52 Introductions

53 Fred & Jack Erskine

54 Elegant People Shorter

55 Badia Zawinul

Edited September 20, 2006 by etherbored

[Bluerein]

Do you know what's on the DVD? CD universe doesn't even list it as having a DVD at all.

[rostasi]

http://tinyurl.com/rm2em

[jazzbo]

Maybe one day the dvd will be released separately (doubt it, but it's all I might be interested in). Two unreleased tracks in the box set. Little to get me to plop some money down.

[Kyo]

Another idiotic box set that offers too little for the real fan and collector and way too

much (at too high a price) for someone looking for an introduction to a band's music.

All those suits who come up with these things should be tarred, feathered and fired.

[bertrand]

1) Unless the DVD shows up separately (doubt it), I'll only consider getting this if it shows up on yourmusic.

2) Why the hell did they not put 'Scarlet Woman' from 8:30 in the box? This track was left off the CD (although it could have fit).

Grrrr.....

Bertrand.

[bertrand]

Wait a minute...

Why are they now claiming that 'The Orphan' is by Zawinul AND Shorter. All previous issues have it by Zawinul alone, as does BMI.

I helped put together an inventory of Wayne's compositions which will be published soon, and I need to know right away if a correction is needed.

Any ideas?

Bertrand.

[GregK]

ps: for those who haven't seen the track listing, the set contains a condensed, alternate of "in a silent way" with miles and the title track to shorter's "super nova" as a way of presenting an arc of how the primaries evolved.

an alternate of In a Silent Way with Miles?? Wasn't everything from those sessions already released on the Miles box?

[Guy Berger]

ps: for those who haven't seen the track listing, the set contains a condensed, alternate of "in a silent way" with miles and the title track to shorter's "super nova" as a way of presenting an arc of how the primaries evolved.

an alternate of In a Silent Way with Miles?? Wasn't everything from those sessions already released on the Miles box?

I assume that the alternate take from the Miles box is exactly the one on this WR box.

Guy

[B. Clugston]

ps: for those who haven't seen the track listing, the set contains a condensed, alternate of "in a silent way" with miles and the title track to shorter's "super nova" as a way of presenting an arc of how the primaries evolved.

an alternate of In a Silent Way with Miles?? Wasn't everything from those sessions already released on the Miles box?

I assume that the alternate take from the Miles box is exactly the one on this WR box.

Guy

Judging by the timing, it's probably the master take (sans "It's About That Time" and the repeat).

[chris olivarez]

Is the sound improved over the single discs or pretty much the same?

[etherbored]

Is the sound improved over the single discs or pretty much the same?

that was my original question...

-e-

[Evonce]

Sound is improved over the initial CD issues (like Night Passage, which hasn't had a remaster yet), but not necessarily better than those that were remastered in recent years, like Black Market. A/V of the DVD is pretty good. Packaging is nice.

I'm not thrilled with the track selection. Several classics are absent, and there are some tracks here that I would no way no how put on a "best of" collection. The rarities (like a studio Directions) are okay but very slim in number. The inclusion of Silent Way & Super Nova are a waste of space, IMHO. I guess for the newcomer this is all wonderful stuff, but I've got all the albums up thru 1980 so I've got more of a critical ear. One thing that's clear is how fresh the earliest stuff remains. All hail Vitous and Gravatt.

Why'd I buy it? Well, I'm a completist, and I wanted to check out the DVD. If you've got the original albums, though, you're not missing much.

www.jazzshelf.org

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

chewy-chew-chew/Weather Report Fan here: i have some w.r. dvds: one from '76: that one has alex acuna and manolo. also have musikladen '78, no extra percussion, just peter erkskine, the harriest jazz musician of all time. wait, just u wait till he takes his shirt off 1/2 way through the video. his back is so hairy he could be a gorilla for halloween and all he would need is the mask

[Guest youmustbe]

I've never been able to understand my reaction...I was probably the biggest WR fan of all time...but after all these years, with the exception of Mysterious Traveller, it doesn't do anything for me anymore. I still have all the LPs (none of course, with Bailey and Hakim even though I went to all the gigs) and tons of video and concert tapes, but it seems to be a case of 'what did I ever see in her' love affair aftermath.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i mean, hes so hairy, it like, almost distracts from the music

[Claude]

Do you expect improved sound from this box set? Given the consistently high quality of the Sony jazz remasters from the last 10 years, I wouldn't expect this box to sound better than the Weather Report remastered CDs and SACDs that have already been released.

I have a couple of them, and none sounds very good for jazz standards. They sound more like pop records, heavily mixed and processed in order to be "perfect".

If I didn't already have the best individual albums I would definitely get this attractive box.

Edited September 25, 2006 by Claude

[Evonce]

After spending a week with it, I think it's a good package. Better tracklist would make it great. The DVD is okay; I don't know how many times I'm going to want to watch "Young and Fine" or a repetitive "Birdland", but there you go.

Just recapped most of the WR catalog here: www.jazzshelf.org/weather.html