WEATHER REPORT

4 of the 5 members of WEATHER REPORT played with Miles Davis at some point. I think that's important because you get the feeling when listening to their debut that it's an extension of "In A Silent Way". Actually for me this sounds more like it preceeded Miles' album, and that Davis improved upon it. That's not the case of course just my impression of this album. It's like they decided to make this album more subtle and ambient and they took away the funk and groove that Miles was known for when they were with him in the late 60's. And when you hear quotes from Zawinul like "Music is a soundtrack for your imagination and head" and "We always solo and we never solo" you know that this music isn't going to be remotely commercial or catchy. That's important if your going to wrap your mind around this album. And I must admit it's taken me a long time to "get" this one. Now I just get lost in the atmosphere. Beautiful.

"Milky Way" as the title suggests is very spacey and different from the other tracks."The sounds were made by acoustic piano and soprano saxaphone. It has to do with overtones and the way one uses the piano pedals". "Umbreallas" is more like it as we get a melody with some intricate sounds coming and going. "Seventh Arrow" a Vitous comosition is another good one. Piano, light drums and sax stand out early. The percussion is a nice touch as well. "Orange Lady" opens with liquid keys as some relaxing sax from Shorter comes in. It all stops after 2 1/2 minutes as a new melody starts. There's even some vocal melodies in this one.

"Morning Lake" is another Vitous composition.This is mellow as the birds sing away. Sax and liquid piano stand out as light drums support. "Waterfall" is also pretty mellow but it gets better once it gets going. "Tears" again like "Orange Lady" has some vocal melodies that come and go.The tempo continues to shift in this one and the bass is prominant. "Eurydice" features liquid keys, bass and light drums as sax plays over top. The bass almost sounds like an upright bass.

A solid 4 star album that has become very meaningful to me.