I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC

Split between extracts from a furious Tokyo performance showcasing Weather Report's louder, faster side (the full performance is available on the Live In Tokyo album) and studio tracks with a more laid-back fusion approach reminiscent of In a Silent Way (no surprise, since Joe Zawinul composed the title track from that album!), this is a great effort from the jazz end of the fusion spectrum. Weather Report tend to be a bit less prone to heavy riffs and hard rocks than, say, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, but in the live tracks they show a more aggressive side to their character - particularly on Directions, which is an admirable blueprint for straight-ahead hard fusion of the sort that the likes of, say, Soft Machine would end up adopting in the mid-1970s.

The album's major flaw is in the discontinuity between one side in the next, and in the fact that the live tracks have been edited - I imagine most Weather Report fans would much rather have the unedited show as found on Live In Tokyo - so I wouldn't put this towards the top of my Weather Report recommendations. Still, those who are particularly fond of Weather Report - or of Miles Davis' first two fusion albums - will find enjoyment here.