I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC

Weather Report's debut was warmly received by the press as one of the best examples of early Fusion, but its release was followed by the departure of Airto Moreira, who's commitments with Miles Davis prevented him from following the band's schedule.He proposed Dom Um Romao as his replacement, but disagreements on tour resulted another major loss.Drummer Alphonse Mouzon quit from his responsibilities and was replaced by Eric Gravatt.The updated Weather Report line-up recorded another album, ''I Sing the Body Electric'' in November 71' and January 72', released on Columbia in May 72' for the US market and on CBS for Europe.

While Waether Report's debut was a bit of a semi-loose but well-constructed affair, their sophomore work sounds a bit headscratching to my ears.The first four tracks are studio cuts, recorded at Columbia Studios in New York, but while having an instant Fusion delivery, they sound too Avant-Garde for my tastes, like a mix of Avant-Fusion, Experimental Jazz with a touches of Fusion reminiscent of their debut.Too smooth at moments, with long individual solos and lacking the dominant keyboard techniques of Zawinul as captured on their debut.Still there are some impressive moments with the band in full collaboration, performing an edgy and very powerful Jazz/Fusion with great instrumental depth, but these are too few compared to the more free approach of these pieces.

The final three pieces were captured live in Shibuya Kokaido Hall in Tokyo, Japan, sometime in January 72'.All of them along with a few more are contained in the first live album of the group ''Live in Tokyo'', released also in 1972 on CBS, originally headed for the Japanese audience.These sound a bit better than the first pieces, which were rather dissapointing.They still lack even a bit of structured textures and rely heavily on Shorter's sax improvisations, but they are much into Jazz/Fusion than more experimental forms.Dynamic percussion parts, swirling electric piano by Zawinul and a frenetic rhythm section offer some good ideas of virtuosic musicianship.Some passages are too jazzy in my opinion, but most of them fall into the aesthetics of the growing Fusion sound.

''I Sing the Body Electric'' is not what I actually expect by a band with so many talent.Too loose and even too experimental at moments, it fails to grab me from the start and only the live pieces have some really interesting moments.Definitely not a winner, but a good purchase for those starving for some diverse but a bit dated Fusion sound...2.5 stars.