Heavy Weather (album)
Heavy Weather is the eighth album by Weather Report, released in 1977 through Columbia Records. The release originally sold about 500,000 copies; it would prove to be the band's most commercially successful album. Heavy Weather received a 5-star review from Down Beat magazine and went on to be voted jazz album of the year by the readers of that publication.
| Heavy Weather | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 1977 | |||
| Recorded | Late 1976 – Early 1977 | |||
| Studio | Devonshire Sound Studios, North Hollywood, California | |||
| Genre | Jazz fusion | |||
| Length | 37:39 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter | |||
| Weather Report chronology | ||||
| ||||
Featuring the jazz standard "Birdland", the album is one of the best-sellers in the Columbia jazz catalog. This opening track was a significant commercial success, something not typical of instrumental music. The melody had been performed live by the band as part of "Dr Honoris Causa", which was from Joe Zawinul's eponymous solo album.
Although not mentioned as a live recording in the liner notes, "Rumba Mamá" (a percussion and vocals feature for Manolo Badrena and Alex Acuña) was recorded at the band's concert in Montreux in summer 1976, of which a film would be released on DVD in 2007.[1]
Critical reception
| Contemporary | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Rolling Stone | (Not Rated)[2] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide |  [3] |
Dan Oppenheimer in a June 1977 review for Rolling Stone felt the band had moved from their earlier music, losing a lot of the space, melodies and airy feel that marked them out from other jazz rock bands, but gaining a new bassist who "has been instrumental in developing their busier, talkative style", and that while their music previously "went up and up only; becoming more ethereal as it went; the new bottom makes all the difference in the world".[2]
Legacy
| Legacy | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [4] |
| Artistdirect | [5] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [6] |
Richard Ginell commented in a retrospective review for Allmusic that it was released "just as the jazz-rock movement began to run out of steam", however he felt that "this landmark album proved that there was plenty of creative life left in the idiom."[4]
In February 2011, Heavy Weather was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame.[7]
The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
In 2000 it was voted number 822 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[8]
The singer Bilal names it among his 25 favorite albums, citing the interplay between Jaco Pastorius and Joe Zawinul.[9]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Birdland" | Zawinul | 5:57 |
| 2. | "A Remark You Made" | Zawinul | 6:51 |
| 3. | "Teen Town" | Pastorius | 2:51 |
| 4. | "Harlequin" | Shorter | 3:59 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Rumba Mamá" | Badrena, Acuña | 2:11 |
| 2. | "Palladíum" | Shorter | 4:46 |
| 3. | "The Juggler" | Zawinul | 5:03 |
| 4. | "Havona" | Pastorius | 6:01 |
Personnel
Weather Report
- Joe Zawinul – ARP 2600 on all tracks except "Rumba Mamá", Rhodes electric piano on all tracks except "Birdland", "Rumba Mamá" and "Havona", Yamaha grand piano on "Birdland", "Harlequin", "The Juggler" and "Havona", Oberheim polyphonic synthesizer on all tracks except "Rumba Mamá", "Palladíum" and "The Juggler", vocal on "Birdland", melodica on "Birdland" and "Teen Town", and guitar and tabla on "The Juggler".
- Wayne Shorter – Soprano saxophone on all tracks except "A Remark You Made" and "Rumba Mamá", and tenor saxophone on "Birdland"", "A Remark You Made" and "Palladíum"
- Jaco Pastorius – Fretless bass on all tracks except "Rumba Mamá", mandocello on "Birdland" and "The Juggler", vocals on "Birdland", drums on "Teen Town", steel drums on "Palladíum"
- Alex Acuña – Drum set on all tracks except "Teen Town" and "Rumba Mamá", congas and tom-toms on "Rumba Mamá", and handclaps on "The Juggler"
- Manolo Badrena – Tambourine on "Birdland", congas on "Teen Town", "Rumba Mamá" and "Palladíum", vocal on "Harlequin" and "Rumba Mamá", timbales on "Rumba Mamá", and percussion on "Palladíum" and "The Juggler"
Production
- Joe Zawinul – Record producer and orchestrator
- Jaco Pastorius – Co-producer
- Wayne Shorter – Assistant producer
- Ron Malo – Engineer
- Jerry Hudgins – Assistant engineer
- Brian Risner – Assistant engineer and chief meteorologist
- Frank Tozour – Sony reissue premastering
- Nancy Donald – Design
- Lou Beach – Illustration
- Keith Williamson – Photography
Chart positions
| Year | Country | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Sweden | Album[10] | 40 |
| 1977 | U.S. | Billboard 200[11] | 30 |
| 1977 | U.S. | Jazz Albums[11] | 1 |
| 1977 | U.S. | R&B Albums[11] | 33 |
Release history
The album was first released in LP format worldwide throughout Columbia Records, CBS Records, Sony Records, and other minor record labels. In 1984, it was first released in CD format in the U.S. on Columbia Records. In 1992, the album was remastered, and, in 2002, published in Super Audio CD format.[12]
- See the table below for a more comprehensive list of the album releases.[12]
| Year | Format | Label | Country | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | LP & Cassette | Columbia (PC 34418) | Canada, U.S. | — |
| CBS, Sony (25AP 357) | Japan | |||
| CBS ([CBS ][S ]81775) | Italy, Netherlands, UK, U.S. | |||
| Suzy (CBS 81775/P 1977) | Yugoslavia | Published as Heavy Rain | ||
| CBS (SBP 234974) | Australia | — | ||
| 1979 | Supraphon, CBS (1115 2490) | Czechoslovakia | Published as Weather Report | |
| 1981 | Columbia (HC 44418) | U.S. | — | |
| 1983 | CBS (CBS 32358) | Europe | ||
| 1984 | CD | Columbia (CK 34418) | U.S. | |
| 1991 | Columbia (468209 2) | |||
| 1992 | Columbia (CK 47481) | Remastered | ||
| 1994 | CD, Gold CD | Columbia, Legacy, Master Sound (CK 64427) | ||
| 1997 | CD, MD | M] 65108), (01-065108-10) | Europe, U.S. | |
| 2002 | SACD | Columbia, Legacy (CS 65108) | U.S. |
References
- Kelman, John (2007). "Live at Montreux 1976 : Weather Report : Review : All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
- Oppenheimer, Dan (1977). "Heavy Weather : Weather Report : Review : Rolling Stone". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on February 27, 2009. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
- Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 204. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- Ginell, Richard S. (2011). "Heavy Weather – Weather Report". AllMusic. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
- "Heavy Weather by Weather Report". ARTISTdirect.com. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
- Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
- Sterdan, Darryl [QMI Agency] (February 13, 2011). "Ramones get lifetime achievement". Conoe.ca. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
- Colin Larkin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 256. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
- Simmons, Ted (February 26, 2013). "Bilal's 25 Favorite Albums". Complex. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- "Weather Report – Heavy Weather". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
- "Heavy Weather > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
- "Weather Report – Heavy Weather". Discogs. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
External links
- Weather Report Annotated Discography: Heavy Weather
- Heavy Weather (album) at Discogs (list of releases)
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