Track Listing

1. Boogie Woogie Waltz
2. Manolette
3. Adios
4. 125th Street Congress
5. Will
6. Non Stop Home

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18982 in Music
• Released on: 1996-09-02
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered

CD Description
Weather Report's third album is a clearly defined move intoLatin and Brazilian motifs, wah-wah guitar, and synthesizerfunk. Mainmen Zawinul and Shorter recruited new percussionists for SWEETNIGHTER, whose well-traveled talents helped to augment the band's already beefy sound. Compositionally, Weather Report was never tighter.
There's a tense wait for the suppressed funk of "Boogie Woogie Waltz" to finally take off, but when it does, with Vitous' bass a fault line of deep groove, Zawinul's electronics mapping out the terrain, andShorter's sax spewing torrents of hellfire, the release is breathtaking. The climax here is an ecstatic rush of blitzkrieg re-bop. "125th Street Congress" could be Miles Davis' ONTHE CORNER part two, sly funk smeared across the greasy keys of Zawinul's synthesizers and Shorter's horns. Go gentle into this SWEETNIGHTER--you won't want to come down when it'sall over.

Customer Reviews

A true classic
Yep, another album branded "a classic". It's a term often bandied about, but, in my case, I apply it to a mere handful of albums. I bought this when it came out - having been vaguely aware of the preceding Weather Report albums - i was quite keen on "difficult" music at that time of my youth. What an eye-opener! Basically this album comprises two massive dance tracks (yep, that's not a typo) and a number of "mood poems" (ooh - pseuds corner!) The short pieces invoke a sense of place or mood and are beautiful. But the two biggies are quite simply awesome. The wonderful basslines, with Shorter and Zawinul riffing over the top, with a bucket-load of drums and percussion. I remember Spike Milligan talking about going to see them in concert around this time and being frowned upon for going down the front and dancing. "but it IS dance music!" as he said. I actually saw them a few years later ("Birdland" time) with Jaco Pastorius on board. It was a thrill and honour to hear Wayne Shorter, but, for me, by this time the music was too much about "flash". This is THE WP album to hear, buy and love for years to come. Oh, and it was indirectly responsible for getting me off "difficult-for-its-own-sake" music and into music with "feel" - the wonderful (original) Little Feat. Another reason for me to be indebted to this album.

The funk takes hold
Coming after the determinedy avant-garde recordings that were "Weather Report" and "I Sing The Body Electric", "Sweetnighter" was the beginning of Weather Report's journey into funk. While the rhythm section of Miroslav Vitous, Eric Gravatt & Dom Um Romau remained in place, it's the rhythm, rather than the feel of Zawinul's synths & Shorter's saxes, that sets this album apart from its more academic predecessors.
It would be possible to write 1,000 words about the 13 minutes of "Boogie-Woogie Waltz" alone. In fact, the album would still deserve 5 stars if the remaining 32 minutes of its playing time were made up of silence or white noise. Let's say no more than that "Boogie-Woogie Waltz" is spectacular: a measured crescendo of funk rhythm, pulsating bass, crackling electric piano & synth and staccato sax that resolves into as fine a piece of ensemble playing as Weather Report ever produced. If you're familiar with Cannonball Adderley's live recording of an earlier Zawinul composition, "74 Miles Away" you might be prepared for the pace of the build-up and the intensity of the climax.
After that, everything else on the album is bound to be a let-down, so it's probably appropriate that the next two tracks are low-key hark-backs to the days of "Weather Report". "125th Street Congress", however, provides some further indication of the directions in which the band's music was to progress, acting as a pretty accurate trailer for the content of of "Mysterious Traveler" and "Tale Spinnin'". Although the production is as spare as that of side one of "I Sing The Body Electric", the feel is warmer and the rhythms retain some of the funk of "Boogie-Woogie Waltz". "Will" is even more of a future echo, sounding very much like an out-take from the "Black Market" sessions. The album closes with "Non-Stop Home", in which synths & bass build an elaborate bridge between the poles of rattling percussion before Wayne Shorter joins in with some fierce sax blowing.
It's very difficult to recommend one Weather Report album before any other, but if I had to recommend just one song it would be "Boogie-Woogie Waltz".

FREAKIN' FUSION FRENZY...
THIS IS THE MOST INCREDIBLE ALBUM BY WR. NO TEENTOWN OR BIRDLAND IN SIGHT...! A PSYCHEDELIC JOURNEY INTO SPACE AND THEN GROOVIN' DOWN INTO THE ROOTS OF THE EARTH. A JAM TO END ALL JAMS... ONE HOUR OF ECSTASY & AGONY AND ALL ELSE THAT LIES BETWEEN. BUY THIS ALBUM AND HEAR THE FUNKIEST, MOST RAW JAZZ FUSION EVER MADE. ABSOLUTELY AN ENLIGHTENING EXPERIENCE...THE LAST TRACK, NON-STOP HOME, LEAVES YOU REELING AS THE ALBUM FINISHES...PRESS REPEAT...PHENOMENAL, STUFF OF DREAMS.