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.

"Teen Town" redirects here. For the TV series, see Teen Town (TV series).
Heavy Weather
Studio album by
Weather Report
ReleasedMarch 1977
RecordedLate 1976 – Early 1977
StudioDevonshire Sound Studios, North Hollywood, California
GenreJazz fusion
Length37:39
LabelColumbia
ProducerJoe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter
Weather Report chronology
Black Market
(1976)		 Heavy Weather
(1977)		 Mr. Gone
(1978)

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
Professional ratings
Contemporary
Review scores
SourceRating
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
Professional ratings
Legacy
Review scores
SourceRating
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]

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Birdland"Zawinul5:57
2."A Remark You Made"Zawinul6:51
3."Teen Town"Pastorius2:51
4."Harlequin"Shorter3:59
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Rumba Mamá"Badrena, Acuña2:11
2."Palladíum"Shorter4:46
3."The Juggler"Zawinul5:03
4."Havona"Pastorius6:01

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[9] 40
1977 U.S. Billboard 200[10] 30
1977 U.S. Jazz Albums[10] 1
1977 U.S. R&B Albums[10] 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.[11]

See the table below for a more comprehensive list of the album releases.[11]
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.
gollark: <@115156616256552962> Would you be interested in buying space in my new tower for Keansian government offices?
gollark: On the plus side, this removes the tradeoffs inherent in voting!
gollark: Well, I will still be running, stop implying that I won't.
gollark: Oh dear. Why?
gollark: Also convenience.

References
  1. Kelman, John (2007). "Live at Montreux 1976 : Weather Report : Review : All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  2. 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.
  3. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 204. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  4. Ginell, Richard S. (2011). "Heavy Weather – Weather Report". AllMusic. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
  5. "Heavy Weather by Weather Report". ARTISTdirect.com. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
  6. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  7. Sterdan, Darryl [QMI Agency] (February 13, 2011). "Ramones get lifetime achievement". Conoe.ca. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
  8. Colin Larkin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 256. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  9. "Weather Report – Heavy Weather". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
  10. "Heavy Weather > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
  11. "Weather Report – Heavy Weather". Discogs. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
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