WEATHER REPORT (1982)

Don't let the energetic and fun opener fool you: this is a very average jazz album. Weather Report seem to have a habit of teasing you by frontloading their best material, and then lulling you to sleep afterward. Weather Report (I'll call it version II), is no exception.

Highlights: Volcano for Hire shows what the band can bring to the table: awesome bass, catchy and varied rhythms, and infectious horns and keyboard licks to top it off. Unfortunately, they really only take this approach on the opener. It's a shame, because this song is so happy and engaging. Also, Pastorius makes himself known right away with a HUGE bass rip, and then settles into a killer groove to get the song going for good. I'll also classify NYC as a "highlight" because it does feature some nice interplay and improv, even though it loses momentum in the middle and is overlong.

Lowlights: If you like improv noodling with little resemblence of melody, then the Dara Factor songs (parts I and II) may be interesting. My opinion is that they are overly simplistic, even for improv--little actual fusion is achieved. The same goes for When It Was Now. The remaining tracks, Current Affairs and Speechless, are the mellow, slow tunes. These songs are so boring and generic that I'm surprised Weather Report keep churning them out. The only highlights are some nice fretless bass yawns, but even they are not nearly enough to hold up the songs.

Weather Report II features one solid (though by no means a masterpiece) song, and the rest is basically filler to my ears, excepting parts of NYC. I would only recommend this to fans of Weather Report and/or tame jazz.