SWEETNIGHTER

Sweetnighter is a strong fusion album from Weather Report which offers a notable improvement over its predecessor, I Sing the Body Electric. It's founder member Miroslav Vitous' last album with the group, and his bass playing is a particular highlight, laying down a funk-powered foundation over which the rest of the instrumentalists strut their stuff in dynamite fashion. This approach is particularly effective in the two longer songs on the album, 125th Street Congress and Boogie Woogie Waltz, which are surely highlight's of the group's repertoire. You can still perceive the influence of Miles Davis (who I think of as the musical "grandfather" of this band, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, and other groups founded by key members of the In a Silent Way/Bitches Brew sessions), but by this point Weather Report are pulling full steam ahead into their own distinctive musical terrain, the compromise between cutting-edge fusion and commercial reach that would characterise their mid-70s work becoming visible.