“Let’s hit ’em hard, right from the first note.”
– Joe Zawinul
Track Listing
Side One
1. Medley: Vertical Invader/Seventh Arrow/T.H./Doctor Honoris Causa (Vitous/Zawinul) | 26:12 |
Side Two
2. Medley: Surucucú/Lost/Early Minor/Directions (Shorter/Zawinul) | 19:20 |
Side Three
3. Orange Lady (Zawinul) | 18:13 |
Side Four
4. Eurydice/The Moors (Shorter) | 13:49 |
5. Medley: Tears/Umbrellas (Shorter/Zawinul) | 10:54 |
Credits
Original Release: | CBS/Sony SOPJ 12-13-XR |
Date Released: | 1972 (Japan only) |
Produced by: | Kiyoshi Itoh |
Recorded live January 13, 1972 by Susumu Satoh at Shibuya Philharmonic Hall, Tokyo, Japan.
Personnel
Josef Zawinul: | Acoustic and electric piano |
Wayne Shorter: | Soprano and tenor sax |
Miroslav Vitous: | Acoustic and electric bass |
Eric Grávátt: | Drums |
Dom Um Romão: | Percussion |
Overview
In January 1972 Weather Report played five sold out concerts in Japan. The January 13 performance at the Shibuya Philharmonic Hall in Tokyo was recorded by CBS/Sony, from which came the tracks on the second side of I Sing the Body Electric. Live in Tokyo presents the entire evening’s performance, capturing the “sheer power the group could generate in performance,” as Zawinul biographer Brian Glasser put it. “While side two of I Sing the Body Electric gives us heavily edited glimpses of Weather Report as heard live in Tokyo, this two-disc Japanese import contains entire group ensembles from that concert–and as such, it is a revelation.” He goes on to say, “This would be the radical apogee of Weather Report on records, though they could retain this level of fire in concert for years to come.” [IASW, pp. 143-144]
Part of the fire seemed to come from the Japanese people themselves. “When we went to Japan,” Zawinul recalled, “we didn’t know what kind of a response we would get, but I couldn’t believe what happened. We thought, ‘What are we gonna do with these Japanese people, man?’ They’re so beautiful, such wonderful listeners, but laid back. That was their culture. So we said, ‘Let’s hit ’em hard, right from the first note,’ and we hit ’em hard! We improvised, because the tunes we had written at that time were not very long–eight bars here, a nice little melody, and so on–but we worked it over, and sometimes we’d play it long, sometimes short. It was an inspirational way of doing things, and through that slowly we developed into a band.” [IASW, p. 144]
In a 1977 article, journalist Sy Johnson recalled his impressions of a Weather Report concert from this period. “[Weather Report’s first album] was an intriguing but introspective affair that puzzled many and won over few. I heard the band in a coffee house in the Village shortly after that first Columbia record, and the vagueness had disappeared. A hard-driving confidence was radiating from the bandstand. Eric Grávátt was on drums and moving the group with rare musicality. Dom Um Romão had taken Airto’s place on percussion… [This band] was everything we could have imagined, and more.” [Jazz77]
In a 1972 article, Zawinul talked about the band’s live performances: “Right from the start, [playing together] was just a very natural thing. But I can’t really talk about the music. None of us can. We don’t know what’s happening. We have our tunes and lines, which we always play differently. What’s happening up there is just composing, and when it’s right, it’s magic. There’s a certain chemistry in the band which amazes me–and which makes it very consistent, also.” [MM72]
He offered these words of advice to those planning to attend a Weather Report concert: “Don’t go expecting anything–just let it come to you. That’s the only way I can say it. At the moment, if you expect anything from anyone then you’re likely to get a great shock! That’s all.” [MM72]
Side One
1. Medley: Vertical Invader/Seventh Arrow/T.H./Doctor Honoris Causa (Vitous/Zawinul) 26:12
The original studio version of “Seventh Arrow” appears on the first Weather Report album.
Side Two
2. Medley: Surucucú/Lost/Early Minor/Directions (Shorter/Zawinul) 19:20
Side Three
3. Orange Lady (Zawinul) 18:13
Zawinul told Ray Townley of Down Beat: “[In 1967] I had spent a winter with my family in Austria, and I wrote about ten tunes, including ‘In A Silent Way,’ ‘Directions,’ which Miles [Davis] used to play for a long time as an opener for his show, ‘Early Man,’ and ‘Orange Lady,’ which by the way is 14 minutes of ‘Great Expectations’ on the [Davis] Big Fun album. But there was some kind of mess-up with the titles, so it was not mentioned that it was my tune. Also ‘Pharoah’s Dance,’ ‘Double Image,’ and a couple of other things. I wrote them all in this period during 1967.” [DB75a]
In fact, “Great Expectations” (a Davis composition) and “Orange Lady” were originally issued on Big Fun as one track called “Great Expectations,” and begins at 13:37 of the combined track. The two tracks were separated and given their respective titles on Davis’ The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (August 1969-February 1970). [MB]
Side Four
4. Medley: Eurydice/The Moors (Shorter) 13:49
“Eurydice” comes from Weather Report’s first album, while a studio version of “The Moors,” with Ralph Towner on guitar, appears on I Sing The Body Electric.
5. Medley: Tears/Umbrellas (Shorter/Zawinul) 10:54
Studio versions of both “Tears” and “Umbrellas” were recorded on Weather Report’s first album.
When I first picked up I Sing the Body Electric, it was the very esoteric A side of the album that I would play over and over, never got into the live section on the B side, seemed filler to me, but once I did I was hooked into the natural shape of the music, and the live album was one I played endlessly for many weeks, a great example of what the early version of the band was all about, and as far as I am concerned, this knocks 8:30 out of the park, but that is neither here nor there I suppose.
When did you get the album – around the time when it came out, or was this music recorded well before your birthday? “Filler” is a Gen-X term for music they don’t understand, usually.
There was no “filler” by the great groups in the Sixties and Seventies – some compositions were not entirely successful, but not from lack of trying.
“Filler” has no place in serious discussions about music.
When I got this 2 CD set around 2008, it was readily available on Amazon in America. Snagged a mint copy of the vinyl set on eBay for $13 a year later. It was quite a revelation when I first heard it at 17. My bass player and I at the time listened to the entire first disc in the dark on a nice system. Very wild and “Trippy” as we used to say in those days. Really exploratory sounds. I didn’t get I Sing until later (Unknown Soldiers is one of the greatest pieces ever recorded), and those edits are nice to have when you’re on the go but how fortunate are we to have the entire concert preserved in such high quality.
I just love when you hear the Japanese man scream out when Joe’s fuzz Rhodes comes in like some kind of snarling magic beast on Vertical Invader. You can certainly hear how the band was feeding off the electrified crowd. Any idea why the intro announcement is so much longer on I Sing and shorter on the full live album, and what they’re saying? Love this site, thanks for the awesome work.
The original release label was CBS Sony, not Columbia. Picky I know but when so much thoughtful detail is central to your work…
Thanks, Seamus! I have updated the page with the correct info.