Weather Report - I Sing the Body Electric (1972 Japanese CBS/Sony Original LP)

Vinyl: EX
Sleeve: EX
Obi: EX

Our grading system explained here.
Photo is of the actual item.

Weather Report - I Sing the Body Electric | Vinyl LP - 1972 Japanese CBS/Sony Original (SOPL 37, CBS/Sony Records Inc.)

Weather Report's first album had been an entirely studio affair. For the second, Zawinul and Shorter split the record in half: one side recorded in the studio in New York across two sessions in late 1971 and early 1972, the other side captured live in Tokyo on January 13, 1972 at Shibuya Kokaido Hall before a standing-room crowd.

"Unknown Soldier" opens the studio side as the most orchestrally complex piece Weather Report had attempted: Hubert Laws on flute, Andrew White on English horn, Wilmer Wise on piccolo and D trumpet, three vocalists, the full rhythm section of Zawinul, Shorter, Vitous, Gravatt and Romão. "The Moors" follows with Ralph Towner's 12-string guitar in its sole appearance on the record, Shorter's composition built around Towner's acoustic tone against Vitous's bowed bass. "Crystal" is Vitous's piece, the bassist making his instrument sound close to a horn at points. "Second Sunday in August" closes the studio side with a Shorter ballad.

The live side opens with the medley of Zawinul's "Vertical Invader," Vitous's "T.H." and Zawinul's "Dr. Honoris Causa" - ten continuous minutes that run from concentrated improvisation into rhythmic lockstep and back again. "Surucucú" is Shorter's, the band loose and free. "Directions" closes the record - originally written by Zawinul for Miles Davis, recorded by Davis in 1968, here taken at roughly twice the original tempo. 

This is the 1972 Japanese CBS/Sony original pressing (SOPL 37), manufactured by CBS/Sony Records Inc. in Tokyo. It has a cap obi and is still in it's original shrink wrap.