7. Weather ReportSweetnighter
Another one of my parents’ records. I have really early memories of this. I suppose now you’d call this ‘electric jazz/rock’, and while the 13-minute opener ‘Boogie Woogie Waltz’ has one of the worst names ever, it’s epic Report at its finest. This is before Jaco Pastorius joined. It’s Miroslav Vitouš’ last record.
It’s mega pretentious yet extremely soulful. There’s something extra heavy sounding about this album that I’ve loved for years. The trippy faces in the clouds on the cover are a bonus. There’s something really psychedelic about it and I like all their records after this as well. La Di Da Di will come out on vinyl as well, of course. I think record buyers want the double-gatefold glossy sleeve and the heavyweight vinyl, where it’s frisbee-like. I think they want all that, and that’s why vinyl’s so expensive.
I wanted to do just the flimsy white label, just so you can have it on vinyl without the expense. To me that’s just as cool. Just a stamp, ‘Battles – La Di Da Di, on a white label. I’m amazed at these represses of classic rock records, like Dark Side Of The Moon or Zeppelin III. They repress them on that really thick vinyl – it’s expensive as hell!
