8:30

The album takes its name from the band's habit of starting their performance at 8:30 PM. At the time of the tour, the band was a quartet and would take the stage continuously for around two and a half hours, each of the members taking a solo. Wayne Shorter sometimes plays percussion instead of saxophone on stage, and on one of the studio tracks, the calypso inspired "Brown Street", Joe Zawinul's son Erich plays percussion with Erskine and Pastorius. Jaco Pastorius played a notable solo on "Slang" == Release ==

The album was originally a double gatefold LP. In the US, the reissue on CD dropped "Scarlet Woman", as the album's running time narrowly exceeds the Red Book standard's maximum running time for a single CD. The album was released as a 2-CD set outside the US. == Critical reception ==

Reviewing in ''Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981), Robert Christgau wrote: "The live double their more bemused admirers have waited for years is indeed Weather Report's most (if not first) useful album. But it also defines their limits. This is a band that runs the gamut from the catchy to the mysterioso. Joe Zawinul is the best sound effects man since Shadow Morton. And when he gives himself room, Wayne Shorter can blow." He wrote, "Weather Report live at last! . . . Weather Report is a good live act. In the past few years their stage show has become downright flashy, and these performances evoke vivid images . . . This is wonderful music". ==Track listing==

• Joe Zawinul – keyboards, ARP Quadra synthesizer bass, Korg Vocoder VC-10, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, percussion • Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone • Jaco Pastorius – fretless bass guitar, percussion; drums on "8:30" & "Brown Street" • Peter Erskine – drums • Erich Zawinul – percussion on "Brown Street" • The West Los Angeles Christian Academy Children's Choir – vocals on "The Orphan" ==References==