Music : Mr. Gone

Rating: - Weather Report's Last Gem
Mr. Gone never enjoyed the deserved critical and commercial success of Heavy Weather, nor ever explored the depths of mood or groove that early albums as I Sing The Body Electric or Sweetnighter explored, yet it offered much great music that should have entitled it to more praise.

By then, 1978, the band had found their existence difficult to maintain. Zawinul and Shorter were clearly on to separate paths--along with Joe having a strong grip on the band's choice of material--and Jaco's mental illness and drug abuse was almost hitting unworkable levels.

Yet, they were still one of the most gifted groups of musicians that had ever joined forces--both as players and composers--and this album proves that the magic had not completely faded away.

The late Pastorious offers one of his classics, Punk Jazz, which along with his other composition, River People, continued to prove his immense melodic talent and unimaginable skill, alongside the amazing swing of guest--may he be blessed whatever part of heaven he's holding the beat at--Tony Williams.

For his part, Wayne Shorter, writes to great tunes, the legendary although brief Pinocchio and the dark The Elders--played exclusively by WR's nucleus of Zawinul, Pastorious and himself--while Zawinul delights with the gorgeous Young And Fine, and And Then, a proper farewell sung by the wonderful EWF's Maurice White.

All in all, not a classic--primarily due to the strength and beauty of prior albums--yet a trove of treasures worthy of these men. You do not have to be a completist to seek this album, although if Weather Report is not a band you know well it may not be the most representative nor stellar place to start.

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Rating: - Contains some of the groups seminal tracks
This album has a lot of variety and contains some fantastic tracks, but I'll talk speicfically about two songs on it.

Punk Jazz contains one of Jaco Pastorius' most famous bass solos, a one of a kind tour de force of bass playing lyricism and originality.

This song also contains one of the best and most original soprano sax solos of its time, Wayne Shorter is on peak form here. After the intro the track goes into a beautiful and subtle chord sequence mixed with intricate patterns of dynamics and tasty motifs.

Another highlight is the song Mr. Gone. This shows Joe Zawinul doing some brilliant, quirky and atmospheric synth playing - a classic of originality.

This is one of the albums where Jaco Pastorius defines a whole new way of playing the bass, a whole new sound, with horn like lines and phrasing so full of the originality that made him a legend.

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Rating: - Far from their best but still wonderful
The liner notes accompanying the Sony CD issue of "Mr Gone" make out that the album was not well received at the time of its original relaese. That surprised me because I clearly remember its being voted album of the year 1978 by several Melody Maker journalists. Anyway, the reason given by the liner-notewright for the album's poor reception is that it was perceived as representing Joe Zawinul's - and, more particularly, Jaco Pastorius's - wholesale selling-out to the seventies' commercial behemoth of disco. There's a nugget of truth in that - as there is for the same criticism's being levelled at Herbie Hancock's later effort, "Mr Hands" - but it is still a long way from being an accurate summation. While there are handclaps galore and a definite disco production feel, the compositions and the playing are more than strong enough to carry the production.
The opening "The Pursuit of the Woman in the Feathered Hat" is a natural progression from the groove-driven funk of "Black Market" but differs in the construction, being made up, as it is, of innumerable synthesizer tracks weaving around the solid rhythm. It's been said that "Mr Gone" was a Zawinul solo album in all but name and it must be admitted that the balance of Zawinul and Shorter on the album is seriously dominated by the former. "River People" is pure funk and attracted most of the opprobium that was directed at its composer, Jaco Pastorius. However, there's funk and there's funk: "River People" is in the camp with Hancock's "Just Around the Corner", oblivious to the plethora of worthless studio-manufactured junk that was called funk in the late seventies. My favourite track, Young & Fine" is the liner-notewright's least favourite, which is difficult to understand as it is the track that features Wayne Shorter most prominently and at his best. The groove never lets up as Zawinul wanders off along tangential paths and somehow always manages to get back onto the main path just in time to meet Wayne Shorter's next melodic departure. "The Elders" closed side one of the vinyl pressing with a delicate, multi-layered synth & sax interplay.
"Side two" opens with the album's two weakest tracks, "Mr Gone" and "Punk Jazz". The former features an endlessly repeated sax phrase that begins to grate less than half way through the track's fairly short length. "Punk Jazz" has an impressive intro that promises immeasurably more than the tune ultimately delivers. Wayne Shorter's "Pinocchio" follows and just about works in a form that's markedly different from its previous performances by Miles Davis. "And Then" closes the album on a fairly low note, with Earth, Wind & Fire's Maurice White supplying the vocals for a lacklustre and directionless song.
Even though the last four tracks are a disappointment after the first four, "Mr Gone" is still a wonderful album. Even if you ignore the layers and layers of synths and the sometimes subdued sax, the album is irresistible for the rhythms alone. It's not Weather Reports's best album - not by a long way - but it's still better than almost anything that the punk-shocked rock world or the formula-driven soul & jazz world could produce at the time. And it still sounds good.