Search - Weather Report :: Mr Gone

The Antithesis of a Rock-n-Roll Band

Mr. Richard D. Coreno | Berea, Ohio USA | 02/28/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The infamous 1978 album that received a one-star (out of a possible five) from Down Beat magazine got a debate going between the band and the publication, fans amongst fans and critics versus critics in a controversy that still brews today concerning the merits of the eight tracks.



That the follow-up to the brilliant Heavy Weather was certified gold got lost in the mix of the noises that challenged this experiment in sound, with the inclusion of elements as diverse as disco to avant-garde. The trio of Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius and Wayne Shorter are riding a crest of popularity after the cross-over hit, Birdland. But rather than play the rock band game of the era and crank out a clone album/single, the trio pursues a parallel trail to 1974's Mysterious Traveller.



The percussion/drummer spot is unsettled, with Manola Badrena, Peter Erskine, Tony Williams and Steve Gadd handling the duties. The 37:15 is split into two compositions each from Shorter (The Elders, Pinocchio) and Jaco (River People, Punk Jazz), with four numbers by Zawinul; The Pursuit of the Woman with the Feathered Hat, Young and Fine, Mr. Gone, And Then.



That Zawinul used the studio as an artistic laboratory cannot be denied. That the "flaws" of the album are based on the group attempting to stretch the sound is a plus....and not a fallen star.







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Wonderful music. A great experimental album from an ever evo

Daveyboots | Brighton & Hove | 08/09/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was a tough nut to crack for many after the more accessible "Black market" and "Heavy weather" albums of the Jaco Pastorius era. Weather report were in a transitionary state and this is the album which emerged. It clearly wasn't what people had come to expect from them and there was a lot of controversy about it at the time. The "jazz purists" hated it and thought WR had sold out to DISCO. Absolute poppycock!! Weather Report were never a band for the jazz purists anyway. There is nothing on this album that remotely resembles disco, except perhaps the incessant "pea-soup pea-soup" hihat cymbals on "River People" which Jaco draws our attention to and makes fun of.



I believe that "Mr. Gone was a very deliberate progression of the band who's name suggests constant change. In my opinion, this highly artistic album was their best to date after the brilliant 1974 album "Mysterious traveller". (Yes, Weather Report were good before Jaco Pastorius joined them.) "Mr. Gone" contains some of Jaco's most beautiful bass lines.

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