=-> Quoting Clark Ray:
 CR> How's Weather Report's _Mr. Gone_?  I've heard of it before, but I
 CR> couldn't remember if it was referred to as something to avoid or
 CR> something to definitely get.  Columbia House is offering it for $3.99
 CR> and I'm thinking about getting it.  How does it compare to _Heavy
 CR> Weather_?
   It's not nearly as good as _Heavy Weather_, but for $3.99, I'd be
 inclined to pick it up.  It's worth it partially because there simply
 aren't that many (good) albums around that feature the late, great
 bassist Jaco Pastorius.  
   FWIW, the Rolling Stone Record Guide gives _Mr. Gone_ a rating
 of 3 stars out of 5.  So, they rate it as a good album.  By way of 
 comparison, _Heavy Weather_ got a full 5 stars.
   Anyhow, here's a little info which might help.  _Mr. Gone_ was
 released in 1978.  It was produced by Josef Zawinul and Jaco Pastorius
 and features them (on keyboards and electric bass respectively) along
 with co-founder Wayne Shorter on sax.  Several drummers were used on
 the album including Peter Erskine, Tony Williams, and Steve Gadd.
    The track listing and composers credits are as follows:
  1) The Pursuit of the Woman with the Feathered Hat (5:01)- J. Zawinul
  2) River People (4:47) - J. Pastorius
  3) Young and Fine (6:50) - J. Zawinul
  4) The Elders (4:18) - W. Shorter
  5) Mr. Gone (5:19) - J. Zawinul
  6) Punk Jazz (5:06) - J. Pastorius
  7) Pinocchio (2:25) - W. Shorter
  8) And Then (3:19) - music: J.Zawinul - lyrics: Sam Guest
   For what it's worth, I like the album.  It's not among Weather Report's
 best, but I think it's certainly worth having if you like the band.
 =-> Quoting Stuart Dubois to Clark Ray:
 SD> According to an article in i/e magazine, it was hated by critics when
 SD> it came out, and was recently listed in the "Penguin Jazz Guide" as
 SD> their worst.
   I think that was probably inevitable since it came right after the
 superb, _Heavy Weather_.
 SD> The author of the article thinks it has some good tracks and some
 SD> bad tracks, but is better than its reputation.
   That's a fair assessment.  I'd agree with that.
     Cheers,
              Martin
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