Weather Report: A Remark You Made

Just as mid-'70s jazz electronica struck rock bottom with Return to Forever's facile superficiality and the Head Hunters' headlong pursuit of the Almighty Funk, along came this incredibly beautiful ballad. With Zawinul's lush keyboards gently enveloping Shorter's yearning sax, and the extraordinary melodicism of Jaco Pastoriuswas ever there a bassist with a more distinctive sound?this track by itself nearly redeems the entire dreck-drenched decade, standing like a pristine tropical island in a sea turned murky by pawed-over dollar bills. "A Remark You Made" is as deeply moving as one of John Coltrane's Ballads (1962). There is no higher compliment.