pryso, your musical knowledge is certainly not an issue, imo. Even more importantly, your musical instincts are excellent, imo. Having said that, I hope you are not suggesting that you consider all WR albums prior to MT to be on the same level of creativity; that would suggest that you don’t have a favorite. You are correct that this sort of question seldom has a definitive answer and is subject to personal taste. Are there any WR albums that you consider to be exceptional?
All those concerns aside, however, I would say that for whatever it may be worth MT is generally cited as, if not always the best, certainly one of the best WR albums. For me it makes a clear move to a more structured (and, for me, interesting) compositional approach (the tunes are better) as opposed to the more liberal use of vamps for extended improvisations in earlier records. This combined with the fact that this was the record that, as supertweak suggested, began Zawinal’s more prominent role in the band. Great band whose music and playing, to be honest, I admired more than I liked. Then, of course, is the fact that this was the last album before Jaco came aboard. This changed the sound of the band in a big way. So, best (whatever that is) or not, I think it is certainly a milestone of sorts.
All those concerns aside, however, I would say that for whatever it may be worth MT is generally cited as, if not always the best, certainly one of the best WR albums. For me it makes a clear move to a more structured (and, for me, interesting) compositional approach (the tunes are better) as opposed to the more liberal use of vamps for extended improvisations in earlier records. This combined with the fact that this was the record that, as supertweak suggested, began Zawinal’s more prominent role in the band. Great band whose music and playing, to be honest, I admired more than I liked. Then, of course, is the fact that this was the last album before Jaco came aboard. This changed the sound of the band in a big way. So, best (whatever that is) or not, I think it is certainly a milestone of sorts.