PISTOL MISFIRES : CHECK LIST: **** Great Balls of Fire, *** Good Vibrations, ** Maybe Baby, * Running on Empty

*”MERCY.” Steve Jones. MCA. Jones was guitarist with the Sex Pistols, but on the evidence of his debut solo LP you’d think punk never happened. A mellow record that’s sadly short on the spirit that made his previous group go down in history, “Mercy” finds Jones backed by a mediocre band and singing a collection of barely adequate songs in a lugubrious voice reminiscent of Billy Idol. Anyone who saw Jones perform with his two post-Pistols bands, the Professionals and Checquered Past, knows that he’s one tough rock guitarist. So why is this record so wimpy? Jones--a former heroin addict who’s now a highly vocal anti-drug activist--seems to be under the impression that in order for music to express a positive message it has to sound soothing and bland. There’s a happy medium between drug-crazed mania and the somnambulism of Phil Collins, and that’s the zone Jones ought to head for on his next album.