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One Quiet Night


Joe G

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Hey, how is the sonic quality of the Still Life vinyl compared to the CD? Pat got the rights back for the Geffen stuff or he will soon, and this may be one of the titles that would benefit from a sonic upgrade. The recording is excellent but the CD mastering shows it's age, ditto Letter From Home.

The vinyl 'Still Life' blows the CD away, as does the vinyl of 'Secret Story' and 'Letter From Home'. Much more detail and better soundstage. I just wish that 'Speaking of Now' had also been put out on audiophile vinyl...

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I don't have time for a detailed review of this one right now, but I think it's a very nice record, and a nice contrast from the dense textures of the PMG recordings. Pat covers both Keith Jarrett's My Song, and Jessie Harris' (Norah Jones) Don't Know Why, which he really gives a memorable reading of, with some nice reharmonizations.

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Don't know why I didn't strum....the right chord....when I was supposed to...

Yes, I've been listening to the Metheny disc and it is very nice. Hard to keep the listener's interest up for a whole program of mostly quiet acoustic guitar music, (and that's coming from a guitarist) but if anyone can it's Pat.

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I just got this yesterday, and it gets a BIG thumbs up from me and my wife. Believe me, that's a rare thing! I don't think it will become my favorite Metheny disc, but I think it's going to be up there pretty high. (Just for the record, Offramp gets the honors...)

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I'm glad to see a Metheny discussion, he doesn't get much on the more die-hard jazz boards.

I enjoy pretty much all of his predominant "personalities" for what they are. The early Metheny Group stuff with all the rock influence, the later highly layered, Latin-influenced PMG sound (which I personally feel peaked with STILL LIFE and especially LETTER FROM HOME, the vinyl copy of which I wore down to flat), his more experimental solo excursions (both stripped down, straight ahread, and mega-produced like SECRET STORY), and his "jazz" records - SONG X, QUESTION AND ANSWER and the TRIOS w/Stewart and Johnson.

The Penguin Guide guys just shred stuff like SECRET STORY for being so produced, but that's the whole point - he's not setting out to make a blowing record, dudes, catch a clue! :lol: I don't think everything works on that album, but it's got some moments of stunning beauty, starting with the opener "Above the Treetops" (it's interesting, I have a Cambodian world music CD issued on Peter Gabriel's realworld label that actually has the chant he utilizes there; Pat slowed it down a bit, making it all the more eerie) as someone justly singled out above. Not the kind of thing I listen to a lot these days, but worth returning to over time.

My personal favorite Metheny Group outing is LETTER FROM HOME, which I feel is kind of overlooked. I think STILL LIFE was so great and had such standout key tracks that people view LFH as kind of a "rerun." But Side 1 especially is a seamless masterpiece, one song flowing into the next, the whole thing building to a subtle boil with the stunning "5/5/7." Pet PMG moment: the several bar lead in to ("duh duh duh, duh-duh, duh duh, duh duh, duh-duh...") Pat's solo, and then the actual beginning of Pat's solo, on "Have You Heard." That part where he plays that little boppish phrase and then leaves a brief pause where you can enjoy the tightness of the band and especially Paul Wertico's amazing ride cymbal work before tearing in again...sublime.

Maybe not fully sustained on Side 2, but just that first side alone, along with the gorgeous title track, makes LFH a classic in my view. The pop-influenced stuff, like "Beat 70," is no slouch either.

Edited by DrJ
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Nice post Dr J.

I was pretty disappointed with Penguin's reviews of Metheny, too. A newcomer would probably conclude that very little of his music was worth the time and money. AMG is much closer to my views on this stuff.

Have You Heard is a fun tune. It took a couple of years before it dawned on me that the head is partly in 7/8 time. Even Pat said he was sure it was in 4/4 until he wrote it down. It's that smooth. B)

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I just listened to the first half of the new Metheny CD. Hearing him solo on acoustic guitar without any overdub appeared very attractive on paper.

These are slow folky tunes. Not much jazz. Reminds me of William Ackerman and other "adult contemporary instrumental" music. At first listen it was just boring. Recognizing "I don't know why" was also off-putting.

I have many Metheny CDs (Group, trio, sideman), but I will not get this one.

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I've said a few words on this thread already but concur with JoeG,nice thread Dr'J.-I'll always have some time for PM-got the new one the other day and as expected it's "nice"-sort of chill out music but doesn't exactly make me sit up and listen(maybe I work too hard!!!)-hope he follows it with one of his more "out" projects.

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Joe G - yeah, Metheny is a real monster with making potentially awkward time signatures sound as easy as falling off a log. LFH has a few oddballs - "5/5/7" is the one I can't quite get together in terms of counting it out, especially the intro.

I wonder if he uses the odd meters (probably not consciously, but unconsciously, given his comments to you about thinking "Have You Heard" was straight 4/4!) as a way of balancing his compositions (which are gorgeous but sometimes perilously close to OVERLY sweet and pretty), to give them a sound that is a bit more angular and edgy. Conscious or not, it works.

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I got it a few weeks ago, it's a nice album although the record with Anna Maria Jopek gets more play.... However I find the harmonic variations on this disc to be intriguing..... just when you think Pat is going to run thru a fav. chord sequence, he goes in and plays something very interesting. He also doesn't reference other songs much....... anybody catch the "This is Not America" bit in "Peace Memory"? "Over on 4th St" is a nice tune, I can hear the Group behind it already.

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I wonder if he uses the odd meters (probably not consciously, but unconsciously, given his comments to you about thinking "Have You Heard" was straight 4/4!) as a way of balancing his compositions (which are gorgeous but sometimes perilously close to OVERLY sweet and pretty), to give them a sound that is a bit more angular and edgy. Conscious or not, it works.

Err...I should mention that I read this in his notes for the Songbook. I have yet to meet the man. Someday perhaps... :w

About Claude's comment:

These are slow folky tunes. Not much jazz.

Fair enough, but I would like to point out that about half of these pieces are pure improvisations, which is pretty amazing to me.

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