I Can See Your House From Here

Bill Stewart, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow | Format: Audio Cassette

Product Details

• Audio Cassette (April 5, 1994)
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00000EEEK
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,631,096 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I Can See Your House from Here

2. The Red One

3. No Matter What

4. Everybody's Party

5. Message to a Friend

6. No Way Jose

7. Say the Brother's Name

8. S.C.O.

9. Quiet Rising

10. One Way to Be

11. You Speak My Language

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything it should have been, November 21, 2002

By 

Micah Newman (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Can See Your House From Here (Audio CD)

Some collaborations between jazz giants seem to have been disappointing for whatever reason. John Scofield and Pat Metheny have such distinct approaches to jazz guitar, who could have foreseen what such a project would end up like? They may well have staked out their own territory at left and right speakers and just dueled off one another, but this stuff works incredibly well as a *collaboration*, a perfectly enmeshed meeting of two great minds of music (how's that for alliteration?)

John and Pat take about an equal share of songwriting. Some of John's best tunes are here showcased, such as the knowing, easy swing of the title cut, the lovely ballad "No Matter What" (he can sure do those too!) and the catchy, accessible "Everybody's Party". The two of them play in unison so well, it sounds like a single guitar run through a chorus effect or something, but then one of them will snag some witty harmonic aside in there somewhere and remind you that in fact two different guitars are playing. Beautiful.

Pat's placid acoustic numbers like "Message to My Friend" and "Quiet Rising" blend in the mix pretty well, and it's nice to hear Sco fitting into that context too (in fact, Amazon.com says that this recording date made Scofield finally actually buy an acoustic guitar, and the acoustic album _Quiet_ resulted a couple years later). Which is not to say that's the only thing Pat brings to the table. He rips it up in the energetic "The Red One", wherein he takes a solo with his distinctive "synth-guitar".

The rhythm section of Stewart/Swallow is impeccable. I love those little Chinese cymbals Bill Stewart uses to punctuate certain songs. Bassist Steve Swallow (always choosing just the right note instead of walking his fingers off trying to find it) and Scofield have such a history, they play perfect together. Terrific album, sterling quality all around, highly recommended.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a Duo, January 7, 2002

By 

Russell Diederich (Littleton, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: I Can See Your House From Here (Audio CD)

What happens when you put two great jazz guitarists in the same recording studio? You get "I Can See Your House From Here". Pat Metheny and John Scofield are different enough guitarists that it really adds to the excitement of this album. Rarely, will you see two masters of the guitar appear like this without trying to upstage each other. All eleven tunes on this album are originals, each writing about half the material.

This album is load with lots of great licks, and music. The title track has a good theme to it, which each guitarist takes turns exploring. It nearly crosses the line into free-jazz, and sounds a little spacey. With "The Red One" they duo is grounded with both feet firmly on the earth. Scofield steps out first to explore his vision of the song. At the halfway mark, Metheny turns on his synth and sounds like a trumpet taking the solo. The solos go back and forth for the whole album, and the guitar work is incredible. Other notables on this album are "One Way to Be", "No Matter What" and Message to My Friend".

This isn't just an album of guitar. Steve Swallow and Bill Stewart join up with bass and drums respectively. Both are fine musician's and are able to provide the beat that the duo play off of. Stewart delivers an excellent drum solo on "Everybody's Party", that will have you banging the desktop or steering wheel like it was your own little drum kit.

If you're a fan of either Scofield or Metheny, this is quite an album to have, and I highly recommend it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I like it a lot, September 20, 2006

By 

Max-Factor (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: I Can See Your House From Here (Audio CD)

I am not a fan of either artist (Scofield, Metheny) or particularly fond of modern jazz. I am aware they are accomplished musicians. I always liked Metheny's "This Is Not America" with David Bowie. Several years back, I read about the audiophile qualities of this CD from an audio equipment review. I considered buying it but then was discouraged thinking it would be too abstract to hold my interest. Some of the reviews on this site were not that encouraging either. Anyway I finally bought it. All the audiophile qualities mentioned in the equipment review were spot on. This is not some ordinary modern jazz recording. Aside from the sonic qualities, I thought the performance level, the improvisations were really top notch. Each track has a unique theme and structure skillfully performed. The percussion work is really world class and I felt it really drives the whole show. If you have a system that is revealing, you are in for a treat particularly with the percussion work. The recording has stage depth, highly transparent sound. Instruments are well separated. It sounds like several microphones were used to capture the percussions. The listener can follow each instrument and it's nuances with no effort.

I wish there was little more emphasis on electric base - one of the tracks towards the end gives the listener some taste of base notes which is also tastefully done. I did not hear a single track that was a sleeper. This one is a keeper. Highly recommended.