Customer Reviews

Works

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Almost simultaneously with the departure of the Pat Metheny Group to Geffen Records, ECM issued one-volume retrospectives of many of their major artists -- Metheny, Jarrett, Rypdal, Gismonti, Garbarek, Frisell etc. ECM had made its name in the 70s not only for its chamber-like recording quality but also for the excellence of the heavy vinyl used in manufacturing its LPs. The 'Works' series, issued in 1984, marked the end of the dominance of the LP and the popular acceptance of CD. This would be one of the last occasions that ECM insisted that its artists released LP-sized albums.

So here you get around 50 minutes of choice Metheny tracks, selected to divide neatly into sides one and two, each of 25 minutes. Choosing the best of Pat Metheny was always going to be an impossible task. For some perverse reason, neither version of 'Are You Going With Me' is included here -- that track, along with 'This is Not America', is generally accepted as Pat's greatest 'hit' of the 1980s.

But I cannot complain about the tracks that have been left out. This appears to be an album designed to give the listener some great tracks, sufficient to buy the original albums from which they came, and then to discover that there are even greater tracks waiting for them on those albums.

The selection from the double '80/81' is impeccable. 'Every day (I thank you)' and 'Goin Ahead' are the best tracks on that album. Of all the pieces that any composer has written for acoustic guitar, 'Goin Ahead' is the piece I would most like to be able to play myself.

The only inclusion I might criticise is the opening track, 'Sueno Con Mexico', which seems to take a long time to get nowhere, and might put the impatient listener off from discovering the jewels that exist further into this CD.

All in all though, this is a great album, and the one you should give to any friend who needs an introduction to the genius that is Pat Metheny.

3 1/2

Pleasant refresher course in older Metheny isn't a must-own compilation but can still be a revelation for fans ignorant of earlier acoustic success.

The uptempo tracks soar- I feel like I'm flying over the prairie just listening to It's For You. The downtempo tracks are brilliant and filled with surprises.

The only thing I would want to change about this album is that it's too short- I don't ever want it to end.

There are some wonderfull pieces on this recording. A very pleasant, relaxing, soothing tape. I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't like it.