Pat Metheny Group
Geffen Records
1987

1987 was a benchmark year for contemporary instrumental music. Contemporary jazz was starting to get full-time airplay on a significant number of commercial radio stations, VH1 showed Contemporary Jazz and Adult Alternative videos, David Sanborn was beginning his syndicated radio show, and Kenny G’s "Songbird" became a multi-format hit and got record companies interested in promoting instrumental music. One of the songs that reaped the benefit of that attention was a haunting instrumental that listeners called "The Train Song." There was nothing that sounded similar to it, and very few songs have created such sonic visualization. When you heard it you felt like you were on a train or watching a train pass by. "Last Train Home," with its electric sitar lead and brush drum rhythms, actually sounded like a train on the way home. VH-1 played the video in regular rotation for several months. To further affirm the image of the comfort of coming home Publix Supermarkets used it as the theme for their holiday advertising campaign. This song led a lot of people to buy Still Life (talking), which remains the perfect introduction to Pat Metheny’s music. This music is timeless, it sounds as fresh and contemporary now as it did then.

Still Life (talking) was the group’s first CD on Geffen records, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers. It marked the full realization of the sound that would define the Pat Metheny Group as we now know them. In the tradition of the eclecticism of his career it followed his most abstract project, "Song X" with Ornette Coleman, and his first appearance on the pop charts, "This Is Not America" with David Bowie. A lot of the musical themes that had been explored on his previous solo and group projects were fleshed out in this music: the soaring spacious melodies; the Brazilian influences; and the innovative use of vocal arrangements. The other fascinating element that is still present in PMG music was that the complexity and lengthy improvisational passages that usually scare off listeners who are not steeped in jazz tradition kept the interest of a diverse and growing audience. He already had a solid fan base but the rest of the music captivated the “newbies” who bought it for “Last Train Home.” They stayed and became fans.

The songs on this CD defy categorization. The foundation is contemporary jazz but the shadings of World Music, rock, electronic music, folk and even classical mesh over memorable melodic themes. "Minuano (Six Eight)" begins with flowing keyboard and a vocal chant from David Blamires, Mark Ledford, and Armando Marcal that becomes one of the album’s melodic themes. It weaves through two distinct keyboard melodies from Lyle Mays and solos from Metheny that cover more territory in one song than most guitarists cover in a whole album. The effect is a complete sensory experience within one song. "So May it Secretly Begin" has a more specifically defined melody and acoustic jazz overtones. Again, Metheny’s solos sound so clean and effortless that the speed and complexity don’t overwhelm the melody. There is so much going on instrumentally that it remains unpredictable even after years of repeated listening. This is especially evident on "Third Wind," which continues the multi-layered textural sounds of "Minuano" and "So May it Secretly Begin" but at a much faster pace. "Distance," a short moodscape from Mays, leads into one of Metheny’s most beautiful compositions, "In Her Family".

During the unseasonably cold and rainy week that followed 9/11, I found myself retreating to this CD. The power, vision and beauty of this music were a source of solace and inspiration then and it continues to be. A lot of music is being created and marketed specifically to have that effect but the reason this works so much better is that that it was not created to have a specific effect on the listener. Music with this kind of quality and integrity touches us deeply. This is a CD you will return to often for any number of reasons... some that you will not be able to express with words alone.

Shannon West