donn@sdchema.UUCP (Donn Seeley) (07/26/83)
Pat Metheny Group: TRAVELS. ECM 23791-1J. Ralph Towner: BLUE SUN. ECM 23788-1E. Simon and Bard Group (with Ralph Towner): TEAR IT UP. Flying Fish FF292. If you have ever been to a Pat Metheny concert, you'll realize that rather than rehashing old tunes he likes to lick into new ones; sometimes more than half of the material that he performs has never been recorded. I have heard that Metheny tours for 10 months of the year, which means that the only time he has to develop new music is when he is on the road. Metheny's new live double album, TRAVELS, presents this characteristic well: there is at least one new piece on each side, and sometimes more than one. The older tunes are well represented: there are his two concert classics, "Phase Dance" and "San Lorenzo", originally from the PAT METHENY GROUP album, plus an abridged version of "As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls", from the album of the same name. We also get "Are You Going With Me?" from OFFRAMP and a beautiful guitar solo piece called "Goin' Ahead" from 80/81. The new material takes pride of place, however; I count 7 new pieces out of 12 on the album. All of the new stuff is good, and some of it is excellent. The material shows a growing versatility with the Synclavier guitar and keyboard, which provided some interesting sounds on a few of the tracks from OFFRAMP. (To give you some help, in "Are You Going With Me?" the not-quite-harmonica is Lyle Mays on the keyboard Synclavier, while the not-quite-trumpet is Pat Metheny on the guitar Synclavier. I understand that the Synclavier is some sort of digital synthesizer which can take any sound and resynthesize it to taste, which explains the uncanny mutation of guitar into trumpet.) Notable of the new pieces are "Straight on Red", a sprightly percussion-fest which shows that drummer Dan Gottlieb has come a long way since WATERCOLORS; the tender "Travels", a song calculated to make you homesick, featuring the tasteful bass of Steve Rodby; and "Song for Bilbao", a carnival of a tune in which Pat shows how fast he can play a guitar Synclavier. This is a required album for Metheny fans and also a very good album to buy if you have no Metheny albums and are curious about this sort of music. On another front we have Ralph Towner, lately of the group Oregon, with a new solo album. Towner's previous album, SOLO CONCERTS, was done live and unedited, just Ralph and a couple guitars and an audience. In contrast the new album BLUE SUN is Ralph Towner as a one-man band, playing several instruments besides his incredible guitars, overdubbed to create the effect of a five- or six- member group. In addition to the guitars, piano and French horn, Towner picks up a cornet, various pieces of percussion and a Prophet 5 synthesizer. The synthesizer is the really new piece of equipment; Towner's previous albums have been almost exclusively 'acoustic', which may have been a reaction to the unoriginal use of synthesizers as replacements for overdubbed string instruments and for electric guitars in 'fusion' music. Towner's eclecticism has overcome his resistance to synthesizers, however, and the new album uses one on all but one track. The result is quite appealing. In the title track a piano and a 12-string guitar weave in and out of a theme stated by the synthesizer; in "The Prince and the Sage" a 6-string guitar and a synthesizer play a medieval duet. "C.T. Kangaroo" is a fun piece that sounds like it was written and played by Josef Zawinul, while "Mevlana Etude" is a typically beautiful guitar solo. "Wedding of the Streams" is a variation on the patented Towner 12-string technique in which the synthesizer clashes, then melds, then clashes again; "Shadow Fountain" is a pleasant piece with an odd signature featuring a repeating synthesizer theme and a cornet. "Rumours of Rain" is a long quiet piece that brings me the image of a distant cloud in the desert twilight. Each track has something to recommend it; rather than pick one or two tracks, I'll simply recommend the whole album! It's truly beautiful. TEAR IT UP by the Simon and Bard Group isn't in the same class as the last two albums, but it's still very pleasant. The sound is vaguely like Pat Metheny, and so it shouldn't be surprising that bassist Steve Rodby went to play with Metheny after making this album. The music has its derivative moments, but there are strong hints of creativity in tunes like "Laszlo's Muse" and "Octabloon" (the latter features Ralph Towner on 12-string). This group has the promise of better albums down the road, but this effort isn't small potatoes either. TEAR IT UP is certainly worth buying if you enjoy Metheny-like music. An earlier album, MUSAIC, is also quite nice. Comments, other reviews welcomed, Donn Seeley UCSD Chemistry Dept. RRCF ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdchema!donn
taylor@sdcsvax.UUCP (Dave Taylor) (07/27/83)
a quick note: Concerning the new Pat Metheny album Travels, it is I feel the best album from the group ever, and they are easily (EASILY!) one of the best groups in modern jazz. (ie I like it ALOT!) -- Dave Taylor
zzz@mit-eddie.UUCP (Mike Konopik) (08/06/83)
Is anybody out there a Tyzik fan? I have heard both of the albums his group has that I know about, Prophesy and Radiance, and thoroughly enjoyed both of them. Does anyone know if there are any more albums out by them? (or even better, any CD's out??) Thanks -Mike genrad!mit-eddie!zzz zzz%mit-oz@mit-mc