Pat Metheny Group - First Circle

As good as it fusion gets

They don't make 'em any better than this, friends, and judging from the reviews, everyone seems to be in agreement for once. Pat Metheny developed his signature sound and style here, a couple of years before his monumental "Letter From Home" album. Unmatched for its compositional depth and lyricism, this album stands out as one of the best fusion recordings ever. The wordless vocalizations, the octaved lead guitar voice, the soaring synth guitar, the sparking, exploratory, yet subtle piano work of Lyle Mays are all here in their glory. So are the melodies that tend to pull at your heart-strings, and that you just want to sing along with. Several compositions stand out as PMG classics, like First circle, Yolanda, Tell It All, End Of The Game. And to sweeten the deal, it's now available from ECM in cardboard double fold-out format, just like the old vinyl LPs were, for 8 bucks... Love it! December 10, 2008

Entertaining

I've been a Pat Metheny fan for a long time and have to admit there are a few pieces he's done that I frankly don't care much for. Some of his atonal works leave me scratching my head wondering why. The first tune on this CD actually got a belly laugh along with the sincerest hope he was through with the Zappaesk stuff in one track. It's fun and a little satirical once you figure it out.

The whole album (CD) is a joy to listen to. Pat Metheny paints images and takes the listener to magickal places with each album and The First Circle is no different.

This album is interesting and a true pleasure to listen to no matter what your musical preferences. Very few composers are able to invoke vivid personal memories that can make you laugh out loud one moment and then find you lost in your own private retrospection five minutes later but this album (CD) will do that. March 21, 2008

thank you

This title seems to be out of print and I have worn out my original copy.
The 1985 grammy award winning title song "First Circle" is still one of the greatest hidden secrets in the music world..... January 18, 2007

decent but unexciting cd with an awesome last song

I 'm a rock and folk guitar fan more than a jazz guy. I want to hear fretboard acrobatics, cool tones, innovative techniques etc. I understand that Pat Metheny is not a flashy (in that manner) musician.

I also am fully aware that he is a musical giant especially as an arranger, band leader and explorer of different styles.

The music is pleasant but nothing knocks my socks off except...

The last song "Praise" is a stunningly beautiful song. I saw Metheny circa 1985-1986 and he played it full knowing how beautiful of a composition it was. It worked very well as an encore, show closer. The cd is worth the price just for that 4-5 minutes of utter joy. September 2, 2006

What a wondrous circle it is...

Jolly jeepers, that blew it out the water. I knew PMG was good. Heck, I've known that for a long time, but man, this is one of their best albums, which is definitely saying something considering they've never really made a bad record. Rarely has their permutation of Brazilian backbeats, pop and rock rhythms and melodies, jazz improvs, and Reich-like harmonies blended so well or have been so captivating than on this. To all the people who are cool enough to at least give PMG a chance, I say this: "Offramp" is gold, but "First Circle" is platinum.

The PMG has gotten to a point where record labels mean nothing anymore. The ECM record label has always had a trademark for dishing out raw, cold, Nordic jazz-fusion, complete with "Anno's Counting Book"-ish album covers. It's a label with masters on it to be sure, but PMG has finally said: "Let the falcon go."

Like "Offramp", "First Circle" has the band getting a complete facelift. Dan Gottlieb is gone and has been replaced with the equally talented Paul Wertico, and percussionist extraordinare Nana Vasconcelos leaves the shoes for Argentinan multi-instrumentalist Pedro Aznar to fill. Unlike Nana, whose voice provided haunting ambience rather than poppish stage presence, Aznar comes out swinging, proving full well that he can sing his booty off.

One of the great things about this album is the variety, and the band's control over their own style. The ridiculous opener "Forward March" is a dead-on parody of inept high school marching bands, and can afford to be skipped if you want to get down to the meat of this steak. It's obviously Pat's way of saying that the metal in his mouth didn't blend well with the Satchmo-a-bob back in middle school. Then comes the effervescent "Yolanda You Learn", a space-aged Charleston/new wave jazz/hand-clapping/toes-tapping slugfest. After 22 listens on my iPod, almost all in a row, it has become one of my favorite PMG songs. I heard about it getting plenty of videoplay on MTV back in the '80s, and I kind of wish I was alive to have seen it. I heard it was very impressionistic, kind of like those Charles Schwab commercials with the rotoscoping animation. How cool is that?

Yet here comes another inevitable comparison to "Offramp": it has a track that becomes every fan's favorite. "Are You Going With Me?" was the highlight of "'Ramp", and the title track is the highlight of this. However, I'm surprised at this opinion of a lot of people: "'First Circle' is the only good song on this. Everything else is just filler." The title track is by all means a classic, but come on, people. There are plenty of great songs to be had here. Besides, unlike the live version on the band's second live album, "The Road To You", Pedro Aznar almost sounds like he's running out of gas in the middle of the tune. I do love the overdubbed vocals, though, something the live version didn't have. Next up is "If I Could", a sweet jazz ballad in the tradition of Pat's more hardcore jazz albums. Like I said, the variety here is amazing.

You can hear how many of PMG's later albums borrowed so many elements from this. The tense and swingin' avant-jazz of "Tell It All" was obviously influential on later tense and swingin' avant-jazz PMG songs like "Proof" and "Place in the World" from "Speaking of Now". That's what makes "Tell It All" such a special song, and the perfect newcomer avant-jazz epic: it's surprisingly catchy, rhapsodic, and metaphysically complex. You don't get that with a lot of those types of songs, and I love the glockenspiels/bells in the beginning and end: "Da-dum. Da-da. Da-dum. Da-da. Dum-dum. Da, da-da!" Ha ha! By the way, I'm lovin' Lyle's solo on that one.

The eclecticism of this stunning album hits its peak with "End of the Game", a smooth, funky jazzer where Pat does a great job at improvising, and just when you think the song resolves when the cadens come in, it doesn't. It almost feels like a lounge you'd hear on a space station. Unlike some efforts, it rarely seems like Pat is taking up all the solos here: he's taking a lot, but he's also letting everybody take form, including the amazing Steve Rodby, a perpetually humble yet supple bassist. Aznar is showcased brilliantly, and sings his fanny off on one of the most heartfelt ballads I've ever heard, "Mas Alla (Beyond)". I read the translation of the poetry, and it's deep, man. Aznar is not only a great musician and singer, he's a poet with a heart of gold. Finally, the poppish "Praise" will have you praising this amazing masterwork for a long time.

Music fans everywhere, if you're just now being exposed to PMG, have this be the first album you pick up. It is one of their most accessible recordings, yet requires you to listen multiple times to hear all the great things that are going on. Catch the fever.

n3ur010g1c gives PMG's "First Circle" a 10...out of 10.

March 5, 2006

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