Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays - As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls

It's better than most PMG - insipid in places but has some good moments

This is just a matter of taste, but I have never quite 'got' the PMG. Mostly I find the music very simple and saccharine. I find tracks like 'Phase Dance' unbearable. But there are some excellent tracks here and there, eg. 'Are You Coming with Me?', or 'The Heat of the Day', and Metheny can produce some great soloing.

I think the title track is a very good piece of music. It starts atmospherically and has some interesting dynamics throughout. 'September 15th' is above average for PMG. The other tracks are, again, just a bit too twee for my tastes.

For those wanting longer pieces with more emotional oomph and musical interest, try Yes's 'Close to the Edge' or Allan Holdsworth's 'The Unmerry-Go-Round'.



September 30, 2008

Mesmerizing stuff indeed

This classic from 1981 is one of my favourites from the Metheny/Mays partnership and is a must-have for any fan of their music. It's mesmerizing stuff indeed.

The title track is very experimental even by today's standards let alone back then and as one might predict, it got (and still gets) very mixed reviews. Personally, I love it though and, according to Metheny himself in a magazine article, many of the ideas employed on the Pat Metheny Group's 2005 album The Way Up actually had their genesis on this recording 24 years earlier! I find that amazing.

The album speaks to me in so many different ways and though I've had it on vinyl since 1987 (the brilliant title track takes up the whole of side one!), I just had to get the CD because this is the kind of music I love playing in the car while driving late at night. "September Fifteenth", a dedication to Bill Evans and ""It's For You"" are also personal favourites as is the closing vocal track, "Estupenda Graça", sung by Nana Vasconcelos, whose vocals can also be heard in other places on the album. At 2mins 41secs it's much too short, though I have read somewhere that it was expanded on during a subsequent live tour that included the singer & percussionist in its lineup. Vasconcelos also plays berimbau, percussion and drums on this recording. Lyle Mays plays piano, synthesizer, organ and autoharp and Pat Metheny plays electric & acoustic 6 & 12 string guitars and bass.

These dudes are simply the best. They've had me enthralled for well over 20 years now and I applaud them for refusing to adhere to the narrow definitions of jazz that many would prefer them to. October 20, 2007

Fascinating and haunting......this one stays with you

I probably would have given this a 5-star rating if it wasn't for that pointless little 2-minute song at the end with the vocals that, like the song itself was totally unnecessary. It still confuses me why they tagged that inane little piece on the end of an otherwise supurb piece of work. The 20-minute title tune is difficult to describe.....as I said, it's fascinating, haunting and it stays with you. It's a beautiful slab of artistry that deviates not only from Metheny's norm, but ANYONE'S norm. It maintains a minimalist foundation, it builds, subsides and just continues to mesmerize. The next song "Ozark" is more of a straight jazz piece featuring Mays on the piano, and the next 2 songs are fabulous pieces that remind you more of what you expect from Metheny. The album would have been excellent and complete with those 4 songs. Despite the diversity, it is an amazingly cohesive album. Everything goes together so well!! Then, that last bit just hangs there and makes you say, "What was that for?" There is an album's worth of brilliant material here. The album is worth any cost just for the title tune, but most of the rest of the album is a tremedous supplement. Overall, this is an album you should get........most of it, you will play many times over!
September 18, 2007

First - listen to the samples

If I had listened to samples before and not just read the reviews - I never would have bought it. That does not mean that you wouldn't like it. September 16, 2007

Metheny's best

I was fortunate enough to be music director at my college radio station when AFWFSFWF came out and we wore the grooves out on this disc. It's been 26 years since, and the music has proved to be timeless. It's also full of messages- I've heard the theme of the title track covers anything from nuclear war to Vietnam. That ability to take away different interpretations of the music is what has impressed me so much.

I don't know if this has been mentioned before here, but I was once told that all of the images on the album cover represent a song title on the album. I can understand that. It's an awesome cover, too. August 28, 2007

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