Pat Metheny Group - Offramp

Blissful even after 20 years

I bought this album on vinyl when it came out at the ripe old age of 14 because my guitar teacher told me to. I listened to it the whole way through and hated it. Where is the guitar, I thought? The title track was a cacophony I didn't understand and the rest sounded like Muzak.

So I shelved it and bought a few other, older Metheny albums and finally got back to it three years later. My ears had matured in that time and was surprised to discover what a fantastic album it was, now one of my favorite albums of all time. I love buying an album that you still love with all your heart even though you have heard it a thousand times. To me that means it appeals to the mind as well as the ear. Buy this album and force yourself to listen to it over and over and you will know what I mean. The vinyl edition is more satisfying than the CD.
March 3, 2008

OH SO BORING!!!!

I find this album, cd or whatever you want to call it pretty boring. I mean Metheny is obviously a master, but if your expecting anything comparable to bright size life you'll be disappointed. Imagine Kenny G with a guitar synth and some cool wind noises behind it. I'm sorry if I just don't get it, but I don't. January 13, 2008

Unfinished cacophony...

This is a favorite of mine. I got into Metheny in high school, and still love his music. He's always been underrated as a jazz artist, which I find disappointing. His albums sold decently, but he never achieved crossover success. Anyway, I love this whole album, but I love the song Au Lait the most. It's etheral, moving, extremely haunting, like Metheny's best work. It reminds me a lot of the As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls album. The title track is magnificent, a cacophony of free jazz and new age aesthetics. I didn't know what free jazz was when I listened to it, but the title track is totally free jazzish. Metheny must have been hanging around Ornette Coleman at this time (he eventually made an album with Ornette called Song X, which is amazing). Are You Going With Me? is kind of bouncy and dare I say cute? Sure, why not? Metheny is still going strong today, and I hope more people rediscover him.

December 1, 2007

Perfect Turn

Thanks to their peerless creativity and dedication to performance, the Pat Metheny Group never ceases to carve out a new, exciting, and captivating angle to their music. Most of the time, it's like witnessing Michelangelo carving out a new angle in the creation of the Statue of David. The most essential angle was carved in New York City in 1981.

When I first listened to "Offramp", I enjoyed it, but I didn't find it groundbreaking. Granted, the only records I had heard previous to it was "The Road To You", a fantastic live album by the Group and one of my favorites of theirs to this day, and "Imaginary Day", a broad and bold escape to another world. But I was still young and unaware, a 12-year-old kid who was looking for something along the lines of "The Roots of Coincidence" from "Day" or "Third Wind" on "The Road". Now, seven years later, I have heard almost every Group album and am determined to get my voice out on this fantastic band. Well, after "American Garage", I popped this in with the volume turned way up. Almost immediately, I forgot about any doubts regarding my opinion of this recording seven years ago. Ladies and gentleman, you are looking at the album cover of one of the greatest albums of one of the greatest bands in modern jazz history, and that's saying something. While the Group has never released a bad recording, at least not to this listener's ear, there are precious few albums that can be considered cornerstones, turning points, REVOLUTIONS in both the band's history and music history. "Offramp" is one of them.

After a three-year stint with Mark Egan on bass, Pat Metheny the bandleader decided that it was time for a change in direction, and, if you'll forgive me for being cornball, an offramp to go down that lead to a long and winding road of unlimited possibility. Mark Egan was replaced with the Joliet bass prodigy Steve Rodby, and the Brazilian percussionist extraordinaire Nana Vasconcelos was brought in as a "special guest". C'mon, let's be honest here: he should practically be a band member right from the get-go, as evidenced by the masterful percussion work and atmospheric wordless vocals on the haunting yet rousing opener "Barcarole".

I think the duet (it's really a trio) recording "As Falls Wichita" really helped Metheny and keyboardist and co-composer Lyle Mays focus and hone their musical maturity. Many of the orchestrations and textures from "Wichita" influenced the sounds on "Offramp", but the two are very different in their execution. For instance, it features the instrument that Metheny continues to use to this very day: the Synclavier guitar, a bold new innovation back in the day, and still quite effective today.

On the opening "Barcarole", we get Metheny's take on the Synclavier in action, backed by lush orchestrations, amazing percussion as said earlier, and a killer bass line, although very subtle (subtlety is an innate quality of Steve Rodby that makes him an indispensable bassist). Metheny programs it to sound like a trumpet, which might seem off-putting to some people, but to me, it makes the guitar sing like a power-house soul singer who reads Joseph Conrad. The exotic influences heat this album up, especially on the masterpiece...wait for it..."Are You Going With Me?". There is no denying the popularity behind this tune, and it is unquestionably justified. It starts slow, and builds and builds and builds with a harmonica synth solo from Mays and a sublime solo from Metheny, still considered to be one of, if not, his best, particularly to rock fans, I imagine. It has that staying power, conveying a beautiful love affair where the passion ensnares you into going places far beyond your wildest dreams. Believe the hype: it's a hallmark. Sadly, the follow-up "Au Lait" has long been overlooked by the Group and the fans. Don't dismiss for easy-listening at all, because "Au Lait"'s beauty isn't atmospheric for the sake of being atmospheric: It encourages you, the listener, to create your own experience. Let your mind wander when listening to that one, and don't be afraid to go where it takes you.

The next few tracks appear to be more conventional, but they too are grounded in deeply layered production, almost like a good New Wave record, which is evidenced on "Eighteen". I didn't care too much for this one at first, but it grew on me, much like "Airstream" on "American Garage". There are simply too many things going on to dismiss it as filler, and it will get you movin' and groovin'. However, it is the calm before the storm that is the title track, a ferocious, atonal free jazz slugfest where almost all musical convention is thrown out the window. But like its influence Ornette Coleman, the song "Offramp" is grounded in loosely-structured melody. If it wasn't, I couldn't stand it, but I really dig it, and hopefully, you will too. It was almost as if Metheny was saying, "Alright, guys, we did you a favor. Nana, Lyle and I wrote a tune that's 'pleasing to the ears' and 'relaxing'. Yeah, we gave you what you wanted. So allow us, good people, to kindly counter with an incendiary opus that is beneficial to the progression of our musical erudition. In other words, 'Kiss our grits, we're gonna go crazy'. Yeah.

Returning to conventional jazz form on "James" as a way of cooling off after "Offramp" was wise, and shows off just how versatile a band they are. This loving tribute to James Taylor has amazing solos, especially on Lyle's part, probably the best he's ever done. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and a great end at that, with "The Bat Part II", a gorgeous reworking of "The Bat" from Metheny's trad jazz album "80/81".

I'm sorry this review is so long, but not enough can be said about how fantastic this album is. It has held up so well because its spirit can be felt in every Group album that came afterwards. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

GRADE: A+
January 13, 2007

Will the guitarist please stand up???

Pat Metheny is a great player. He is a great GUITAR player. I don't understand why he feels the need to hide behind the "guitar synth" mask so much of the time. His playing on "Offramp" is incredible, his writing collaboration with Lyle Mays is great and the ensemble is excellent. I just don't understand why it took me until the third cut on the album to hear an instrument that sounded like a guitar instead of a synthesizer playing in the style of a guitarist (or maybe it was a guitarist trying to sound like a synthesizer, I couldn't tell.)

Normally, I don't have a problem with an artist trying to achieve a sound that is outside of the norm. The problem I have with Metheny's guitar synth is that it doesn't really contribute to the music at all. It just heightens the cheese-factor of the music. As a listener, I don't like having to hack my way through thick walls of molten mozzarella with a machete in order to recognize the greatness of the music. Plus, it detracts from his image as a great guitarist when the listener has trouble separating Metheney from Mays. The synth-disease isn't as bad on this album as it is on Secret Story, but I just don't see any reason for the infection at all. The title track especially promises to be one of the most musically interesting tracks on the CD, but the guitar synth just detracts from the material.

Overall, I guess what I'm saying is that I like to hear Metheny play in a more straight-ahead setting. Who wants to hear a guitar that sounds like a diseased brass instrument? Not me. January 10, 2007

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