Pat Metheny Fans, Great Suggestions Please ??

Count me in as another Pat Metheny fan. Just received Pat Metheny Trio 99>00, Imaginary Day and Missouri Sky. The Trio CD went in first and was rather disappointed with the style of music. Didn't like that too much and was little worried the others might sound more less similar. Not until I played Imaginary Day. Wow this was more like it! Great tunes, quality of recording was top notch and I was totally hooked to the music. So far I liked this CD the best. Missouri Sky by Metheny and Charlie Haden was equally good albeit with a quieter presentation.

I have more Metheny CD's on the way, namely ECM Works, Offramp, American Garage and Pat Metheny Group.

Great thread. I just received a few more Metheny's older albums and was pretty shocked on the quality of recording on these CD's. Most of the recordings that date back to the late 70's are still excellent and in good shape. The great tunes of fusion music are a bonus. So far, I liked all Metheny's albums except for one, the Trio 99>00. However, I share the same opinion as with Chaz801 in that Metheny's contemporary fusion style is one of the finest in jazz music bar none.

I apologize for repeating most that have been said but just can't resist. Charlie Haden/Pat Metheny's "Beyond the Missouri Sky" is a must have. My favourites from this album in order are "Cinema Paradiso(love theme)", "The Moon Song" and "Our Spanish Love Song". I like "James" in "American Garage" and "Farmer's Trust" in "ECM Works II". Pat Metheny Group album with Mays, Egan and Gottlieb is another must have. "Imaginary Day" is another excellent album and my favourites are "follow me" and "across the sky".

Judging from the response here and recommendations of 'must-haves', "The Way Up", "Still Life Talking" and "Letter from Home" will most likely make their way to my doorstep very soon.

I'm glad I discovered this thread.

I now have most of Metheny's albums and find three of his recordings that are exceptional in quality. They are as follows:-

1) One Quiet Night (recorded on Solo Baritone Guitar)
2) Beyond The Missouri Sky ; Haden/Metheny
3) A Map Of The World (soundtrack)

I am surprised no one mentioned the soundtrack "A map of the world" taken from the movie released in 1999 starring Sigourney Weaver. Quality of recording was excellent and the great tunes were a bonus.

The other albums especially from the early 80's and 90's are lightweight in the bass in comparison and do not possess the clarity and depth of the ones as mentioned above.

Xiekitchen,
You are correct that I have not heard an ecm LP as I do not own a single LP. My comments are all based on CD's and that's all I have in my music collection.

I see the ECMs are being released in Japan on SHM CD sometime in September. Could be interesting.

I would appreciate if anybody can comment on the quality of an SHM CD vs. ECMs especially on "Offramp". I have the "Offramp" ECM CD and find the sound of percussion to be rather fake and not natural on my favourite track "Au Lait". I agree that "Offramp" is excellent. It is one of my favourite album from Pat Metheny alongside "Secret Story".

07-12-08: Rja

My experience with the SHM CDs so far is, if the CD sounds excellent in the first place the SHM is frosting on the cake. If the CD doesn't sound

Rja, thanks for the response although this post might be coming a little late. I've just browsed through the listings on Ebay and nearly bought an over-priced Japanese pressing of "Offramp" from an international seller at close to $60. Luckily I remembered some recommendations here on an online store CDJAPAN and managed to find my favourite "Offramp" album over there. Not only it's cheaper at $25 a piece but it is a limited SHM-CD just recently released early this month, fresh off the shelves! I will be able to compare this SHM-CD quality with the ECM version that I have later and see if the hype on the "superior" version is true.

For Pat Metheny fans that would like to try out the SHM-CD's, I would recommend going to this site as there are many SHM-CD's just recently released, some on pre-order with a release date of later this month.

Just an update. I've received the Offramp SHM CD(Made in Japan) and found no difference in sound quality compared to the ECM CD. Either my source is not capable of revealing the finer nuance and detail or I am not listening hard enough. Either way, I doubt there would be significant difference between the two format as the improvement in sound quality is barely noticeable.

I would appreciate some advice. I need to know whether the LP version of Pat Metheny's music would be an improvement to the CD version in the ECM era. I am particularly interested in Secret Story, We Live Here and Offramp. If yes, I would be getting my first turntable very soon. Thanks in advance.

Nobody mentioned "The Falcon and the Snowman" in this thread. Just tried this one and the music is superb!