Pat Metheny Group - Hermitage [live 1980]

Pat Metheny Group
"Hermitage"

Onkel Pös - Hamburg, Germany
July 7, 1980

Pat Metheny - guitars
Lyle Mays - keyboards
Mark Egan - bass
Danny Gottlieb - drums

Category:

Music

Tags:

• jazz
• fusion
• instrumental
• ensemble
• live music
• guitar
• improvisation

[Aggromerchant]

Dream of the Return is a great song and I enjoy the evocative quality of much of Pat's music. Pedro Aznar is a wonderful music talent. But Pat went overboard with the vocalise; Vasconcelos added fragile colorings and it was great. Before you knew it you were being choked by chocolate bon bons. The Way Up is fantastic, truly the best PMG album since Travels. Did you know, thow, that he had written the main them in 1978? By the way, I've never smoked and the meds aren't a problem.

[molondas]

but, but , but - if you can't get Dream of the Return (other people can - it's a sensational track) then I say you don't understand Metheny at all and you're obsessed with jazz-rock and don't appreciate what a great composer he is, and remains.

[molondas]

Anyway, yes I think you're right, cardigan on, light your pipe and wait for nurse to bring your afternoon medication. :)

[molondas]

I was going to ask what about imaginary day, which does break the mould a bit. And, granted, Gottlieb was a better drummer than Wertico, but Sanchez is better again. And yes, there is something very bright about PMG, Watercolors, New Chaut etc. However, you're in a minority (not that that would or should bother) - see the comments on here for tracks like first circle, third wind, episode d'azur, and See the World (bet that one makes you puke!!).

[Aggromerchant]

To make a long story short, PMG has become a sad example of rootless world citizenship and all-things-to-all-men pandering and borrowing. Metheny himself has become insufferable with his pronouncements. But at the end of the day, it's good for a laugh for guys like me who actually attended the shows in the 70s and early 80s. Anyway, it's time for me to slip into my worn loafers and cardigan and get on with more work from home.

[Aggromerchant]

...Phase Dance becomes a samba in concert and San Lorenzo and other plump yet crystalline ECM material is discarded for trash like Minuano and The Theme frome The Weather Channel. The next several years see even more pathetic live performances, weighed down by uninspired material. We Live Here was awful. Imaginary Day was OK, but by then Pat had forgotten that he was from Missouri and the song titles are laughably ponderous. The Way Up and its shows were good, but by then who cared?

[Aggromerchant]

@molondas

1983, PMG: Gottleib replaced by a Polish punk rocker, Vasconcelos leaves and is replaced by a fine butterscotch baritone but the obsession with Nascimento-inspired vocalise deepens. 84: First Circle is released, a collection of sugary retreads and impish filler. PM leaves ECM. Falcon/Snowman, more sentimentality. 87, Still Life Talking, a dire, derivative statement of sterility. 89, Letter from Home, not terrible, just annoying and full of gimmickry and filler.

[molondas]

@Aggromerchant what a load of nonsense

[Aggromerchant]

Agreed. PMG was pretty much unwatchable after 1982.

[dfwgator3]

What I wouldn't give to see the original PMG lineup again. IMHO the ECM-era PMG stands the test of time, as opposed to the 80s and 90s era PMG.