I’m not going to put this in the previous section, as I have heard this album before but I do want to give credit to Plankton for reminding me about the artiste. Back when the single “This is not America” was released I of course bought it. It’s not that I was a big Bowie fan, though I really like his music --- I only have a few albums and it would not be fair to claim I was a fan in that regard I believe, but I certainly enjoy his songs and recognise the massive contribution he has made to music in general --- but I just liked the song. Intrigued to find out who this guy he was performing with (as Bowie was well known for being very picky about who he shared the limelight with, his only other two major collaborations that I can recall being with Mick Jagger and of course Queen) I ventured down to my local library and picked up, if I remember correctly, a cassette copy of this album. I remember being quite disappointed, because being relatively young (1982 so I would have been nineteen) and pretty damn rigid in my musical outlook, and of course knowing nothing about jazz, I had expected it to be more of the sort of thing I had heard on the single. I pretty much remember hating it.
So it is going to be interesting now to retrace my steps with the experience I have now and my (very) slowly growing acceptance of and appreciation for jazz music, to see if my opinion of both the album and the artiste has changed over the course of more than three decades.
Offramp --- The Pat Metheny Group --- 1982 (ECM)
One of a veritable plethora of album released by Metheny under both his own name, that of his group and other projects, and also including film soundtracks, “Offramp” is the third released with the Pat Metheny Group, comprising Lyle Mays on piano, organ, synclavier and just about anything with keys, Steve Rodby on bass, Dan Gottlieb on drums and Nana Vasconcelos on percussion and voice, as well as of course Metheny himself on guitars. It’s a relatively short album, with only seven tracks, the longest of which is just under nine minutes. On a jazz album, I believe, that’s considered quite short. This is also my first real jazz fusion album, so I’m not entirely sure what to expect, and no, I don’t remember a thing about my original listen to it all those years ago, so it’s almost, though not quite, a blank slate for me.
Well my first problem is that Spotify does not have it. That ain’t good, though if necessary I will stump up the cash for it, as this is reliving an experience I honestly don’t remember well at all, and I’m anxious to address that. Grooveshark is then my next port of call, and this is the problem with such a huge discography: often your basic online streaming services have only a few albums, unlike Miles whose entire catalogue they appeared to have. But Spotify only has a handful of Metheny material, so I’m forced to look elsewhere. Ah! Good to see, Grooveshark has it. Let’s rack it up then.
“Barcarole” starts with crying horns, which I assume are made on synth as no horn player is mentioned, and a sort of rolling, tripping drumbeat, sort of midpaced, with some nice wailing guitar coming in from the man and soft synth swirling behind him. It ends a little too soon though and doesn’t for me come to anything, then “Are you going with me” is much longer --- the longest track, in fact --- with a real funky beat and more keening guitar. I do remember this one now. Amazing how it comes back to you even after all this time. I remember really liking this, the way the melody is built and the slowburning way the tune develops. I concur with my younger, more naive self: this is really great and should maybe have set me on the road to exploring further Metheny, if not actual jazz fusion music had I not been so pig-headed and ready to return to Motorhead, Maiden and Genesis. I think that’s the synclavier there; sort of sounds like a woodwind and a harmonica mixed, but it’s on keys. Really adds something to the melody. Very very relaxing altogether. I’m glad this is a long piece though, as it definitely needs the time to build, the melody has to be constructed slowly. There would be no point in rushing this. Nice sort of fanfare coming in now on the synth, or maybe a guitar synth I’m not sure.
The basic motif continues to run through the tune, giving it a very catchy feel, and were it shorter --- and did or do jazz fusion groups release singles, which I admit I don’t know but don’t think so --- this would make a great one and probably be a hit. The synth, or guitar synth, whatever it is is taking over now, going higher in register as it paints the melody across the music, with some nice piano there in the background and some soft organ courtesy of Lyle Mays. I’m rather surprised --- and disappointed --- to find it’s almost over already. Hey: close to nine minutes of jazz fusion and I’m wishing there was more? Is there hope for me after all?
“Au lait” is nearly as long, about ten seconds shorter, and has a really lovely acoustic guitar and bass opening, very low-key and gentle then a sort of almost cuckoo sound (yeah, the bird) which I again assume is keyboard but could be Metheny on the guitar I guess. It has a somewhat classical feel to it and also reminds me of Neil Hannon for some reason. Sort of a progressive rock touch to it as well and someone seems to be speaking in a kind of echo, very much in the background. Odd. Spanish guitar now, and a kind of humming again in the background which adds a nice soft layer to the music. Some lovely piano too, not too obtrusive. Mays goes much more uptempo and bassy with it as “Eighteen” opens, with a rocking drumbeat and some whistly keyboard portraying the exuberance of youth.
Some fine electric guitar joins in as the whole thing rides along on a beat that puts me in mind of early Dire Straits, very rock and roll. The title track is something of what I guess they call freestyle, with a lot of those mad horns I dislike so much, thrumming bass and crashing drums, probably the point I began rethinking this album originally I would say. This is an example of the sort of thing that turns me off jazz: to me there’s no real melody here, just guys all playing what they want, and while I know that in reality that’s not the case it’s how it comes across to me. To have to sit through six minutes of this is close to torture for me, but as I am doing a proper review I won’t hit the “next track” button. There is, to be fair, some superb basswork from Rodby in about the fourth minute, but it gets a little subsumed in the general melange of melodyless music that follows it.
Things return to what I consider normal then for a nice guitar funk run in “James”, midpaced and relaxed with some very cool piano from Mays, and if any track displays the virtuosity of Metheny on the frets then it’s this one. Now I come to a problem I encounter often with Grooveshark: of the seven tracks here they only give me six. I don’t think the last one is a bonus or anything so why it’s not there is a mystery, but this happens more often than not with this service. Sometimes only a few tracks off the album are available. So I now have to go searching to see if I can find the final one.
Okay I got it on YouTube. “The Bat, part II” opens on heavy church organ and synth, slow and stately with a nice line in sweet soft guitar joining it, a kind of a semi-choral-vocal thing going on too. Lots of shimmering, whispering percussion like the sound of waves crashing against the shore and something like birdsong. Fades out as it began on that thick organ and keyboard. Really nice closer, glad I was able to track it down.
TRACKLISTING
1. Barcarole
2. Are you going with me
3. Au lait
4. Eighteen
5. Offramp
6. James
7. The Bat part II
If this is actually a jazz fusion album (someone more knowledgeable ie anyone tell me if it is) then I’m unclear as to why I’ve avoided that subgenre for so long, because this is mighty fine. With the exception of the title track, which I really hated, everything else on this album is great. It’s quite relaxing, funky at times, slightly rocky at others, and without question shows that Metheny and his band can certainly count themselves as expert exponents of their art. This was of course an album chosen by me out of the blue; chances were it was the only Pat Metheny album the library had, and so bears no real resemblance to “This is not America”, but by now I’ve learned to differentiate between hit singles and album tracks, and that one may not necessarily reflect or imitate the other.
As an album I would have to say I enjoyed this. Looking back, I can see why I didn’t as a younger man, but my perception was very skewed and coloured by expectation back then. Now, I have a slightly broader outlook and can accept different styles of music to a degree, and not expect everything to be the same. As for Pat Metheny? I think he’ll be on the list for checking out further into his catalogue.
Around the time of the release of the collaboration with Bowie on “This is not America”, one of our DJs remarked in his laconic way, “Recently, David Bowie had the opportunity to work with Pat Metheny. I hope the thin white duke was suitably grateful.” I’m sure he was.