Speaking of Now

Artist: Pat Metheny Group
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 093624802525
EAN: 0093624802525
ASIN: B00005V6IF

Release Date: 2002-02-12

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General

| Jazz | Styles | Music

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Listmania:

Retrospective: my favorite albums of 2002
Drummers' Delight.
Favourite jazz albums
Top ten Pat Metheny
The world of bona
a piece of The world of bona
An Intro to the Genius that is Pat Metheny
My Favorite Pat Metheny CD's
My Favorite Pat Metheny CDs (in no particular order)
My favorite recordings by, or featuring Pat Metheny

Tracks:

As It Is
Proof
Another Life
The Gathering Sky
You
On Her Way
A Place In The World
Afternoon
Wherever You Go

Similar Items:

The Way Up
Imaginary Day
Watercolors
One Quiet Night
Pat Metheny Group

Customer Reviews:

A departure that doesn't disappoint.......2006-12-03

I'm an unabashed enthusiast when it comes to the PMG. I have 8 of their albums, having discovered the group orginally in the CD section of my public library back in 1990 with "Letter from Home". It really was love at first sight (er, listen that is).

As many PMG followers know, the group's composition has ebbed and flowed during the years while keeping at its core Pat himself, keyboardist Lyle Mays, and bassist Steve Rodby. I'm always a bit nervous when things shuffle with the group. Will they lose that signature sound? With this album, I was particularly concerned about the departure of drummer Paul Wertico whose cymbal work and overall sense of rhythm are truly masterful.

So it was with a bit of trepidation that I placed this one on the CD player after it arrived as a gift. And to be honest, at first I didn't like it all that much...because it is a significant departure from previous PMG albums. In many ways, it returns to a bit more traditional jazz sound. But over time, it has grown on me, and I now count it among my favorite albums. My fears about the departure of Wertico turned out to be unfounded. Antonio Sanchez is a simply amazing drummer and very accomplished musician in his own right, having attended Berklee College of Music in Boston on a scholarship with studies in piano, voice, arranging, and of course drums.

Also, as a trumpet player myself, I particularly like the addition that Cuong Vu brings...his playing brings something truly elegant to the group...it reminds me of a minimalist painting...every brush stroke counts. Nothing wasted. Everthing meaningful. "A Place in Her World" showcases this nicely.

At the end of the day, it's all good. Metheny takes his music extremely seriously, and he has always hand-picked the best of the best to be a part of the PMG, so I really shouldn't have been worried that he'd ruin the recipe. Pat is also a guy who wants to continually expand, so while many of his albums keep that "signature" Metheny sound, they always seem to evolve and explore new horizons. When you pop in a PMG disc, you always know you'll get that familiar sound, but yet you'll always get something new, never stagnant.

I highly recommend this album to PMG enthusiasts and newbies alike. However, if you are new to Metheny and the PMG, be sure not to overlook his earlier releases, which after nearly 20 years, are, in my mind, still the quintissential PMG albums: Still Life Talking, Letter from Home, and Secret Story. In particular, Still Life Talking is a must-have for anyone who wants the PMG in their collection. It is his best-selling album, and for good reason in my opinion.

Must Have.......2005-12-11

Being Metheny fan since '85 I can recommend this CD for 100 %!

Beautiful, simply beautiful!.......2005-10-01

First I'd like to say that all too many of the reviews of this CD are . . . . well . . . .formulaic because too many of them use the word "forumlaic" to describe it, but each review then goes on to offer divergent criticisms, none of which support the claim of being "forumlaic." I think many have just learned a new word and are eager to use it. I have over 450 CDs from Beethoven to Palestrina to Miles Davis and John Coltrane. I believe that Metheny and Maze rank among the finest composers and musicians ever. If there has ever been a musical group that is the antithesis of forumlaic, it is PMG and this CD is no exception. This CD soars with optimism, joy, and beauty. The melodies are infectious and it seems the more you listen, the better it gets. There are but a handful of other CD's that command as much run-time as this - Coltrane, a Love Supreme, Davis, Kind of Blue, Brubeck, Take 5, Diana Krall, Love Scenes, Horowitz in Moscow, Palestrina, Allegra Miserere, Beethoven, Missa Solemnis, and PMG, THe Way Up. At the end of the century, Metheny will have marked an era as almost single-handedly holding up the music project amidst so much other banal, talentless efforts and you won't want to have missed it because you heeded the bad advice of a few forumulaic reviewers. Don't miss it, buy this CD and experience the rare beauty of a musical genius.

Underrated, eloquent, embellished restatement.......2005-06-23

This recording is so easy to take for granted, at least for me. When I first bought this recording what with it following the inventive and excellent "Imaginary Day", I expected an extrapolation on the more edgy material of "Imaginary Day". What I got was a recording so rich with the group's history and an embellishment and restatement of all that had come before.

The arrangments are outstanding. Pat once said that he intended for his recordings to be heard best through headphones since there are so many subtle elements that are contained within the music that you could miss them depending upon your sound system and the acoustics of the room. This especially true for this recording. The subtle use of voice intertwined with instruments and percussion is uniquely done here.

Richard Bona and Cuong Vu's voice lend a unique dynamic distinct from Pedro Aznar's and the Ledford/Blamires tandem.

Cuong Vu and Antonio Sanchez bring much that is new to the group sound. Sanchez gives them a drummer that is much more forceful, rhythmic and inventive than their previous drummers. He drives and punctuates throughout and in so doing helps redefine the group sound. Yet with all that power he can lay back and leave room for all the subtleties.

Cuong Vu is simply redefining what you can do with the trumpet. He gets so much sonically from his horn. He has even made an art of breathing throughout. His tone is rich and full, never shrill although capable of considerable virtuosity. He bring so much to this recording. His is a voice that has found almost equaly footing wiht with Pat, Lyle and Steve in the group. Not a clche is heard during his solos.

Lyle is Lyle. Here he as much to McCoy Tyner as to Bill Evans in his solos. His accompaniment on keyboards and piano lend so much to this recording.

This recording, in many ways, is jazzier than most of the Geffen recordings save for "Quartet". This is an ensemble in it's quintessential form. The personnel has reached parity. What with with such musicians as Richard Bona, Cuong Vu, Steve Rodby, Antonio Sanchez, Lyle Mays and Pat Metheny, there is as strength in this unit like never before.

The diversity of influence is here also. Much more democratically, owing as much as one as to the other. There are moments in this recording that can have you playing your air guitar, drums, piano, trying to sing the passages or just listening enraptured.

A worthy successor to "Imaginary Day".

The lyricism is here also. At times the unison passions have a liquid vocal quality to them. Here Vu, Mays, Metheny and Bona can almost be indistinguishable.

This one is a definite must-have.

Liven it up.......2005-02-13

My first encounter with the Pat Metheny Group was their 2003 performance on Austin City Limits. Coming to it as a fan of classic jazz, I was expecting something modernly bland, but to my delight the show was captivating -- it was vibrant and full of new (to me) sounds and ideas and had a really inspired feeling. The music grabbed my attention in the way that good music does, and I watched it many times and played it over and over in my head, savoring each phrase and change. So when I discovered that four of the seven tracks from that show are on Speaking of Now, I couldn't wait to hear the whole album. Maybe my expectations were set too high, perhaps I lack sufficient knowledge of the genre to give it an informed listen, but the studio cuts just don't do it for me the way the live versions did. The songs are played a little slower, the feel is more polished, the solos are less urgent, the sound-space is a little smaller, and for me that adds up to tunes that are less than what I already knew them to be from hearing them live. Don't get me wrong, I think Pat and his band are artists of the highest caliber, I just feel that there's something transcendent in this music that the studio didn't do justice to. Austin City Limits performance - 5 stars. Studio - 4 stars.

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

Trade It All-Remix

Black Coffee ~ Al Kooper

High Road To China (1983 Film) ~ John Barry

Starlite Criminal ~ Joan Jones

Dos Eps ~ Nebula

Alive And Rockin ~ Demented Are Go

Norfolk Rock & Roll Sound ~ Various Artists

Universe Conspires ~ Murphy's Lore

Thought of Many Ways ~ Botany Boyz

Hold on & Gangstafied ~ Various Artists