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From: dat@hpcnoe.UUCP (dat)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Orphaned Response
Message-ID: <15900011@hpcnoe.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 28-Jan-85 00:35:00 EST
Article-I.D.: hpcnoe.15900011
Posted: Mon Jan 28 00:35:00 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 20-Jan-85 05:48:48 EST
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Nf-From: hpcnoe!dat    Jan 13 21:35:00 1985

/***** hpcnoe:net.music / utah-gr!donn /  1:06 pm  Dec  4, 1984*/
Subject: Re: a sheaf of album reviews, most Jazz [actually about Pat Metheny]

> I'm not entirely sure why Dave seems to think FIRST CIRCLE is more
> derivative than Pat's other albums; 

	Derivative??? What does this mean???

>                                     in particular Pat's first three
> albums with Lyle Mays -- WATERCOLORS, PAT METHENY GROUP, and AMERICAN
> GARAGE -- have distinct similarities (and dissimilarities!).  FIRST
> CIRCLE is certainly no more 'commercial' than PAT METHENY GROUP or
> AMERICAN GARAGE, which were both smash successes, by the way.

	I didn't mention those, did I?  I didn't really like either 
of those albums either, actually...I also don't recall Lyle Mays
being on the Watercolors album..

>                                                                I'm
> having a hard time figuring out what Dave means by 'caterwauling
> wailing'; it's true that Metheny can make a guitar synthesizer sound
> like a large feline undergoing vivisection without anesthesia (for
> instance in 'The Calling' on the album REJOICING) but there's little of
> that on FIRST CIRCLE 

	well....

>                      (too bad -- I actually like it, most of the
> time). 

	Someone was bound to, I guess...

>         Perhaps Dave is referring to Pedro Aznar's vocals, but if so I
> don't understand why Dave would think they were any stranger than Nana
> Vasconcelos' vocals on earlier albums...

	Listen to it again, okay?  Then ask that question...(besides, 
when Vasconcelos goes wild he gets pretty damn strange itself)

> When I saw Metheny in concert recently, I hadn't heard FIRST CIRCLE
> yet; so I was completely floored when the group opened with 'Forward
> March', literally marching down the aisles with their instruments and
> doing a creditable impression of a high school marching band on LSD.

	Gee..sounds like a worthwhile effort for an otherwise good 
group.  Glad I didn't hear it!  (I did NOT like that tune at all!)

> When they played 'The First Circle' they did a beautiful job with a
> beautiful piece, and their obvious enthusiasm for it swept the
> audience.  When I bought the album later I was treated to a delicious
> little thrill by the magnificent photograph on the back that finally
> made the connection in my mind (if you haven't seen the picture, try to
> guess what it shows...).  Other nice pieces on FIRST CIRCLE are 'Take
> It All', which combines pop and blues, and 'Yolanda, You Learn', a
> straightforward fusion piece by a band that knows how to do it right.

	.....

		Oh well, I guess not everyone agrees with everything!

					Dave Taylor