I love that feeling that washes over me when a piece of music is so screwed up that I (at least initially) have no idea why I’m enjoying myself so much. That feeling will be the driving force behind most of my WTF?! entries. From Merzbow to Peter Brotzmann, me a fellow noise cohort S. Victor Aaron have this mysterious attraction to room-clearing music. Why do we like this stuff? Is it only because it will clear a room? Peel the paint off the walls? Blow the balls off a charging rhino at 20 paces?
Maybe…but we’ll never admit to that.
Which brings me to “Forward March.” This was the first song of my very first Pat Metheny Group show. Excepting the quite odd title track from 1981’s Offramp, there was no hint resident in Metheny’s discography that pointed toward this bit of weirdness. As you will see below, Pat walked on stage making a ton of bizarre howls and squeaks with his guitar synthesizer. Then the band walked in from both the wings and the rear of the theatre carrying and playing various marching band instruments. Wertico is banging on a drum. Pedro Aznar is on glockenspiel. Steve Rodby is pounding a bass drum. Lyle Mays is on trumpet (at my show, he played one particularly ugly note and then flipped the horn around to get a good look down inside the bell).
At some point a whistle blows and the ensemble launches into what has been (brilliantly) described as “The Marching Band At Ornette Coleman High.” Hell yes, that is perfect. This song is in no way representative of the Metheny Group’s sound, and yet it made me a believer, almost from the first few (mangled and magical) notes.
[amazon_enhanced asin=”B001J1C15G” container=”B00136LTXM” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B001J186FA” container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B001CSQIQY” container=”” container_class=”” price=”All” background_color=”FFFFFF” link_color=”000000″ text_color=”0000FF” /]
- How Talking Heads’ ‘Fear of Music’ Opened Up a World of Art and Sound - August 5, 2024
- How Deep Cuts Propelled Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ - June 4, 2024
- How Eric Clapton’s ‘Me and Mr. Johnson’ Made the Case for British Blues - March 20, 2024
thinking about this show a little more, i do remember one other sonic oddity that they played. in the middle of the concert they did this crazy outtake from Offramp called “Scrap Metal”…or at least that’s what they call it on the bootlegs.
he started playing that again on later tours. i think they did it in boston on the We Live Here tour.
WTF – Wednesday…I love it!
You are correct, ‘Scrap Metal’ was pulled out for the We Live Tour and featured a Wertico solo in the middle (some of his more tasty soloing, I might add).
Seeing Pat many times over the years, I’ve always enjoyed these radical mid-set “right turns” into the atonal, arrhythmic netherworlds. I especially enjoy the collective crowd reaction. For me, it is just a piece of the bliss that is Pat Metheny, but for many, it appears to ruin their evening.
These nuggets all pale in comparison to the Song X tour shows from ’86. I have a couple of those on tape. Now some of those would even try my concentration. You may leave that show as a different person.
Agreed. I don’t think it’s just one or two facets of PM that makes him one of the greatest living musicians, it’s ALL of them, from the gentle melodic strains to the whack thrash jazz. I can’t think of anyone else who has complete mastery over such a wide swath of music.
When you look at the man’s body of work, songs like “Forward March” fit into his conception of music. I witnessed PMG begin a concert with that in the mid 80’s and I still consider that the best concert intro ever.
In addition to the above, what sets PM apart is his incredible compositional skills. He brings melody even to straight ahead jazz, making it palatable and interesting…giving it an emotional context that it often lacks. Example: Unity Band. Also, Pat surrounds himself with great musicians, young and old, and both benefit, as well as the listeners. But by pairing up with Lyle Mays, he chose the ultimate partner. When they collaborate, the writing improves exponentially and Lyle makes PMG the unique PM experience that is the best of all his collaborations.
thanks for the great comments guys. all of this reminds me of the reactions i’ve read about Pat’s more aggressive songs…everybody has these conspiracy theories about how Pat was trying to dig his record label. this happened a lot when Zero Tolerance For Silence came out…it was his Metal Machine Music.
but they just weren’t paying attention. actually, comments like that were even made about Rejoicing’s “The Calling.” i hate to tell them the truth, but i saw Pat perform that tune with Roy Haynes, so it was no joke!
Bob Lazar – I couldn’t agree more! In my often (awkward and rambling) attempts to speak about Pat and his music to others, I state that I’m a fan of his writing long before his playing. This throws some folks for a loop, especially the guitar/tech centric types who be most interested in his rig/soloing, etc. It took quite a few years to gain this appreciation, but once it hit me, there was no stopping. And then you twist in Lyle and his world, and the game is over!
Mark – I’m glad you mentioned “The Calling”. I knew I was forgetting another great example of this side of Pat. I seem to recall an interview excerpt where Pat spoke very fondly of playing this live with Charlie and Billy in the 80’s. After stating the theme, Pat would take off on the Roland, Charlie would play arco on the bass, and Billy would play some African hand percussion, and they would take it to some really far out places, often running close to any hour.
Bob- I know exactly what you mean. I have a friend who lives far away I’m trying to convince to travel to some point halfway between us to see the next PMG tour, and I’ve been writing to him about the things you wrote. Metheny/Mays are today’s Lennon/McCartney: They make each other better songwriters. My favorite example of this symbiotic relationship is the song “Bill Evans” on AFWSFWF. The emotional UPS and downs in that song and the synchronization between the 2 musicians is incredible. I saw it performed live once and they played it like it was the first time they were doing it, which of course it wasn’t. Nevertheless the song sparkled with emotion and suspense…all those things you feel in a PMG show that lack in most other concerts that I tried to explain to my friend.