Music

1983 Travels

Label: ECM

Musicians: Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, Steve Rodby, Dan Gottlieb, Nana Vasconcelos

“Recorded less than a year after the magnificent ‘Offramp’, ‘Travels’ is proof that the PMG were on a creative high. Music was pouring from Metheny and Mays. Extraordinarily for a live album, over half the tracks were entirely new and have not been heard, before or since, on any studio album. Pat said in an interview soon after this album’s release that he preferred this version of ‘Are You Going With Me?’ to the ‘Offramp’ original. Both have their merits. Both are brilliant. here are two delightfully simple tunes on this album – ‘Farmer’s Trust’ and ‘Travels’ – which are gorgeously executed duets by Metheny and Mays, with the rest of the band in the background. They are almost love poems, a high point in the musical understanding between Mays and Metheny. If this album has any lows, or rather, any not-quite-so-highs, it is that the two tracks from the ‘Pat Metheny Group’ album – ‘Phase Dance’ and ‘San Lorenzo’ – add little to the originals. But they are not lesser versions, and they go a long way towards justifying this album’s claim to be a representative compilation of the PMG’s early works. It’s almost impossible for any artist to create two masterpieces in succession, but the PMG achieved this with ‘Offramp’ and ‘Travels’.” —Amazon.com