American Garage

【ECM設立40周年 Touchstone Series】
40周年を記念して、ECMを代表する40作品がお求め安い価格で復刻！

ジャンルを超えて新しいファンを獲得した初代パット・メセニー・グループの第2作。ライル・メイズ、マーク・イーガン、ダン・ゴットリーブを加えて結成されたパット・メセニー・グループの第2作で、全曲がパットとライルの共作で占められている。グループとしてのまとまりも完璧となり、あの突き抜ける青空のようなメセニー・ミュージックが全開。ここからメセニーの快進撃が始まった。

The back liner photo gives the impression of a grungy Midwestern garage band, but no, that doesn't describe this sophisticated jazz-rock quartet, which was simultaneously breaking into mass-market acceptance and away from the contemplative ECM stereotype. The arrangements are more structured, the playing often more intense and searching, with a more pronounced rock influence. On the title track, Metheny digs in and displays some authoritative rock-oriented licks and intensity, and the rhythms on "The Search" have a slight, at times asymmetrical Latin feeling. The nearly 13-minute "The Epic" finds the Metheny group developing some real combustion in the improvised sections as Metheny, keyboardist Lyle Mays, bassist Mark Egan and drummer Danny Gottlieb grow tighter as a unit. In hindsight, some of the music seems a bit too tightly conceived to allow adequate breathing room, but this is still high-quality jazz-rock for its time. ~ Richard S. Ginell