Pat Metheny Group – Still Life (Talking)

What he said ⬇️ Great Metheny record to sit back and listen to.

Geffen is not a label for jazzmen, and I always feel when unboxing any record from Geffen that Steven Tyler will jump out at me around the corner...I bought this record in the early nineties in one package with others, mainly rock performers. I always feel relaxed listening to it and it more or less keeps me company during the summer. I used to have it on tape in my walkman, where Corea's Elektric Band, Yes, Pink Floyd or Asia are also great. It rarely comes out of my turntable, mainly because of the tinny sound of the late eighties, marked by digital madness, much like today's green...Everything on the album fits together like a puzzle. It is very similar to the following Letter from Home. Great arrangements add to the freshness, and even after so many years since its creation, it does not seem sterile. Compared to Methen's work on ECM, it is relatively related with a soft instrument "two-channel echo", very far from what was heard before with Eicher. Otherwise great job!

This is an amazing-sounding record. Great mastering, quiet, wide soundstage, and five stars for the track "Minuano (Six Eight)" alone—everything else on this album is gravy.

Really great sounding record. Barely any surface noise and the few quiet pops I do hear are probably due to the fact that its old. The "clear" brown is pretty hard to notice unless in a brightly lit area or holding the record up to a light. So for the most part it just looks like a regular black record. Not a big deal, still and interesting and awesome pickup that I definitely think is worth it

Absolutely amazing pressing. this mastering is bright and Loud. Dead silent in the lows. amazing mastering RL!

I became obsessed with Pat Metheny/Pat Metheny Group around the early 90's after a friend of mine tried to get me into his music. I started with Secret Story, which is a pretty good place to start in my opinion! I then trawled back through his back catalogue and bought most subsequent releases when they appeared on vinyl (which didn't happen very often, sadly). The Geffen years can be judged separate to the ECM years I think, but the transition from First Circle to Still Life was pretty seamless. Still Life is fantastic and for me the highlight is Third Wind. What a fantastic track, it has everything, magnificent guitar solo (although I could always take or leave the synth guitar), lovely gear change towards the end and Wertico's cymbal work is absolutely fantastic. And I miss Lyle Mays more and more as I hear him on these recordings. Metheny's best work was with him by his side, imo.

Imagine if MOFI did one-step pressings of all these super dynamic PMG albums...

Good overall quality despite the lightness of the record (104g at the scale). On "(It's Just) Talk" the snares are oddly sounding. On "Minuano", some parts are saturated. Is it coming from my system?

As Pat Metheny records go, they are numerous and virtually all are good. This one ranks in my top five and is a great starter record if you are new to PMG.

The writing is solid and instrumentation is rich and relaxed. Pat's solos are impeccable, but he is a known perfectionist, So expect nothing less. Expect to lift the needle and go back a few times when you get to the solo break of "Third Wind". Holy cow! Paul Wertico crushes it on this record, BTW.

This pressing sounds amazing, full stereo field, excellent instrument separation, and nice tapping ride symbol to make me smile.

Recommended.

Amazing album, flowing from transition to transition, over many, MANY great tracks, bringing optimism and hope to brighten your day up.

Pat and his friends never seems to disappoint me, and the more i listen to them, the more i want to use my time on exploring this world of wonderful genre called jazz.

They certainly encouraged me to live more carefree and with more optimism and hope.