PAT METHENY GROUP: WE LIVE HERE

Pat Metheny's We Live Here is a strange album. With a collection of styles: lounge jazz, funk, a tad of the ethnic influence he has carried with him since Secret Story, and Metheny's personal style, pulled together with a progressive overtone. Unfortunately, the result isn't as charming and compelling as is his standard, and sometimes grows dull, repetitive, and without direction. Musicianship is not as high: the cosmic piano that Metheny's later outputs offered is still under development here, his solos are not as gripping, all percussion sounds insipid and maybe even synthetic at times. In the end, this album is moderately without character.

Compositions lack the spice, and the emotional resonance that I came to associate with Metheny. However there are a few screaming exceptions: To the End of the World sounds as if it stepped right off Speaking of Now to save this album from utter ruin (adopting, of course, the percussive style of the rest of the album). Half (or at least some division) of the album is the sort of jazz that metalheads and classic rockers find tedious (if not all jazz), but the other half exercises Metheny's more celestial and enthused side. However, the two don't mix well, and the end result is not overly pleasing. Especially because Metheny's standards are so incredibly high with me, I am sorry to deem this album the first of all Metheny albums to earn two stars.