Pat Metheny Group
Offramp
FormatCDLabelECM RecordsGenreJazz & Improvisation
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CD version. Offramp is the third studio album of the Pat Metheny Group, recorded at the Power Station in New York in October 1981 and released by ECM in May 1982. It brought the guitar synthesizer to the centre of the band's sound and added Naná Vasconcelos's percussion and wordless voice to the group. It also won Metheny his first Grammy, for Best Jazz Fusion Performance at the 1983 ceremony. The album includes Are You Going With Me?, which became one of the group's signature pieces.
Metheny plays guitar, guitar synthesizer and Synclavier guitar. Lyle Mays plays piano, synthesizers, Synclavier, organ and autoharp, Steve Rodby acoustic and electric bass and Danny Gottlieb drums. Vasconcelos adds percussion, berimbau and voice. Jan Erik Kongshaug recorded the sessions and mixed them at Talent Studio in Oslo, and Manfred Eicher produced. The cover graphic is by Gerd Winner and the liner photographs by Deborah Feingold. All the music is by Metheny and Mays, with Vasconcelos sharing the credit on Barcarole and Eighteen.
Are You Going With Me? is a slow-building piece of almost nine minutes. It is carried by a long lead line on guitar synthesizer whose voice sits close to a trumpet. Au Lait is more atmospheric, a drifting piece with a rolling snare, Vasconcelos's wordless singing and delicate colours from Mays. The title track goes the other way. It is fast and angular, with fractured piano, a burst of glockenspiel and Gottlieb pushing hard over Rodby's bass lines.
Writing in AllMusic, Alex Henderson called it a less accessible but rewarding successor to As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls. In his words the album "finds him leaning more toward the abstract". He noted that even on the angular title track Metheny "shuns empty musical acrobatics", and pointed to his close rapport with Mays. He also heard the influence of Jim Hall in the way Metheny leaves space and chooses his notes. On the ECM blog Between Sound and Space, Tyran Grillo named Au Lait his favourite track and Metheny's most perfect statement.
This CD edition holds the seven tracks of ECM 1216, first released in 1982, with the original booklet of credits and photographs.
Release notes
This release is almost identical to [r=12855631], except for the printing credit on the rear of the booklet and the second cat. no. on the spines. Reissue of [r=13276190] (1984 CD). Etched "MADE IN GERMANY" (likely an early 1990s pressing by PRS, Hannover). Issued in a standard jewel case with a grey tray. Includes a 4 page booklet with a tracklist, photographs and credits. [Booklet:] Recorded October 1981 at Power Station, New York Mixed at Talent Studio, Oslo ℗ 1982 ECM Records GmbH Made…
| 1 | Barcarole | 3:17 | |
| 2 | Are You Going With Me? | 8:47 | |
| 3 | Au Lait | 8:32 | |
| 4 | Eighteen | 5:08 | |
| 5 | Offramp | 5:59 | |
| 6 | James | 6:47 | |
| 7 | The Bat Part II | 3:50 |
- Steve Rodby
- Acoustic Bass, Electric Bass
- Dieter Rehm
- Design
- Dan Gottlieb
- Drums
- Gragg Lunsford
- Engineer (5)
- Jan Erik Kongshaug
- Engineer (1 to 4, 6, 7), Mixed By
- Barry Bongiovi
- Engineer [Assistant]
- Gerd Winner
- Graphics [Cover Graphic]
- Pat Metheny
- Guitar, Guitar Synthesizer, Guitar [Synclavier], Written-By
- Nana Vasconcelos
- Percussion, Voice, Berimbau, Written-By (1, 4)
- Deborah Feingold
- Photography By [Liner Photos]
- Lyle Mays
- Piano, Synthesizer, Organ, Synthesizer [Synclavier], Autoharp, Written-By
- Manfred Eicher
- Producer
