Pat Metheny - Secret Story (1992)
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Secret Story marks both the end of an era for Pat, and the beginning of a new era.
This is the final album of a stretch that began in 1980, with the Witchita Falls album with Lyle Mays, and the exclamation point of the late 80s/early 90s-era Pat Metheny Group, even if this isn't a PMG album proper. Every then-current and almost every former PMG member is on this album, along with a few other musicians, some of which Pat had worked with prior. There are some call backs to then-recent PMG albums, even the cover art is similar to the last bunch of Pat albums. This is also the end of the South American influenced era as well, while there's a little of it here, this album sees Pat revisiting some of that pastoral mid-Western sound he championed in the 70s, mixed with all these other exotic sounds previously unheard on a Pat album. The Brazilian/Caribbean stuff would appear very little after this album.
This is also the beginning of Pat's music becoming more
progressive, more expansive, creating a really BIG sound. This album in particular achieves that in spades. For one, Pat's clean guitar tone is updated, to the sound he still currently uses to this day (except for most of his albums released in the 2010s, which his clean tone sounds more hollow) It is a fuller sound, very warm, much more mid-range than previous tones. While Pat's music has always been forward thinking, the music here is much more challenging than most of what came before. This is also helped by the use of the London Symphony Orchestra featured on most of the album, as well as a variety of different sounds and instruments throughout. The production is also leaps ahead of the late 80s production previous albums had, though some of the drums here still have that early 90s sound.
The music itself is more dense, complex, but not for the sake of it... While the music is generally more progressive, it is also the most melodic, heartfelt, and sincere, than any Pat album before or since. It also seems to be a summation of everything up til that point, while also looking ahead to what may/will come next. The overall mood is very captivating, each track has its own identity. The melodies are heart-wrenching.
Finding and Believing may be the most 'prog' tune here, very enjoyable piece. So many intricate things going on. Some of the music here gets pretty dark, something rarely heard on a Pat or PMG album. Rain River is more mysterious sounding. The orchestra's playing is sublime, and gives me chills whenever I listen to this album. A few tunes like Facing West and See The World are reminiscent of PMG, but they are the exceptions here. Tunes like Always And Forever has some of Pat's best acoustic guitar playing, foreshadowing some of the solo acoustic stuff he'd release later. Some of the other tunes are pretty, if not straight up orchestral, and some feel like transitional pieces, meant to prepare the listener for what is coming up next. Pat's playing is phenomenal, it's like he was trying to prove how much better he could play even after all the music he'd released up til this point.
The last four songs on the album, however, may be the saddest music Pat ever conceived. This final stretch of the album never fails to give me a lump in my throat and make my eyes well up. I don't think I can hold back tears by the time we get to Tell Her You Saw Me, if not sooner. This album leaves a huge emotional impact on me every time I listen to the whole thing, especially these final four tunes. The Truth Will Always Be is literally the climax of the entire album. This is one reason I think this is Pat's best album, because the album leads up to these final four songs, as there is a darker/sadder vibe throughout the album, and the last four tunes give the biggest hints to what the album is about. Whatever it is, it is a sad ending, as the final track Not To Be Forgotten (Our Final Hour) is a real sad tune. There is pretty much no other album or song I can think of that consistently makes me cry each and every time I listen to it, which makes it difficult to put on more casually like I do with other albums by Pat, Lyle, PMG, etc...
You may be wondering, "so what's the secret story on Secret Story?" I'm not sure, but it seems like it's something personal to Pat, but maybe something directed as people in general. As mentioned before, the song titles, I think, give us some hints, but the cover art also possibly gives us some hints, many of them in fact. Either way, the music is instrumental, and the beauty of that is you can make it whatever you want it to be.
P.S. - If you didn't know, the album was re-released in 2007, with a remastered sound (aka LOUDER) and I think the original recording is superior. The remastered version
does come with a bonus disc, featuring 5 unreleased tunes. 3 of them definitely come off as filler tracks, but the first and last track on the bonus disc are good Pat tunes, and the last track, while still sad sounding, is more upbeat in a way, and could have been the actual last track on the album, which would have ended the album on a more positive note. I generally listen to the bonus disc after because I like it ending that way, plus more music, but as is without the bonus disc, the album is just about perfect.
Topic: The Pat Metheny Discography Thread: Unity Band (2012) (Read 14620 times)
