Search - Pat Metheny :: Tokyo Day Trip - Live EP

Compact-Sized Day Trip.

Louie Bourland | Garden Grove CA | 07/09/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fresh on the heels of his excellent full-length trio album "Day Trip" from earlier this year, Pat Metheny releases a live EP entitled "Tokyo Day Trip". While this is being seen as a companion piece to the full-length disc, "Tokyo Day Trip" definitely can stand on its own as a separate album. Also, while this is being called an EP, it clocks in at nearly 41-minutes total so this is essentially an LP-length CD.

Like "Day Trip", its "Tokyo" counterpart consists of all Metheny originals. The opening piece "Tromso" is a quiet meditative piece which brings Metheny's years on the ECM label to mind (as also stated by another Amazon reviewer). His electric sitar is up-front and center here. Bassist Christian McBride provides a solid accompaniment to Metheny with his bowed leads heard in the beginning while drummer Antonio Sanchez further enhances the space with his gentle cymbal and orchestra bell work.

The pace picks up with the nearly 12-minute burner "Travelling Fast". All three musicians have their moment to shine here. Metheny sets the pace by stating the theme and launching into a fiery guitar lead. McBride follows with an astonishing bass solo with interjections from Sanchez who in turn takes over with his own aggressive drum solo. Metheny and McBride also bring in some spice during Sanchez's solo by throwing in bits and pieces of melody to keep the momentum going. Finally, Metheny takes the spotlight once again with a jaw-dropping guitar solo which leads to the entire band fading into silence.

Following this, we are once more brought back into quiet territory with the mellow acoustic "Indori". Pat Metheny has written many acoustic guitar pieces over the years and this one ranks among his very best. Perfect music for a candlelight dinner.

But before you get settled comfortably, here comes the jolting fusion-rocker "Back Arm and Blackcharge". Here, Metheny suddenly turns into John McLaughlin with a frantic fast-charged Mahavishnu-like riff. He then goes wild with an abundant blistering guitar lead before handing the spotlight over the Christian McBride. Things look as though they may settle down during McBride's bass solo but soon enough Metheny comes back in and the band is blowing on all four cylinders like a heavy metal power trio. Definitely a change of pace from the rest of the tracks on the album.

Considering the relentless energy heard on the previous track, the album's closing track "The Night Becomes You" almost feels like an afterthought. The piece once again launches Metheny back into acoustic territory with an emotionally beautiful ballad. Pat is the only soloist here displaying his acoustic guitar playing at its very best with solid accompaniment from McBride and Sanchez. Sanchez's unintrusive cymbal work is also a highlight here.

If you enjoyed "Day Trip", you'll definitely find plenty to digest with "Tokyo Day Trip". As mentioned above, I tend not to view this CD as an EP but rather a full-length album because of its LP-length size. The first two tracks could easlily be labeled as Side One while the remaining three could be Side Two. Now matter how you view it, "Tokyo Day Trip" is another stellar release from Pat Metheny and contains some awesome music. Pat, Christian and Antonio were definitely on a musical high when they performed these tracks and this is just a sample of that interplay as put on display during a few glorious gigs in Tokyo."