Stomach Ulcer Music Part 1
A semi-regular look into the world of ”difficult” music…
Pat Metheny - Zero Tolerance For Silence
Pat Metheny is reknowned for two main attributes: firstly his hair. A modern miracle of evolution that seems to be sticking two fingers up at the ageing process, whilst simultaneously defying gravity. Secondly, an equally stubborn attitude towards what constitutes “music”. Metheny is unique amongst jazz musicians in that he seems to have set himself two extremes from which to navigate around his own particular musical universe: firstly, it could be argued that Metheny is, for better or worse, the father of so called smooth jazz, even though the Pat Metheny Group’s inventive compositions bare little relation to the tepid dribblings of the likes of Kenny G. Secondly though, is an approach to music that is best descibed by the title of this blog: stomach ulcer music! Atonal, vicious, uncompromising and nasty. All of these words describe Zero Tolerance For Silence, an album of guitar improvisations that from the first note is literally shocking in its visceral impact. The clanging, raw sound of the guitars on the opening 20 min piece makes the guitar playing on the Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks sound like Yngwie Malmsteen by comparison. It’s one of the few albums that physical made me jump when the first chord crashed out of the speakers, but as with other noise based music such as some of the overloaded sounds on the second Continuum album, there is method to the madness and forms and shapes do start to emerge, only cast in an extremely primitive and primordial form of expression. The real joy of this album though is the fact that Metheny’s previous record to this, the sugary and filmic Secret Story, is so diametrically opposed in almost every conceivable way that surely there must have been some unsuspecting Metheny fans who picked the album up and settled down by the fire with a nice bottle of red wine only to have their relaxing evening of ”smooth jazz” shat upon from a great height!
Significantly perhaps, Zero Tolerance For Silence is currently one of the only Metheny albums that remains out of print, although there is talk of a reissue. Either way, it’s well worth the pain.
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