The back liner photo gives the impression of a grungy Midwestern garage band, but no, that doesn't describe this sophisticated jazz-rock quartet, which was simultaneously breaking into mass-market acceptance and away from the contemplative ECM stereotype.
The arrangements are more structured, the playing often more intense and searching, with a more pronounced rock influence.
On the title track, Metheny digs in and displays some authoritative rock-oriented licks and intensity, and the rhythms on "The Search" have a slight, at times asymmetrical Latin feeling.
The nearly 13-minute "The Epic" finds the Metheny group developing some real combustion in the improvised sections as Metheny, keyboardist Lyle Mays, bassist Mark Egan and drummer Danny Gottlieb grow tighter as a unit.
In hindsight, some of the music seems a bit too tightly conceived to allow adequate breathing room, but this is still high-quality jazz-rock for its time.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (Cross The) HeartlandLyle Mays, Pat Metheny | Pat Metheny Group, Pat Metheny | Play | 06:55 | 15 MB | 38 MB |
| 2 | AirstreamLyle Mays, Pat Metheny | Pat Metheny Group, Pat Metheny | Play | 06:20 | 14 MB | 32 MB |
| 3 | The SearchLyle Mays, Pat Metheny | Pat Metheny Group, Pat Metheny | Play | 04:51 | 11 MB | 23 MB |
| 4 | American GarageLyle Mays, Pat Metheny | Pat Metheny Group, Pat Metheny | Play | 04:11 | 9 MB | 24 MB |
| 5 | The EpicLyle Mays, Pat Metheny | Pat Metheny Group, Pat Metheny | Play | 12:59 | 29 MB | 68 MB |
| 35 mins | 80 MB | |||||
| 35 mins | 188 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Egan | Bass, Bass (Electric) |
| 2 | Manfred Eicher | Executive Producer |
| 3 | Danny Gottlieb | Drums, Drums (Snare) |
| 4 | Jesse Henderson | Assistant Engineer, Engineer |
| 5 | Lyle Mays | Autoharp, Composer, Keyboards, Oberheim Synthesizer, Organ, Piano, Piano (Electric) |
| 6 | Pat Metheny | Bass, Composer, Guitar, Guitar (12 String), Performer, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 7 | Pat Metheny Group | Performer, Primary Artist |
| 8 | Joel Meyerowitz | Cover Photo, Photography |
| 9 | Kent Nebergall | Engineer |
| 10 | Basil Pao | Design |
| 11 | Rob Van Petten | Photography |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |