Pat Metheny Group – Imaginary Day.

Pat Metheny is in my top ten artists/bands. I love everything Pat does, but the Pat Metheny Group (PMG) is my favorite version of Metheny. Imaginary Day was the PMG’s ninth studio album, and they had been working as an ensemble for nearly two decades. However, Metheny and keyboardist Lyle Mays were the only constants through that period. It was critically and commercially successful (as commercially successful as a jazz album can be), winning the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, and the song “The Roots of Coincidence” won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

The album’s signature features are taking the classic PMG sound and mixing it with experimental instruments (for example, the 42-string pikasso guitar and the fretless classical guitar) and lots of percussion instruments (Mino Cinelu, David Samuels, Glen Velez, and Don Alias contribute to the album). The album was also inspired by world music from Iran and Indonesia. Finally, it is one of the most eclectic of the PMG albums.

This post is inspired by years of listening to the album and Metheny’s track-by-track commentary from his website.

“Imaginary Day” is a ten-minute suite that opens the album like an overture. Although this is an ensemble piece, the highlights are Pat’s use of a fretless classical guitar and Lyles’s explorations on the synth. Per Metheny:

“We were recalling our recent concert tour to Indonesia and a gamelan concert we attended there. It was an ensemble of 25 Indonesian musicians playing on metal instruments, and it was one of the tightest, most well organized ensemble sounds we had ever heard. I suppose we thought we could draw some influence from that, in that our focus on ensemble playing has also been a priority over the years, and there were things about what they were doing that paralleled our thing even though we draw from different musical vocabularies. So that was the starting place for that tune; us wanting to combine the natural bluesiness of what the fretless guitar offers with something inspired by that Indonesian ensemble sound.”

“Follow Me” is the most conventional tune on the album. It has a nice yacht rock vibe. Per Pat:

“If we think of “Imaginary Day” as this album’s overture, then “Follow Me” is like once you’ve entered this new landscape, this piece sets the tone.” He goes on to say “This is a whole melody based on harmonics, which sets this dreamy tone. But at the same time, there’s a rock sort of thing that happens – and happens throughout the album. If We Live Here had an R & B flavor, this one has a rock flavor. American Garage was also in this zone, but I think this album is more rock, and it’s certainly more sophisticated.

“Into The Dream” is an intro to “A Story Within The Story” where Pat plays an acoustic solo on the 42-string pikasso guitar. This creates a shimmering harp like sound. Per Pat:

One of the great features of the instrument [pikasso guitar] is that you can make it sound as if there are two or three people playing; it allows you to create that illusion. There’s a special tuning that I’ve developed that has the guitar part of the instrument tuned very low, and the higher, ringing strings tuned very high, so you get a complete range of tones that aren’t far away from the range of the piano.”

“A Story Within The Story” is classic the classic PMG sound. In an unusual twist to the PMG sound Mark Ledford plays trumpet.

“The Heat Of The Day” Opens with what sounds like tap dancing for percussion and a fast melody. Per Pat:

“A very complex, uptempo piece that has connections to Iranian folk music, flamenco and this imaginary music we were trying to dream up to go with our imaginary day.”

“Across The Sky” is a conventional electric guitar-focused PMG ballad. Its beautiful melody is backed by lush keyboard work from Lyle Mays.

“The Roots Of Coincidence” is the most unusual song on the album and barely sounds like the PMG. It is a suite that combines atmospheric sounds with thrash metal guitar. On paper, it sounds like a mess, but on the ears, it is a masterpiece (thus the Grammy). Per Pat:

Compositionally, I think it’s our best work on the record. Over its almost eight minutes it goes through a whole range of moods and dynamic points and very abrupt changes from one thing to the next. More than anything, it really rocks, which has always been part of our potential that I don’t think we’ve ever really captured on a recording until this track.

“Too Soon Tomorrow” slows things down after the frenetic “The Roots Of Coincidence.” Per Pat:

“A ballad I wrote as we were making the record. There was a point where the album seemed that it might be a little relentless, with a lot of stylistic jump-cutting. We needed something to let things settle for a minute.”

The closer, “The Awakening,” has a Celtic feel. It is a bright and energetic tune. Per Pat:

“The effect of the whole thing at the end of the record is a wake-up call; it’s been this long journey, this long dream; you’ve gone to all these different places and this really feels like you’re back on earth. It also features a great Lyle solo.”

When I first acquired this album in 1997, I thought it was one of the best-sounding CDs I had ever heard. It still sounds great in that format today (it was also issued as a multi-channel DVD-A and cassette that I have never heard). As far as I know, it has never been issued as a vinyl LP. Streaming services present the album in CD resolution (16-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC – I use Tidal).