Pat Metheny Fans, Great Suggestions Please ??


Hello,

I have Secret Story, We Live Here and Imaginary Day.

I know his styles vary from album to album, but I'm looking for some stuff that sounds great cranked-up or low-level, beautiful, involving and long-term (asking a lot)

The 30-60 second samples give a fraction of say, what a 14 minute song has, so it's kinda difficult to get a handle on the changing improvs.

I did like what I "managed" to hear from Pat Metheny Group with Mays, Egan and Gottlieb "San Lorenzo"
128x128rx8man
Pat Metheny Group (self-titled), Travels, Offramp & beyond the missouri w/haden are my favs. A friend took me to see him near Ft Liquordale in the late 70's & that was it
I ordered a Japanese import limited edition of the "White Album" with Mays, Egan and Gottlieb, should be a nice recording.

So much to choose from, are the later Metheny/Mehldau CDs worth any mention ?
ECM released all their PM stuff in Japan on gold and regular CDs. Both series were limited edition in mini-lp sleeves. More recently, a few PM CDs were released in the "Jazz the Best" series at lower price than the ECM. Again, a few were gold and others were regular CDs. The ECM series go for more in the secondary market.
I personally like the Metheny/Mehldau CDs, but I prefer the quartet pieces over the guitar and piano pieces. I also like most of the others previously mentioned as well as "The Way Up". The only thing I really dislike is the guitar synth. For me, a little goes a long way.
BTW: You should enjoy the "White Album", it's a must have.
Rx8Man: If you followed the early postings on this thread you will note a common denominator: the early stuff if the best. A few recent albums such as Missouri Sky and One quiet moment are pleasant surprises, but for me the early recordings (New Chautagua, 80/81) are what really stand out.
Very surprised that no one's mentioned his exceptional work on Michael Brecker's last recording, 'Pilgramage'. It's the best work I've heard from Metheny in quite some time!