New Pat Metheny Group DVD due out 10/3! The Way Up Live ...

[Woochifer]

I've been anticipating this DVD release ever since I saw the Pat Metheny Group live early last year in support of their latest album, The Way Up.

The Way Up is a spellbinding album that commands attention all the way through. For one thing, it runs continuously with no breaks and no real song names ("Opening," "Part One," "Part Two," and "Part Three") while threading multiple melodic themes throughout the entire album. Structurally it resembles a prog-rock concept album, except that it's built around jazz improvisation. The album is dense, it's ambitious, it's challenging, it's very radio-unfriendly -- i.e., it's the antithesis of most new music.

With an album structured like this, PMG decided to go for broke by opening the concert the entire album all the way through with no breaks. Watching everything unfold over 70+ minutes was one of the more awesome concert experiences I've ever witnessed. When they finished with The Way Up, the band got a standing ovation and there was still half a concert left to go! (Interestingly, the remainder of the concert almost seemed anti-climactic by comparison) Metheny had revamped his band prior to the disappointing Speaking of Now album, and The Way Up really showcases what these new players are capable of (drummer Antonio Sanchez in particular really demonstrates his mettle this time around).

Since the PMG had released concert DVDs for their three previous tours, I expected (hoped as well!) that a DVD for The Way Up would come out of this latest tour. I read that the PMG had filmed their concerts in Seoul late last year for DVD release, but no official announcements were forthcoming.

But, earlier this month, the announcement came that the tour DVD for The Way Up Live would hit stores on October 3rd. From the track listing on the press release, it looks like the DVD will only include the complete live performance of The Way Up, with nothing from his previous albums. The only bonus feature is a 22-minute interview with Metheny. Might seem like they're short-changing the listener (well, because they are), but as I mentioned, the focus of his last tour was The Way Up and it largely overwhelmed the rest of the show.

No word on the sound specs, but the PMG's previous Speaking of Now Live DVD featured an outstanding 4.1 multichannel mix (deliberately mixed without the center channel) and a full 1.5k resolution DTS soundtrack. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the production quality and sound specs will be comparable this time around.

As an added bonus, The Way Up Live will be simultaneously released on HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Apparently, this will be the first concert video available in all three formats on the day of release.

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[BarryL]

Great news. Saw the concert in Toronto. I'm looking forward to it.

[Woochifer]

Well, it's here and it's damn good! The primary shortcoming is simply the length -- way too brief!

What you do get with the DVD is a typically stellar performance by the PMG. The performance is even more remarkable given the complexity of The Way Up. These guys are all playing multiple instruments and having to do this within an arrangement that runs uninterrupted for more than an hour. Seeing the concert video really displays how talented Metheny's band is. The newer players who joined the band in 2003 are now showing what they hinted at on the previous concert video.

As mentioned, the biggest fault with the DVD is that it only includes The Way Up played from start-to-finish, and nothing from the rest of his 2005 concert tour playlist. Indeed, the PMG already covered a lot of that playlist on their 1996, 1998, and 2003 concert videos, but his revamped band, particularly drummer Antonio Sanchez, brings a lot of new energy and new angles to old favorites from previous albums. One of the highlights from when I saw the PMG in concert last year was "James" from the Offramp, which is not on any previous PMG concert DVDs. Would have been nice to see that makes its way onto this DVD as a bonus track.

Technically, the production and DVD quality are excellent. The video production has a vivid look to it. It looks like a live video feed, as opposed to the overly processed "filmlook" process that a lot of other concert videos seem to have. Lot of good camera angles, but the edits were generally done way too quickly for a piece that runs 60+ minutes uninterrupted. That kind of quick jumping might work well for a four-minute song, but not for a long music suite like this. Otherwise, the video quality is excellent with no visible flaws other than occasional softness in the image. Since this concert got a simultaneous release in HD-DVD and Blu-ray, I would guess that this will look absolutely stunning in HD.

On the audio side, the DVD provides PCM, DD, and DTS tracks at higher resolutions than you'd normally find on other DVDs. The two-channel PCM track uses 24-bit resolution with a 48 kHz sampling rate (most other concert DVDs use the same 16-bit resolution as CDs, with the slightly higher 48 kHz sampling rate), while the 5.1 DTS track uses the full 1.5k resolution (most other DTS tracks use a half-bitrate version).

The audio quality is top notch, though the 5.1 mix is not quite as wonderfully spacious as the 4.1 mix that came with the PMG's 2003 Speaking of Now DVD. The crowd noise from the concert hall is captured well, but most of the soundstage is anchored to the front with the center channel heavily used (the 2003 DVD did not use the center channel). Bass extension is prominent throughout the performance, and the highs are very clean. Tonality with the instruments are very well captured, with the percussion sounding like it was more closely miked than the others.

Overall, a great performance and a very good DVD that begs for more.