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TechnoTV - Upojenie
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List Price: $13.98
Our Price: $9.75
Your Save: $ 4.23 ( 30% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0075597990980
Label: Nonesuch
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Nonesuch
Release Date: 2008-10-07
Studio: Nonesuch
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Skip this and look elsewhere for a better treatment
Comment: Much as I love Pat Metheny's music, I have to damn this recording, and firmly: DON'T SPEND ANY MONEY ON **THIS**!!! The only reason this dud has received any five-star reviews is because Metheny's music is so transparently wonderful that it shines when even the worst performers attempt it -- as is the case here with Metheny's Polish collaborator. Unfortunately, her rather unremarkable voice takes away greatly from what would otherwise be a pure pleasure.
For a clue as to how Metheny's and Mays's music should be handled, listen instead to that Chicago marvel, Kurt Elling on his 2003 CD Man In The Air. Elling has a clear facility with lyrics, as his take on Minuano amply demonstrates: both the song and the singer simply soar. As well they should! I could listen to that take endlessly, just as I could the original on Still Life (Talking). I doubt anyone would feel that way about anything on Upojenie, given a choice: this was simply an experiment that should never have been recorded. Experiments are well and good, and useful -- but the ones that fail should be culled immediately in favor of better work. Nobody would miss **this** disaster if it fell off the discography ...
Seriously, check out the Kurt Elling version of Minuano. Breathtaking!! One can only hope that he performs and writes lyrics for more Pat Metheny tunes (perhaps Metheny will notice and propose a jam session). In fact, THAT would be a collaboration truly *worth* hearing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: alternate take on PMG tunes
Comment: reworking of PMG tunes - tastefully done, without losing too much of the original; overall style is maybe a little "lighter" than original PMG renditions; Metheny's solos live up to usual standards; Polish at times may not be the most beautiful singing language :-)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Bound to divide opinions
Comment: Having already owned the original Polish recording for over three years & been at times enraptured & at others left cold by it, I'm not at all surprised at the diversity of reviewers' opinions here.
Let me explain.
Firstly, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the concept of this album (ie. adding words & vocals to some of Metheny/Mays' best tunes), nothing at all wrong with Jopek's voice (light yet appealingly smoky) &, in the main, nothing wrong with Pat's new arrangements (mainly just voice, guitar, piano, bass & drums with occasional synth). Indeed, from the opening Picasso guitar playing of "Cichy Zapada Zmrok" a FIRST listen invariably pleases. However, from track 2 "Mania Mienia" ("So May It Secretly Begin") a slightly unsettling phenomenon starts to occur - on first blush you can't help but think that the tune is "meant" to have words yet it seems that as the arrangement gets ever so slightly more embellished (in this particular case a little bit of backing violin & some overdubbed vocals) you start yearning to hit the eject button & replace it with the original version from "Still Life Talking". Same with "Przypeyw Oddech Czasu" (Tell Her You Saw Me) where the almost "plodding" vocals plus a little too trilling piano & then a faux South American pan-pipe & conga effect had me almost gagging on one listen & again yearning & reaching for the original from "Secret Story". Same again with "Tam Gdzie Nie Siega Wzrok" (Follow Me) where there's simply FAR to much vocalising which diminishes the raw "punch" of the original version (I know everything's a matter of taste but IMHO the vocalese voice-over of the "bridge" part which continues as a backing vocal through to the end of the track is frankly awful!).
So, here's the rub - these are such great tunes that adding a new dimension (ie. vocals sung by quite an appealing singer) seems like a great idea & on first listen you're happy enough to give the new arrangements their "head", so to speak. However, after a while you get the sense that some of the arrangements have been ever so slightly overdone & maybe the original versions are the better ones after all.
So, this is a 3.5-4 star disc because:-
on the plus side, the tunes ARE fantastic (worthy of at least 4* on their own) & at times the arrangements are indeed new & fresh & add a new dimension to Metheny's greatness;
on the minus side, there's often a bit too much singing/not enough guitar & occasionally over-wrought arrangements which make the originals seem just fine as they were.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Vocals to Pat Metheny's music.
Comment: This is a wonderful CD and Anna Maria Jopek has the perfect voice to bring vocals to Pat's music. If you are a true fan of Pat and Anna Maria, go out and get this CD. A true fan of PM would not have to listen to this first before buying and anyone giving this CD a 1 Star rating has no concept of what music brings to us all. *****
Customer Rating:
Summary: Metheny Goes Pop
Comment: I bought this cd today excited about a different Metheny collaboration, and I found it nothing but disappointing. I am a HUGE Metheny fan (I own every one of his cds), but I cannot believe he did this with his music. He and Anna Maria Joper have ruined his compositions; they sound like a beginner arranged them using the program Logic for the first time.
What is Lyle Mays thinking about this? It is a Pat Metheny Group Production and some of the compositions are co-written by Metheny and Mays.
I hate this cd and the fact that I spent $15 on it. It will be the last time I buy a Metheny cd without listening to it first.
I feel deceived.
Alfonso
PS: I gave it one star only because I had to.
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Editorial Reviews:
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The 2002 album Upojenie, now being released domestically for the first time, may be Pat Metheny's most unique and, for many listeners, least well-known project. The guitarist collaborates with popular Polish singer and keyboardist Anna Maria Jopek backed by a group of Polish musicians.
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