The Pat Metheny Group Offramp Japanese Import SHM-SACD

The third album by the Pat Metheny Group was released in 1982. It won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance and contains the popular ballad "Are You Going with Me?". Offramp is the first studio album on which Metheny used a guitar synthesizer, which subsequently became one of Metheny's most frequently used instruments. Offramp is also the first Group album to feature vocals.

SHM-SACD (Super High Material SACD) is the ultimate Super Audio CD that utilizes the materials and technologies that were developed for the SHM-CD to further enhance the audio-resolution. These discs are made with polycarbonate developed for the screen of the liquid crystal display. As it has a higher transparency, players can read the signal more faithfully. Also, it excels in fluidity, which enables you to cast a more accurate pit. What works wonders for a low resolution format such as CD should offer even greater sonic improvements in a real high resolution format such as SACD.

This 1982 recording by the Pat Metheny Group represented a crossroads for the guitarist, a creative expansion from his original concept in terms of acoustic and electric instrumentation, folksy roots material and modern jazz influences, American and third world sources. Having thus marked out the territory for a decade's worth of experimentation and growth, the Metheny Group cemented its standing on the cutting edge of contemporary jazz with Offramp. Lyle Mays' harmonica-like synth theme, Metheny's soaring, vocalized synth-guitar lead, some rich orchestral touches, and an easygoing blend of backbeat and chord changes made "Are You Going with Me?" one of Metheny's most enduring arrangements. Still, for every gentle, alluring set piece, such as the tangolike "Au Lait" or the rural vistas of "James", there was a visceral, emotive free-for-all like the title track, where Metheny unleashed wild, wailing synth guitar elisions over a loose, abstract pulse - anticipating the energy of the guitarist's collaboration with free jazz guru Ornette Coleman some four years hence on Song X.