PAT METHENY GROUP
Nightstage
Cambridge, Massachusetts
November 17, 1988 - early show


Personnel:
Pat Metheny: guitars, guitar synthesizers
Lyle Mays: piano, keyboards
Steve Rodby: bass
Paul Wertico: drums
Special guest Nando Lauria: voice


Lineage:
RAW:
Realistic stereo mic > Sony WM-D3 cassette deck > master cassette >
1st generation cassette copy > analog to digital transfer using RCA SCT-510
cassette deck through Creative Audigy sound card

MASTERED:
As above, plus Sound Forge with Izotope Ozone plugin for tracking, editing,
reducing volume of close clapping, EQ, and light mastering compression >
Izotope RX for removing several close audience comments and restoring
missing high frequency drop-outs > FLAC (level 8, aligned on sector
boundaries) 


Disc 1
1. // Have You Heard (Pat Metheny) (fades up during opening section.)
2. Pat's remarks and player introductions
3. Every Summer Night (Pat Metheny)
4. Better Days Ahead (Pat Metheny)
5. Change Of Heart (Pat Metheny)
6. What It Takes (Lyle Mays)
7. Are We There Yet (Lyle Mays)

Disc 2
1. 5-5-7 (Pat Metheny-Lyle Mays)
2. The Road To You (Pat Metheny)
3. Slip Away (Pat Metheny)
4. Pat's remarks
5. Beat 70 (Pat Metheny-Lyle Mays)

Encore (not taped): Are You Going With Me? (Pat Metheny-Lyle Mays)

Some months ago, While gathering material for The PMG Companion, Vol. III
(as of this writing, still a work in progress), we made a request in the
comments section of a Dime torrent for any tapes from a short run of shows
the Group had played at Nightstage in November of 1988. The PMG had booked
the multi-night stand at the small club, in what was then their home base
of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to premiere newly written and rehearsed
material for a live audience. Metheny and his bandmates (who would include
South Americans Pedro Aznar and Armando Marcal, neither of whom were present
for these Nightstage shows) would soon enter the studio to record the follow-up
to 1987's Still Life (Talking) and, with the exception of the encore ("Are You
Going With Me?"), the set list for each show was made up exclusively of
compositions under consideration for inclusion on what would become 1989's
Letter From Home.

The reason we went looking for tapes from this particular run of shows is
that at Nightstage--and only at Nightsage--the PMG had performed Lyle Mays'
composition, "What It Takes." (Although never released by the PMG, Mays did
record a version with Pat Coil for Coil's 1994 album, Schemes And Dreams.)
We did have a tape of the late show from November 19th, but it was 1) a truly
terrible recording and 2) missing the last minutes of "What It Takes." To be
honest, we weren't expecting anything to come of our request when, lo and behold,
we heard from "babybreeze" (his Dime handle), a generous soul who had managed to
tape both the early and late shows of November 17th ... the first night at
Nightstage ... and who had never circulated the tapes. He'd misplaced the masters,
he said, but copies had been languishing in a shoebox all these years. Before long,
those tapes were in my hands for initial review and editing strategy, and then in
the hands of my partners in The PMG Companion project, Charles Fredericks (for
transfer and mastering) and Ted Foos (for artwork and torrenting assistance).
Since these recordings have never circulated, we've decided to present you with
both the transfer of the raw tape and Charles' master.

In his opening remarks, Metheny refers to these performances as "eleven world
premieres." A couple of these tunes had, in fact, been in the PMG's repertoire
for some time. "Better Days Ahead," albeit in a slightly expanded form, dated
back to 1981 (when it then disappeared until this show), and "Change Of Heart,"
which first surfaced in late-1986, remained in the PMG's set for the duration
of the 1987 Still Life (Talking) tour.

So, please enjoy this, the first show of the PMG's November 1988 stand at
Nightstage--a show which *does* include nine world premieres! We're working on
the late show now, and it's even better. It's longer and more relaxed, and
includes another world premiere. 

Jim Leonard
March 2009
