First Circle (album)

First Circle
Studio album by Pat Metheny Group
Released	1984
Recorded	February 15–19, 1984 Power Station, New York
Genre	Jazz fusion
Length	49:54
Label	ECM
Producer	Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny Group chronology
Travels (1983) First Circle (1984) The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
Pat Metheny chronology
Rejoicing (1983) First Circle (1984) The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[2]

First Circle is a Grammy Award winning album by Pat Metheny Group released in 1984. On the album Pat Metheny is joined by Lyle Mays on piano and keyboards, Steve Rodby on bass, drummer Paul Wertico and vocalist and percussionist Pedro Aznar. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance in 1985.

Pat Metheny has remarked that this is an important album in the Group's history for a number of reasons, among them being that the Group's core lineup on the album remained unchanged for over 15 years and it was the final Group album released on the ECM record label. While Metheny has expressed that he has no negativity toward ECM, he has stated that their recording policy was very stringent:

"You recorded for two days, you mixed for a day, that was your record. For better or for worse, whether you liked it or not, that was your record."

Nevertheless, Metheny has stated that "First Circle" vastly expanded the scope of the Group's music. In a podcast retrospective, he remarked that the album brought the Group to a creative high that he had been seeking since its foundation, and further stated that "First Circle", "Still Life (Talking)", and "Letter from Home", arguably the Group's most popular albums, were connected by their distinctive musical explorations and accessibly melodic personalities.

Of note on the album proper is the peculiar opener "Forward March". Sounding like a children's concert band's first practice together, the piece, which features keyboardist Lyle Mays on trumpet, uses many dissonant, out-of-tune chords and notes, along with shifting time signatures. On using it as the opener, Pat Metheny has since remarked that it "seemed like a good idea at the time." ^[3]

Track listing

Side A
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Forward March"	Pat Metheny	2:47
2.	"Yolanda, You Learn"	Lyle Mays, Metheny	4:43
3.	"The First Circle"	Metheny, Mays	9:10
4.	"If I Could"	Metheny	6:54

Side B
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Tell It All"	Metheny, Mays	7:55
2.	"End of the Game"	Metheny, Mays	7:57
3.	"Mas Alla" (Beyond)	Metheny, Pedro Aznar	5:37
4.	"Praise"	Metheny, Mays	4:19

Personnel

• Pat Metheny - Guitar, Synclavier Guitar, Sitar, Slide Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Acoustic 12-String Guitar
• Lyle Mays - Piano, Synthesizers, Oberheim, Agogo Bells, Organ, Trumpet
• Steve Rodby - Bass Guitar, Acoustic Bass, Bass Drum
• Pedro Aznar - Glockenspiel, Voice, Bells, Acoustic Guitar, Percussion, Whistle, Guitar Acoustic 12-String Guitar
• Paul Wertico - Drums, Field Drum, Cymbal

Charts

Album - Billboard

Year	Chart	Position
1984	The Billboard Top 100	102
1984	Top Jazz Albums	2

Awards

Grammy Awards

Year	Winner	Category
1985	Pat Metheny Group	Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance

References

1. Ginell, Richard S. (2011). "First Circle - Pat Metheny | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
2. Swenson, J. (Editor) (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 139. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
3. Pat Metheny Songbook (ISBN 0-634-00796-3) page 441