Search - Pat Metheny :: The Falcon And The Snowman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

His prolific output, indelible sound, and innate versatility would earmark Pat Metheny as an obvious candidate for film music, making this lone 1985 foray into film scoring remarkable for its singularity. The set is credited to the Pat Metheny Group, then a sextet including brilliant percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, with choir and orchestra added to expand the music's sweep--added ammunition, to be sure, but ironically of diminishing value when Metheny's signature guitar shimmer, Lyle Mays's multi-layered, textured keyboards, and the rest of the group could create such vivid music without props. The centerpiece remains their lone collaboration with David Bowie on "This Is Not America," a tasteful and largely successful collaboration intended to underline the espionage thriller's central theme of alienation and disaffection. Ironically, Metheny's most "cinematic" music has been delivered since, albeit in the conventional context of his subsequent albums, especially 1992's solo Secret Story. --Sam Sutherland