First of all, if you like Pat Metheny, the Group, or surround music in general, I urge you to go out and buy this DVD-A presentation of Imaginary Day immediately, before it disappears! While it perhaps isn’t my favorite of the Pat Metheny Group’s recordings, the surround presentation of this recording gives it an added dimension that the standard two-channel version could not convey. For surround sound fans, it is demonstration quality and will give your system a workout with both incredible dynamics and minute details. On that alone, I highly recommend this DVD-A.

The music on Imaginary Day has a lot more depth than one will realize upon first listen. In addition to the obvious jazz influences, you’ll find music here spanning many musical styles. Two of the albums highlights, in fact, are in very different styles. “The Heat Of The Day” uses a Turkish-influenced melody coupled to a Flamenco rhythm, which continues as the Turkish section morphs into a typically soaring Metheny arrangement with soloing from the members. “The Roots Of Coincidence” is almost indescribable–it is a powerful, pounding, growling work that suddenly floats off on a cloud. It begins with, of all things, a distant computer modem negotiating a connection (something dial-up users hear several times a day), then within moments, Pat’s overdriven guitar begins the melody. A synthesized beat carries the song along until the bridge, where it pounds to a conclusion and Lyle Mays’ piano drifts for a few moments and a brief percussion bridge that sounds like a railroad crossing leads into Pat’s guitar solo. The solo builds again to another climax, and again, at the end, Lyle’s piano continues along as various elements ebb and flow around it, almost swirling, and the song eventually tapers off. This is definitely a highlight of any song Metheny has recorded in recent years.

For the first track, we’re treated to an overture that gives us an idea of how different this album will be. “Into The Dream” is a solo piece by Metheny on his 42-string Pikasso guitar. The folk-ish album closer “The Awakening” takes us to the triumphant end of the journey that Pat has taken us along for. All of the other songs are solid as you’d expect of a Metheny project, although “Follow Me” seems like the obligatory “radio-ready” track that is stuck in as the second track in this work.

But the big question, for me, is how does the surround treatment improve upon the original 2-channel version? Emotional impact. The 2-channel is a very nice work, don’t get me wrong. But having this sea of sound surrounding you accomplishes two things. First, it involves you in the middle of it, putting you inside a small space within the music, either when it is frightfully quiet (where you’re almost afraid to breathe) or blasting out no-holds-barred (“The Roots of Coincidence”). Second, it spreads the mix out so that you can hear every nuance, every small part of the arrangement. This effect is subtle yet very effective–you’ll hear things you’ve never noticed before. The surround mix transcends your audio playback hardware–you are transported to a place where only the music holds your attention.

Some surround productions come off as being gimmicks–entertaining and enjoyable gimmicks–but you are still aware that you are listening to a surround presentation. Only a few others I own have this effect on me (Peter Gabriel’s Up, which is very chilling in surround, and Diana Krall’s Look Of Love, where the wash of Claus Ogerman’s strings over the sound field are as immersing as a warm bubble bath). This DVD-A comes highly recommended. And if you have a proper surround setup, if you’ve only liked this recording in the past, you’ll find the DVD-A hard to take out of your player, and will be one of the first you’ll pull out when you want to show off your system.

The extras on this DVD-A are typical. There is a photo gallery, discography, credits, and a biography that explains what the Imaginary Day project is about. For audio options, you get the high-resolution stereo and high-res surround versions for DVD-A capable players, and a Dolby Digital surround version that plays in all DVD players. So, even if you don’t have a DVD-Audio player, you can still enjoy the surround presentation, albeit not at the full fidelity of the DVD-A portion. Regardless, this is one enjoyable surround disc, and one of Metheny’s most ambitious recordings. Highly recommended!