Zero Tolerance for Silence

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Zero Tolerance for Silence
Zero Tolerance for Silence cover
Studio album by Pat Metheny
Released 1994
Recorded December 16, 1992
Genre Noise
Length 39:14
Label Geffen Records
Producer Pat Metheny
Professional reviews
Pat Metheny chronology
The Road to You
(1993)		 Zero Tolerance for Silence
(1994)		 We Live Here
(1995)

Zero Tolerance for Silence is a controversial 1994 album by American jazz guitarist Pat Metheny.

Recorded for Geffen Records, it was performed entirely on guitar, although all of the tracks were overdubbed ("Part 5" also contains an acoustic guitar amongst the overdriven electric guitars.) The music consists of relentless and intricate textures of noise guitar and blues-like solos, quite unlike Metheny's usual style, and caused a division of opinion among listeners. Some, including many of Metheny's most devoted fans, felt that the album was a cataclysmic artistic mistake, and fan forums have from time to time attempted to pressure Metheny into disowning the recording. He has declined to do so, although Geffen quietly allowed it to fall out of print towards the end of the 1990s.

The cover carried an endorsement by Sonic Youth guitarist/singer Thurston Moore, hailing Metheny as a "master". Critics have generally been less kind; Ben Watson of the music magazine The Wire described it as "rubbish". The album continues, however, to have devoted listeners. The American label Rhino plans to re-release it in late 2006.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Part 1" – 18:32
  2. "Part 2" – 5:17
  3. "Part 3" – 4:19
  4. "Part 4" – 5:13
  5. "Part 5" – 5:53

[edit] References