Pat Metheny Group - The Falcon And The Snowman (Soundtrack) (1985)

The Falcon and the Snowman is an album of original music for the soundtrack of the Orion Pictures film of the same title, composed and co-produced by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays.

The music is performed by the Pat Metheny Group with occasional orchestrations for strings.

The exceptions are a male chorus featuring a young alto which bookends the album and "This Is Not America", a collaboration with David Bowie, credited as producer and co-composer, who performs lyrics for an arrangement of the theme heard in the track "Chris".

The album is a gem, although there are basically just two constantly recurring themes: the sublime 'Daulton Lee' and the chart-destined 'Chris'/'This is not America'., 'The Extent of the Lie', is another Metheny/Mays soundscape, of the type first tried out on the 'As Falls Wichita' album.
I remember seeing Metheny in interview at the time of the making of this soundtrack -- it was all recorded in England -- and this was at a time when Metheny and Mays were effectively the unofficial sales arm of New England Digital. 

 Metheny gave a superbly modest demonstration of the synclavier, using a keyboard rather than a guitar as the input vehicle. 

 It was fascinating to see the sheet music automatically generated from his doodlings. Sounds simple now, but back in 1985 this was impressive!
The film features my ideal intelligence job: you lock yourself away where no-one can reach you, and you observe many of the top-secret activities going on around the globe. 

 If only it were better paid!
Ultimately this soundtrack is better than the movie, and I still think it's the best soundtrack the PMG has recorded. I cannot help feeling that Metheny and Mays have at least a couple more monster soundtracks within them, if only they could work together on the project.

Track listing

1. "Psalm 121/Flight of the Falcon" - 4:09
2. "Daulton Lee" - 5:59
3. "Chris" - 3:21
4. "The Falcon" - 5:02
5. "This Is Not America" - 3:55
6. "Extent of the Lie" - 4:18
7. "The Level of Deception" - 5:49
8. "Capture" - 4:03
9. "Epilogue (Psalm 121)" - 2:16

All songs written by Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays except "This Is Not America", lyrics by David Bowie.

Pat Metheny Group
Pat Metheny - guitar synthesizer, acoustic & electric guitars
Lyle Mays - synthesizers, piano
Steve Rodby - acoustic bass & electric basses
Paul Wertico - drums, percussion
Pedro Aznar - voice on "Daulton Lee" and "The Falcon"

National Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Steve Rodby) on "Flight of the Falcon", "Extent of the Lie", "The Level of Deception" and "Capture"
Ambrosian Choir (conducted by John McCarthy) on "Psalm 121" and "Epilogue (Psalm 121)"
David Bowie - vocals and lyricist on "This Is Not America"
Producer - Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays

Notes
Recorded at Odyssey Studios, London, September 1984
Additional recording at EMI Abbey Road Studios, London and Power Station, New York City
Genre: Jazz fusion
Length: 38:23
© 1985

Label - EMI America Records