80/81

Metheny toured in the U.S. in fall 1980 with a quartet including Redman, Haden and drummer Paul Motian.{{cite book |last=Cooke |first=Mervyn |title=Pat Metheny: The ECM Years, 1975–1984 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |pages=213–214 }} In the summer of 1981, he toured Europe with the full 80/81 lineup featured on the album.{{cite book |last=Cooke |first=Mervyn |title=Pat Metheny: The ECM Years, 1975–1984 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |pages=153 }}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{AllMusic |class=album |id=r143826 |tab=review |label=Pat Metheny: 80/81 > Review |first=Richard S. |last=Ginell |access-date=October 6, 2011}}

| rev4 = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

| rev4Score = {{rating|4|5}}{{Cite book

|editor-last=Swenson

|editor-first=J.

| year = 1985

| title = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

| publisher = Random House/Rolling Stone

| location = USA

| isbn = 0-394-72643-X

| pages = 139

}}

|rev3 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings

|rev3score = {{Rating|3|4}}{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |authorlink1=Richard Cook (journalist) |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |authorlink2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer) |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |year=2008 |edition=9th |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-141-03401-0 |page=994}}

| rev2 = DownBeat

| rev2Score = {{rating|4|5}}DownBeat review, January 1981, pp. 31-32

}}

In a review for AllMusic, Richard S. Ginell wrote that "Metheny's credibility with the jazz community went way up with the release of this package", and called the album "a superb two-CD collaboration with a quartet of outstanding jazz musicians that dared to be uncompromising at a time when most artists would have merely continued pursuing their electric commercial successes."

In an article at Between Sound and Space, Tyran Grillo called the album a "still-fresh sonic concoction", and noted that "With 80/81, Pat Metheny took one step closer to his dream of working with The Prophet of Freedom (Ornette Coleman) (a dream he finally achieved with 1985's Song X)". He concluded: "Like much of what Metheny produces, 80/81 is wide open in two ways. First in its far-reaching vision, and second it its willingness to embrace the listener. Like a dolly zoom, he enacts an illusion of simultaneous recession and approach, lit like a fuse that leads not to an explosion, but to more fuse."{{cite web |url=https://ecmreviews.com/2011/10/14/80-81 |title=Pat Metheny: 80-81 (ECM 1180/81) |last=Grillo |first=Tyran |date=October 14, 2011 |website=Between Sound and Space |access-date=March 19, 2021}}

JazzTimes included the album in an article titled "10 Best Jazz Albums of the 1980s: Critics' Picks", in which Philip Booth stated: "Enlisting four of the musicians he most admired... the 26-year-old guitarist successfully translated the sound in his head to beautifully open, airy, sometimes urgent recordings."{{cite web |url=https://jazztimes.com/features/lists/10-best-jazz-albums-1980s-critics-picks/nggallery/image/1-pat-metheny-80-81 |title=10 Best Jazz Albums of the 1980s: Critics' Picks |last=Booth |first=Philip |date=November 23, 2020 |website=JazzTimes |access-date=March 19, 2021}}

{{Track listing

| all_music = Pat Metheny except as noted

| headline = Side one

| title1 = Two Folk Songs: 1st

| length1 = 13:17

| title2 = Two Folk Songs: 2nd

| writer2 = Charlie Haden

| length2 = 7:31

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| title1 = 80/81

| length1 = 7:28

| title2 = The Bat

| length2 = 5:58

| title3 = Turnaround

| writer3 = Ornette Coleman

| length3 = 7:05

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side three

| title1 = Open

| writer1 = {{hlist|Metheny|DeJohnette|Redman|Haden|Brecker}}

| length1 = 14:25

| title2 = Pretty Scattered

| length2 = 6:56

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side four

| title1 = Every Day (I Thank You)

| length1 = 13:16

| title2 = Goin' Ahead

| length2 = 3:56

}}

{{Track listing

| headline =

| title1 = Two Folk Songs: One / Two

| length1 = 20:52

| title2 = Every Day (I Thank You)

| length2 = 13:21

| title3 = Goin' Ahead

| length3 = 3:51

| title4 = 80/81

| length4 = 7:34

| title5 = The Bat

| length5 = 6:05

| title6 = Turnaround

| length6 = 7:04

}}

• Pat Metheny – acoustic and electric guitars
• Charlie Haden – double bass
• Jack DeJohnette – drums
• Dewey Redman – tenor saxophone (tracks B1, B2, C1 & C2)
• Michael Brecker – tenor saxophone (tracks A1, A2, B2, C1, C2 & D1)

• Manfred Eicher – producer
• Jan Erik Kongshaug – recording engineer
• Barbara Wojirsch – design
• Dag Alveng – back photography
• Rainer Drechsler – inside photography

{{Reflist}}

{{Pat Metheny}}

{{Authority control}}

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Category:1980 albums

Category:Pat Metheny albums

Category:Albums produced by Manfred Eicher

Category:ECM Records albums