The jazz guitarist who never quite sounds like he's playing a guitar offers this intensely personal record as a narrative of his own love and loss. His collaborations with keyboardist Lyle Mays (Offramp and First Circle) remain some of the most influential "fusion" records of all time, but alone Metheny's guitar and its synthesized variants truly speak from the soul of the individual. Often heartbreakingly sad and always melodically complex, these love songs need no lyrics.

Chris Hodgdon