So this album is huge and as it’s name suggests, full of compositions. Some musicians write tunes, others write songs, but the really dedicated virtuoso types… They write compositions. This album, or this “moment of genius” as I prefer to relate to it, is just that. Fans of musicians who utterly bury themselves in their art, or to put it more bluntly, musicians wanking, need to put their seat-belts on, or some such metaphor.

The production… Huge.
The musicianship… Huge.
The compositions… Huge.

When I was initially handed the CD I had a completely different idea of what I was about to feed my brain. The Henge-like imagery and the ethereal sky suggested a calming natural ambiance. I saw a serious Lindsey Boullt on the inside cover concentrating on one of his guitars and overall the feeling was that this would be a fairly smooth and chilled out collection of tunes. WRONG.

As much as I hate labeling music by the success of other musicians, my gut reaction to this epic — for epic it truly is — was that someone had managed to blend Lost Tribe, Probot, and The John Mclaughlin Trio into one band. This description is vague enough not to pigeon hole this unique CD, yet give you a fair idea of what to expect. I hope.

Overall, Compositions comes off as a very tasty and well-recorded fusion of some unexpected styles and some intense tune-smithery. Music like this, while fairly accessible to the average listener, is what I term a Musician Appreciation Moment. The album is beautifully engineered and although the sheer cleverness can get a bit overwhelming, the entire album is just awesome.

On a Groovespook Musician’s Music Rating (GMMR), it’s an 8. And yes, I’ve never done any sort of rating system before and I am definitely not going to tell you what that 8 is out of.

Trust me though, when a piece of music makes me physically smile and even laugh out loud, it’s because I am trying to visualize how the hell they just did that and still manage to make it sound so friggin’ good and THEN manage to move on like it was nothing.

Composition Track Listing:

01. Page Revisited (4:30)
02. Chasing The Whirling Dervish (3:47)
03. Moving Panvishnu (4:02)
04. Call For Peace (4:05)
05. Bravo Davo De La Torre (3:26)
06. Aurora’s Aura (5:04)
07. Groovin’ With Stu (2:16)
08. Taste The Hate (2:38)
09. Farewell (4:32)
10. Cleopatra’s Third Eye (5:45)

Lindsey Boullt – Guitar
Jerry Goodman – Violin
Derek Sherinian – Keyboards
Stu Hamm – Bass
Atma Anur – Drums
Jeremy Colson – Drums
Jon Herrera – Bass
Sukhawat Ali Khan – Vocals
Peter Van Gelder – Sitar
Mingo Lewis – Percussion

You can visit Lindsey at his official website.