?Eclectia?, as the name suggests, is made up musical bits and pieces. And all the pieces are good. Some are excellent. All are worth hearing many times over.

It opens with ?Beautiful Island?, a reggae tribute to Bermuda where the composer guitarist has lived the past five years. It has a good reggae groove. The words are a bit repetitive, but the song has no great ambition. It?s a party song, and a good one.

The ?Tribute to Andrew York?, a contemporary classical composer, takes off in an entirely different direction. It is based on rhythmic figures swirling in changing harmonic patterns over a pedal point, followed by some unison lines before returning to the original theme over pedal point. Guitarists will find a lot to admire in this playful/serious piece.

?Yogiya? has a catchy rhythm that suggest both the East and the Caribbean, but when the melody line emerges there is no mistaking its Eastern origin.

?If I Could Be? is a very wistful take on the fleetingness of beauty, and the anguish of the human condition. This is sung with a touch of echo which I think enhances it. These lyrics: ?If I could be music, I?d be birdsong.? There is a meditative interlude played on a guitar that certainly does not sound Western. You need to listen to this track repeatedly. It is packed with poetry. The spirit of George Harrison seems never far away when this music is playing.

?Between My Eyes?, for me, rivals ?If I Could Be?, at least for its poetic lyrics. The melody is nicely sung, at times in double voiced duet. A very nice peaceful vibe. This alone is worth the price of the CD. Great work.

?Aayiram?, with its shifting rhythms and colourful instrumentation is another gem of the album. Neat tight ensemble work with the percussion distinguishes this track.

The theme music Mathew wrote for the local production of Shakespeare?s ?The Tempest? makes an appearance. It is atmospheric as the title would suggest, but not boisterous. It seems to concentrate more on ?the strange sounds? which were said to emanate from the Isle of Devils. And the piece that follows, from the same work, entitled ?Ariel? is even more so.

?Dance of the Sprites? has a curious Blues feel, but also Bluegrass, and 60?s Rock, at least to my ancient ears. Even if you ?re not a sprite, you could move to this.

The sounds of this album, the lyrics (try and get the words from ?Between my eyes out of you head once you?ve heard them), the gentle whimsy and sense of other spheres that pervade this album are quite intriguing. There is a sense of intelligence giving way to deep feeling that is special.

Friend David Estes whom Joseph?s fans will remember from a remarkable concert earlier at this year?s Guitar Festival wind-up, contributes his talents to the project as do Joy Barnum and Robert Smith. Kamilo Kratc helped with the final mixing, and Mathew Jr. knocked off the album cover on his PC in all of 30 minutes!

If you are looking for a quality musical gift for your relative or friend known for the ?different? taste in music, this might just be the thing to give. I know I?ll be giving a few.