YR

This is considered a classic and landmark album by many as American Steve Tibbetts offers up his version of World Music you could say with many ethnic instruments involved like kalimba, sitar, dobro, congas, tablas, maracas and more. I came in somewhat skeptical as I'm not big on acoustic music and there's a lot of that here but surprisingly we get quite a bit of electric guitar and maybe even more shocking mellotron on half of these tracks. I was won over rather quickly I might add with these excellent all instrumental compositions. I was reminded of Mike Oldfield quite often, even with some of the electric guitar work. I like the original black and white cover art but when Steve signed with the ECM label they changed the cover art to that new age-like looking picture which is still nice.

"Ur" is actually my favourite track on here. Acoustic guitar and percussion lead the way early and there's atmosphere as well. But when the mellotron arrives after 2 minutes with drums and electric guitar I'm in heaven. So good! "Sphexes" is a top four for me. How good does this sound with the percussion and electric guitar. It settles quickly though with percussion only but the guitar is back before 1 1/2 minutes lighting it up. Nice. It settles back once again. I like this one a lot.

"Ten Years" is very ethnic sounding with that picked instrument and percussion. Acoustic guitar eventually takes the lead then the electric guitar joins in around 3 minutes and lasts just over a minute. Back to the acoustic guitar then it all picks up after 5 minutes. Electric guitar is back after 6 minutes and it sounds pretty amazing a minute later. "One Day" is a short acoustic guitar piece.

"Three Primates" opens with acoustic guitar and the mood is a happy one. Lots of intricate sounds when the tempo picks up. It settles back before 2 1/2 minutes. A change in the rhythm a minute later as it almost swings here with lots of acoustic guitar melodies. Percussion to the fore around 4 minutes. "You And It" is a top four. Acoustic guitar as the atmosphere rolls in. Beautiful waves of mellotron here. Electric guitar and drums join in after 2 1/2 minutes, percussion as well. It settles back around 4 1/2 minutes sounding like the intro with the acoustic guitar and mellotron. Percussion before 6 minutes as the guitar steps aside along with the mellotron but the atmosphere continues before the mellotron returns. Great track!

"The Alien Lounge" is my final top four and it opens with acoustic guitar and a majestic sound of mellotron and more. It settles back as percussion comes to the fore and the mellotron stops. Acoustic guitar continues then the mellotron returns before 2 1/2 minutes along with some Oldfield-like electric guitar. Check out the gorgeous ending. "Ten Yr Dance" starts with acoustic guitar melodies and more as it picks up quickly. Electric guitar joins in but soon it's mostly acoustic guitar but contrasts will continue as he lights it up on the electric again.

Count me a fan of "Yr" and I have a feeling I'm just going to grow in my admiration of this the more I play it.