Colma

Buckethead | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 24, 1998)
• Original Release Date: March 24, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Higher Octave
• ASIN: B0000067WV
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,047 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #5 in Music > Indie Music > Rock > Progressive
  • #13 in Music > R&B > Funk > Metal
  • #23 in Music > Miscellaneous > Experimental Music

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Different, but excellent., January 20, 2001

By 

Lord Chimp (Monkey World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colma (Audio CD)

If you're a Buckethead fan, you're invariably drawn to his inventive technique, his furious yet tasteful blend of speed, heaviness, and melody, not to mention his quirky sense of humor. As such, Colma will be a surprise for many people. Here, Buckethead sheds all his pseudo-metal bombast in favor of a slow and mellow album of incredible beauty. Many fans might be turned off (or even put to sleep) by the change in sound, but if you don't mind lighter, less intense aural experiences, Colma proves to be rewarding album.

The songs are largely acoustic based, with only the occasional electric guitar (most notably on the dynamic solos that close "Machete"). The music is prominently soothing, sometimes beautiful, and sometimes establishing an ineffable emotional clarity despite the fact that no words are ever spoken. This is a testimony of how expressive Buckethead's guitar playing is. Most of the melody lines are great with a few that are merely good. It's nice that the album included a few string instruments on some of the songs...the interplay between guitar and strings is always nice. Personally, I would have liked to see a piano worked into a song or two -- I really think it would have fit some of the tracks. This is just a wish however, and the lack of a piano doesn't detract from the music.

The music is great, although diversity is a problem. Because every song follows a very formulaic structure the same tempo is used for nearly every song, the CD can feel like a sludge of almost interchangeable tracks. The songs ARE excellent, though, and if you give it enough attention you will see that the music does explore many subtle variations of the main musical idea. Also undermining some of the album's excellent music is the lifeless nature of the looping drums. Usually it doesn't bother me, but there are times when I find myself unwittingly giving them too much attention and I am a little irked.

Nearly an hour of like sounding slow songs might be a hard sell, but the music IS great and Colma's merits shine past its flaws. In the future, I hope Buckethead makes another album like this but with more visceral drumming and a little more attention to song variety.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Finding" Buckethead..., December 15, 2009

By 

Mariusar "Mariusar" (NYC, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colma (Audio CD)

As a decades-long hack guitar player, my musical tastes are fairly predictable in general. To me, hearing the guitar played well, regardless of silly genre cliches, classifications or context is always a great joy and never fails to lift my mood, engross my mind or, best of all, simply makes me smile. And while my musical tastes are all over the place, nothing will ever supplant the love I have for great guitar work.

Ever since I stumbled onto his video Satch Boogie on MTV's Headbanger's Ball in the 80's, Satriani has been my favorite guitarist/musician, supplanting even Alex Lifeson as my own personal sentimental fave. Since then, I have watched with immense satisfaction as Satriani has reaped the well-deserved accolades and commercial success commensurate with a musician of his skill, dedication, mastery and utter love of the guitar.

The list of guitarists whose work I love and admire is too long to name - the worst part is, despite how "deep" I like to think my list is, the terrible truth is that I have barely scratched the surface, even after more than 30 years as a guitar lover.

One of my greatest musical joys is the discovery of some heretofore unexplored talent - shaking my head in awe, amazement or simply humble appreciation at hearing someone create beautiful and often amazing music from the instrument I so dearly love.

Which brings me now to Buckethead.

I have long been aware of Buckethead - he has been hovering at the edge of my musical radar for years. In fact, I recall seeing him guest star with Steve Vai during one of the G3 tours years ago. But sadly I never made the leap and gave his work any attention at all. I am not sure why, but I think it may have to do with his truly bizarre [but amusing] public image - I guess I just never gave him any credibility, regarding him as yet another poser/wanna-be hiding behind a mask.

BIG MISTAKE...

In recently refreshing my mp3 collection for a new mp3 player [the generally EXCELLENT Sony E345], I stumbled upon a track from Buckethead's COLMA which a long-departed friend passed to me ages ago. I still remember that life rudely intervened and I just never got around to listening to it - but over the years, through multiple computers, that single track got migrated along everything else digital I own.

That track, I have now discovered, is Whitewash and I sit here now writing this as I listen to COLMA for the very first time. Needless to say, only halfway through the CD, I feel compelled to contribute my own thoughts on Buckethead's work.

There are many wonderful [though not as many as there should be] Buckethead reviews out there and having just discovered him, I am in no way qualified to reflect cogently on his work. So here are some words which now come to mind about Buckhead:

remarkable
extraordinary
near-genius
masterful
intense
melodic
brilliant
deceptively deep
strangely beautiful
evocative
unique
thought-provoking
perception-changing
genre-defying

I could go on and on...

COLMA is simply not to be missed.

I can't tell you how much I look forward to experiencing more of Buckethead's voluminous work. Please do yourself a favor and do the same...

cheers,
-mariusar

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Soothing, July 11, 2004

By 

' "shredzfromhell" (Tampa, Fl United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colma (Audio CD)

I personally love this album because Buckethead changes his playing style from diminished robot-esque solos (not that those aren't sick) to simple chords and melodies with the occasional slow solo. His fast solos are amazing too, this guy is one of the few people I know who can pick and fingerpick at the same time. My favorite song on the album has to be Big Sur Moon, he plays this song each time he gets a solo spot, even did it when he was in GNR and played it at Rock N Rio. To me, this is like his "Eruption."