Once again, Michael Nesmith hits the mark with his sequel to 1974's The Prison: The Garden. But, unlike The Prison, Nesmith decided to make the soundtrack mostly instrumental, as he says "to make the music more accessible (during reading)." First of all, I have to say that this achievement is even more phenomenal than The Prison. And what I think should endear it to Nesmith himself, as well as die-hard Nez-heads, is that this is a collaboration between Nesmith and three of his four children. Christian Nesmith makes a vocal and instrumental appearance with his father playing the six-string guitar and by singing in the choir in "Life Becoming." Jessica and Jason Nesmith also appear in the choir of "Life Becoming," the only track with lyrics.

Track One: "Garden's Glow"

The piano and violin opening is so beautiful and lilting, I almost cannot describe the euphoria it creates. It gives a lightness to the story and gives depth to the music. I can almost see faeries dancing on a frozen lake, a lyrical ballet. But then the music breaks character into a more intense rhythm. This is the only track of the first six with any lyrics to it, and it is only one line, almost indistinguishable when he sings softly "in the room the women come and go, wondering why the gardens glow." I had to read the booklet and find that passage on page 54 in order to figure out what Nesmith was saying here. It is moving and beautiful, the entire piece, far superior to anything J.S. Bach ever wrote, in my honest opinion.

Track Two: "Ficus Carica"

This is my favorite of the instrumental tracks. It is also the shortest at just over five minutes. There is a little bit of Japanese pipe music that winds itself into the song, and then dissipates. And unlike The Prison, Nesmith manages to have slight pauses and definite beginnings for each song. On The Prison, when one skips track one, remnants of that track's closing are mixed in with track two to make it feel seamless, but it is disrupting when tracks are skipped. In The Garden, Nesmith corrects that mistake by creating, when played as intended, a seamless-sounding piece of work that can be skipped around without the remnants of the previous track getting in the way.

Track Three: "City"

A friend of mine once told me that this track alone turned him on to the album entirely (he said a friend of his forced him to sit down and listen to the whole thing, and this track got him hooked) he and I agree that the scales are the best part of it (if you've heard it, you'll know what I mean) I believe it goes up six notes on a scale, but then sometimes it scales up and then down again in alternation. As the second longest track on the album, it manages to hold its scaling theme throughout the track.

Track Four: "Hills of Time"

This one has a bit of a hint of drama in it. It taps into the subconscious kind of as musak and tells you that this is a time of escalating plot. The music itself almost tells the entire story alone, and reading the booklet is really just a more literal presentation of the story. As you will seem, this chapter is where the whole idea of fear comes in, how fear relates to the world in which they live, and it brings back the shadow he felt in chapter three, so the intensity of the music makes perfect sense, but it is not so intense that the listener is unconsciously made uneasy, which some movie soundtracks can do. It is intense when compared to the opening of the first track or the lightness of track two.

Track Five: "Flowers Dancing"

This track calms down off Hills of Time. A light tinkering of piano and picking of the acoustic guitar is present. I find it a lilting alternative to the tension apparent in Hills of Time, but there are passages that seem a little empty.

Track Six: "Wisteria"

This track is a little too long for my liking and the changes in it, some of the notes seem a little sour to me. I can't really explain it. And by the time I've reached Wisteria, I'm in anticipation for Life Becoming so I generally don't specifically enjoy Wisteria for all it truly is. I'm not crazy for the electric guitar in a classical-feel piece, though you have to give Nesmith credit for the usage of the instrument.

Track Seven: "Life Becoming"

This is entirely my favorite all around. I like the simple acoustic guitar opening, and the way Nesmith's vocals slowly crescendo with the music. My absolute favorite part of this whole song, however, is the celebratory explosion towards the end, about six minutes in, when the music bursts into chorus, bells, orchestra, the whole nine yards. The lyrics of Life Becoming are so soothing, so fitting to the story. Like The Prison, The Garden is centered around Jason and his quest for love. This such a fitting end. And if you listen very closely, after the music has abated, a bell can be heard, soft and almost "in the distance," so to speak.

CHAPTER ONE: GARDEN'S GLOW

This provides an insightful look into Jason's life since Marie went back to the Prison. Here we learn about how he has passed the time since Tom and Janey left at the end of The Prison. The story opens with Jason bored brainless, and we find that while he has gone to the site many a time to look at the Prison, to find Marie, she began to disappear as she began to blend in with the other inmates; "...and so it was, one day, as he was looking directly at Marie, she wasn't Marie; then for a moment, she was again, then she wasn't. Then she was lost to him forever in a sea of indistinguishable faces."

Then the character Pick comes into the story, and Jason comes into the role of Tom and Janey--or rather, he tries, until Pick throws a punch at him and runs away.

Jason finds a friend in his Garden, a Tom-and-Janey-type character named Johnson. (Johnson may be Tom and Janey in another form, for he gives Jason the guidance Jason needs.) The realization that there is a house, where Jason could have sworn there wasn't, gives this dimension in which he lives a very spontaneous appearance, and Jason learns that there is so much more he has yet to learn. At the end of the chapter, Johnson gives him a glowing ficus carica branch, which is very much alive even though the bush it came from is not. It is here that Jason makes the fateful decision to ask for Johnson's help.

CHAPTER TWO: FICUS CARICA

The panoramic view Nesmith gives you as the chapter opens is very aesthetic. It gives you a very vivid face to the dimension in which he lives. I also like the part where Johnson makes the door disappear then reappear and asks casually "Wanna see that again?" There is a vivid description of the house inside being bigger than the outside implies. We begin to see that Johnson is no ordinary neighbor. At the end of the chapter, Johnson takes Jason to the City by something like teleportation.

CHAPTER THREE: CITY

In a break of character narration, so to speak, this one opens with Salizar and his daughter Muriel. It also gives Muriel a multidimensional perspective. Johnson takes Jason through The City, where Treva gives him a bunch of dried rivina vernalis. While traveling again, Jason stops to look at a house-- and loses track of Johnson. Here Muriel picks up where Johnson left off, to take him to the Spring. And then he gets jumped by a shadow--

CHAPTER FOUR: HILLS OF TIME

This chapter give humanity and humility to Jason--a new perspective--as he realizes that his fear of the shadow is really nothing. In saying that he feels terrible, Salizar replies "Because you are trying to distinguish right from wrong. That's not what your thinking is for. It's for distinguishing the real from the unreal" (shades of the Monkees' movie Head perhaps?) Jason is then charged with the mission to go to the Spring and help the water flow again. The overall theme of Hills of Time is Muriel's description of Fear as they are traveling; "Fear is worthless. Nothing comes of it but more fear." Muriel then tells him he will have to go on alone and to not be afraid, and a deity's voice tells him to not argue with The Angels. While pondering if she is an angel, Jason is then taken on a flight with Muriel. It is here the reader first realizes the budding romance between Jason and Muriel, for he no longer fears his job, and instead is determined to finish his job so that he can be with Muriel again.

CHAPTER FIVE: FLOWERS DANCING

Remember that seemingly throw-away character Pick? He reappears in this chapter. And Tom gets a mention as Pick casually mentions who helped him become a Gardener. This chapter gives some aesthetic descriptions that make the reader long to be a part of this world, particularly the three salubrious dancing flowers that seem to buoy Jason's heart. More of Jason's journey is revealed, and then Pick has to stop, leaving Jason alone once more.

CHAPTER SIX: WISTERIA

Jason's fears get the best of him, as a "beast" appears to him as Death itself, blocking the doorway to his destination. A creature so intelligent it seems to predict his moves. He sees no spark of life in it and knows his only weapon are the dried flowers Treva gave him. The when his fear abates, so does his perception of the beast. Here he meets Jack and asks him to turn on the river. I never really understood this whole thing myself, but there is obvious meaning here, I just haven't caught it yet.

CHAPTER SEVEN: LIFE BECOMING

When Jason gets back to his garden, he finds that Johnson has cleaned it up, and he takes Muriel, Salizar and Johnson on a tour of his Garden. The question posed at the beginning of how the ficus branch glowed is answered here (I'll leave that for you to read) and once again, as with The Prison, Nesmith closes the story with a recitation about Pure Love, but here, Muriel offers to stay with him, to forever banish his boredom and to offer him eternal companionship.

I believe that while the strength of love and belief is the backbone of The Prison, trust and lack of fear are the themes of The Garden, and while I'm not so sure about the story of The Garden (some of it almost seems too much to swallow) the musical backdrop and the connections one finds when combining the two media is truly remarkable and unparalleled.

This album is truly Nesmith at his finest as an instrumental songwriter and composer. He has topped the finery of The Prison with the elegance, majesty, splendor and grandeur of The Garden.