Jason Becker - Perspective (1996)

Perspective is the second studio album by the guitarist Jason Becker. According to Becker's web site, the album features "Steve Perry, Michael Lee Firkins, Matt and Gregg Bissonette, Steve Hunter, members of Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra and members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus."
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_(Jason_Becker_album))

Jason Becker’s sophomore album, “Perspective”, is a bit of an enigma, but that’s one of the things that makes it great. The biggest difference from his debut “Perpetual Burn” is the fact that the guitar has moved from being the focal point to being just one avenue of his expression. Not to say that there isn’t a lot of awe inspiring fret work on “Perspective”; it just has now become part of the music, instead of being the music.
Of course there is a very important story the unfolded during the making of this album: Jason was diagnosed with ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Over time this disease takes away your movement until you’re completely paralyzed. This had a lot to do with the overall change in mood of this album.
However the mood isn’t one of a sullen nature. In fact it is a very joyous album. And while this is an instrumental, less the last song, there is a lot of emotion throughout this album.
Another quality that became evident due to Jason’s circumstances is his killer compositional abilities. On “Perspective” there are symphonic, orchestral, vocal, Indian and even country styles throughout it. And each part is epic (not in the Manowar sense), each part is absolutely at the peak it could be at without going over and falling into parody. His songwriting and composting abilities are of sheer brilliance.
As for the material contained on “Perspective”, it could be described as brilliant, excellent, outstanding, and so on. You would need a thesaurus to describe how amazing this album is. There are no standout tracks, as each one is absolutely essential to this album, and without one the album loses something special. Alas, there is one standout track, the last track. It is the only one with vocals in basic sense, which makes it a standout, but it is just as good as the rest.
Overall Jason Becker’s “Perspective” is one of the single, most utterly perfect albums ever made, and taking into account the situation surrounding him, it is quiet an achievement. This is not only an album that metal fans would enjoy; classical fans would very much enjoy this too. And although Jason Becker made his name with his guitar prowess, this is the best album he ever made.
(metal-archives.com/reviews/Jason_Becker/Perspective/14383/)