Putting together a good meditation CD must be a thankless task for an accomplished musician. To begin with, the artist must write and perform music that is designed to not only soothe the soul, but which can unobtrusively remain in the background during a meditation session. At the same time, the compositions should be texturally rich and filled with complex passages. Most of all, the music on such a CD must avoid any comparison with Muzak, otherwise known as elevator music. This is much like the task that faces a composer of soundtracks for motion pictures, except that here it’s the listener’s soul and emotions that are being enhanced, rather than an on-screen love scene or action sequence.

This is exactly the job that British musician and composer Nick Shires has undertaken for his CD Blue Mother Earth, An Obsession With Time. The twelve tunes contained on this disc are symphonic meditations on twelve separate one word themes, like “Awakening,” “Joy,” and “Achievement.” Although each track neatly fits into the overall theme of the album, each is also complete unto itself, and Shires deftly avoids any pretentious or oversimplified Yanni-esque influences that have become much too common in the world of “New Age” music.

The real test of meditation music is in it’s ability to be satisfying as music in its own right, instead of being just a tool for meditation. Here, Shires has crafted pieces that are often like a good movie soundtrack, just as often reminiscent of Debussy, and occasionally downright bluesy. This old hippie especially likes the plaintive guitar riffs in the CD’s third cut “Peace.”

To hear streaming audio samples from this album, you can visit http://www.moulinmusic.com. For ordering information, email HeatherPedley@compuserve.com.