Colma is the fourth studio album by guitarist Buckethead. It was released on March 24, 1998, on CyberOctave records. The album was recorded for Buckethead's mother, who at the time was sick with colon cancer, and he wanted to make an album which she would enjoy listening to while recovering. The title of the album makes reference to the small town of Colma near San Francisco, California. Much of Colma's land is occupied by cemeteries and its population of less than 2,000 living residents is much smaller than the approximately 1.5 million persons interred in Colma city boundaries. It is said "the dead population outnumber the living by thousands to one." The album, though acoustic, has a theme of death, as evidenced by the track titles. Berklee College of Music alumna Teri Untalan appeared as a guest musician on two tracks of the album. In a 2009 interview, she recalled Buckethead as being "an odd one, an elusive character." Colma is listed in the German National Library's catalog.
Composition
In contrast to Buckethead's other albums, Colma is an acoustic album. Most of the tracks are composed on acoustic guitar. Additionally, Colma mostly contains simple bass guitar, lead guitar, and drum playing parts. James Lien of CMJ New Music Monthly writes that Colma's melodies are "geometric and mathematical-sounding, almost like Bach or modern classical music." Andy Gill of The Independent describes the mood of the album as "reflective" saying, " the dry, neutral tone favoured by jazz guitarists on a series of discreet instrumentals." Furthermore, Gill describes the tracks "Ghost" and "Hills of Eternity" as being "ruminative, sluggish pieces sprinkled with limpid droplets of guitar." He also thought the title-track, "Colma", closed the album "like the twinkle of a long-dead star." Reviewer Jeff Clutterbuck of The Daily Vault considers "Watching the Boats With My Dad" to be an authentic, emotional track writing that " is so wistful and flows so gently, you have to believe it was inspired by a real moment." On the other hand, "Big Sur Moon" offers a change of style in guitar playing showcasing Buckethead's consistent quick rhythmic ability on acoustic guitar. "Big Sur Moon", named after the region of Big Sur in California, is played solely on an acoustic guitar with a delay pedal effect. While being a member of Guns N' Roses from 2000 to 2004, Buckethead included the song to the band's setlist as part of his solo.
