Amazon.com You probably overlooked the Loch Ness lizard popping its head out of the lake amid the bucolic landscape that graces this album's cover. Produced by guitar monster Henry Kaiser, 156 Strings thumbs its thematic nose at the unchallenging mellow acoustic tradition represented by, say, the Windham Hill label. Instead, Kaiser has assembled a roster of musicians--ranging from free-improviser Fred Frith and the always-dazzling Nels Cline to folk rocker Richard Thompson--who play music as fresh and difficult as it is entertaining. High points include Raoul Björkenheim's "Lullaby Heart Away," which blends the blues with Indian classical music; the Chinese-country scrapple of U Tin's "Ah Chit Yeh"; Kaiser's own Tantric porn soundtrack "Getting to Fifth Base"; and Michael Gulezian's appropriately titled "Plook the Asbestos Lobster." The album's inspiration and centerpiece, though, is the slice of Steffen Basho-Junghans's "Virgin Orchestra No. 1" that seems to expand exponentially the potential of solo acoustic guitar. --Richard Gehr