Folk, Celtic, Classical and Phil Keaggy converged in 1991 to create the acoustic guitar treasure known as Beyond Nature. The title comes from C.S. Lewis' essay "Transposition," and many will be intrigued to hear that the album is, to a degree, C.S. Lewis themed. It fits well; a deep thinker and writer inspired a deep album. And it begins...

An unassuming intro soon bursts into a well-harmonized strumming section in the opener, "In the Light of Common Day." When I first heard someone play "Blackbird" by the Beatles, it reminded me of a part of this song (but it might be the other way around for most!). It's nice that the listener is first introduced to just Keaggy and his guitar (in standard tuning) when the album begins.

This next one is not standard tuning. Almost half the songs on the album are alternate, actually. Named after the county in Northern Ireland whose landscape helped inspire Lewis' Narnia world, "County Down" starts out slow. And what's so skillful about it is that it just gradually morphs and picks up to reach the high point of the song - the bridge where Stewart Duncan's fiddle takes the spotlight. And don't forget John Catchings, enriching the lower tones of the song with his cello. This song excellently delivers an old-fashioned sound.

The first minute-and-forty seconds of "Symphonic Dance" carry us almost to classic dreams. "Not so fast!", the song says. Or, rather, so fast! The pace picks up in a whole new section that doesn't sound particularly happy. It almost feels like we're watching a duel of some kind. Yet, this also dies out, giving way once again to the lullaby-esque rhythm. It's quite creative. But what you just heard was not written by Keaggy. It was his guitar arrangement of "Allegretto Grazioso" from Four Symphonic Dances Op. 64 by Edvard Grieg. By all means, check out the original orchestrated version if you get a chance.

Switching down to DADF#BD, Keaggy extensively demonstrates harmonic/fret tapping techniques. (A hard one to hum, you might say!) "Addison's Walk" is named after a path on the Magdalen College campus in Oxford. Apparently Lewis had an important conversation about personal faith while walking with J.R.R. Tolkien. Oboe by Marianne Osiel helps the song enter its final phase.

Then he goes right into a cover of a folk melody known to some as "O Sing a Song of Bethlehem," a Christmas hymn. For "I Feel the Winds of God Today," Keaggy adds a few of his own phrases and Sam Levine's recorder follows along. A minory outro coasts through, getting quieter and ending with what must be guitar with an effect applied.

"Fare Thee Well" is hard to justly describe. Opening chords and riffs meander into fret tapping that rivals "Addison's Walk." The writing and playing are both so dynamic that it takes a little while for the song to get itself together. Yet, it works so well. Strings and woodwinds cultivate Celtic styling as things get upbeat, and this one has - in the most rustic, steel-string way - an exotic feel. Once it's over, a slower region of the album starts.

A gentle picking pattern introduces "Fragile Forest," and the tranquil mood is sealed by Levine's background flutes and a bit of percussion by Farrell Morris. While I never really associated this one with Narnia, perhaps some listeners imagine the still, snowy forest. The song ends peacefully.

This song that bears Lewis' nickname can somewhat be thought of as the previous song's twin; both are alternate tunings with a little extra instrumentalizing, and both are slow. In "Brother Jack," things may be feeling chronically slow. But it's good; one can just appreciate small nuances of change in the song. Osiel's oboe helps with that subtle sense of variance.

"As Warm as Tears" completes the trifecta of very gentle songs, but sounds a bit more genuinely sad than the previous two. It is one of the more raw songs as this album goes, and when it seems like the end of it is unraveling, the next begins with no pause between tracks.

Structurally, it's a standout; "A Place of Springs" has no apparent motives... it just follows itself through tense phrases up to a climax where Keaggy strums extraordinarily fast. From there, the guitars just muse. They sneak around in muted tones and sullenly buzz through background loops. My only idea of its namesake is near the end of Narnia when King Tirian's company drinks at a spring right before their clash against the Calormenes. At six minutes and twenty-nine seconds, it's the album's longest song until it finally comes to a decisive stop.

For "In the Light of Common Day (Reprise)," Keaggy shifts the starting place to the vibrant strumming. Then he's joined by the biggest ensemble lineup on the album. The ensemble adds feeling: a recorder pierces like cold early-spring sunlight, sort of like you see on the album cover; strings and trumpets bring noble, victorious effects. It also ends at a different place than the opener does. The reprise could've been a good closer, but there's one more song: "When Night Falls." An overdub of crickets chirping eases the standard tuned guitar into a restful, somewhat wandering tune. One can "hear" the last shreds of dusk fade into darkness that perhaps unthreateningly contrasts with a humble campfire. There's no sadness in this final song, just tranquility as Phil lets one last riff ring out and the night noises fade away.

I know five stars is a big statement. Aren't there any problems with the album? As aforementioned, "Brother Jack" and its location creates a fairly pepless zone of the album, while "A Place of Springs" has no unifying motive to come back to. But these are details of style that some tastes may object to, not details of lacking quality. And quality, not style, is the ruling factor of the scale. Beyond Nature was, and is, of the very best quality. The album continues to deeply inspire people from various walks of life, and hopefully will inspire some of them to write their own "Contemporary Christian Instrumental Music."