Real Illusions: Reflections

This is the seventh studio album, released by Epic on 22 February 2005 as WK 86800, eleven tracks; the Japanese edition, EICP-477, followed on 23 February. Vai calls it a rock fable, and it is the first part of a concept work in three records. The story concerns a town visited by the godsent Pamposh and the Church he builds there, and the lyrics, the spoken narration and the booklet each carry part of it. As Vai has described it, a man has a traumatic experience that drives him insane and we see the world through his eyes; a stranger like a shaman enters his town and builds a giant edifice, a kind of reflecting pond, and the people who come to it see aspects of their own personalities and learn something about themselves. Lotus Feet, placed deliberately as track seven, is a live recording taken from three concerts in the Netherlands on the 2004 Aching Hunger tour, and it was nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 2006 Grammy Awards. Vai cites Bulgarian wedding music as the inspiration for Freak Show Excess. The album reached number 147 on the Billboard 200. The running order here is the import CD's as printed.