Confessions of a Fanboy

The 7 Days of Satriani rolls along, and today we do a quick-hit tour through Joe’s entire solo career. Please note, readers, that I have not attempted to fully review and analyze each of these albums in great detail. Instead, I sat down and looked at the list of albums he has made over the past 21 years and reflected on them… briefly.

For the newbs, this might help you find a place to start in your attempt to digest the recorded works of one of the great guitarists in history. For the devoted, maybe you haven’t spent much time thinking about each individual album so let’s all sit in a circle and genuflect before our beloved six-string sorcerer.–

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

• Not of This Earth (1986): The debut! It’s not a great listen from beginning to end but the standout tracks here rate among his best. “Rubina,” “Memories,” and “Not of This Earth” are my favorites.

• Surfing With the Alien (1987): I’m going to talk about this one in more detail on the day the 20th Anniversary Edition is released, but it’s certainly worth noting this album formed a lifelong bond between me and Satch. “Crushing Day” is probably my favorite cut, even after all these years.
• Dreaming #11 (1988): My hair metal snobbery made me wonder if any of these songs and their layers of guitars and impossible complexity could be recreated live. The three live cuts on this EP proved it was possible, even with only drum and bass as backing. “The Crush of Love,” the lone studio cut, is one of Joe’s finest pop songs.
• Flying in a Blue Dream (1989): Joe sings, and he shouldn’t! Joe doesn’t have a great voice and he can’t communicate thoughts and emotions as powerfully with word and voice as he can with guitar. The vocal tracks make the album too long, but some of my favorite Satriani songs are on this disc. “Flying in a Blue Dream,” “The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing,” “One Big Rush,” and “The Forgotten, Part II” are all amazing. “The Forgotten II” is one of the most intense and emotional pieces he’s written.

• The Extremist (1992): The well seemed a little dry here and this marked the first extended drought in Joe’s recording cycle, probably in part because of a significant tour for Flying. Everyone loves “Cryin’,” me among them. “Why” has always been a favorite. “War” is one I only recently started to embrace.
• Time Machine (1993): I may not have played air guitar to any song more than the title track from this rarities/live set. Because it wasn’t conceived of as an album, it can be hit or miss. “Time Machine” is an all-time great track.
• Joe Satriani (1995): Bo-ring. This album never didn anything for me. I thought it was because at the time I was changing my musical tastes, but I’ve never enjoyed listening to it from beginning to end. “Cool #9″ is such a great song, it deserved to be on a more exciting album.
• Crystal Planet (1998): Joe seemed to go back to square one with this album. This has more of a classicist feel than Extremist or JS. It’s not the most memorable set, but it’s good.
• Engines of Creation (2000): Give him credit, he waited until electronica was on its way out and everyone else had dabbled with it before taking the plunge. It actually worked pretty well. I almost wish he’d have given in to it more fully. There are times it feels like he’s trying to keep one foot in the conventional, the other in the electronic (think U2’s Pop). Remember what Miyagi said about the grape?
• Live in San Francisco (2001): A fabulous live album, I own both the 2CD and the DVD editions. The sound is great, the performances are great, the set list is very good, and Stu Hamm rules on the bass. TheWifeToWhomI’mMarried loves “Time” (from Crystal) and I love Stu’s bass solo– Beethoven on the bass, unbelievable.
• Strange Beautiful Music (2002): It’s too long as an album, but there are some astonishingly good songs here. “Oriental Melody” is a great mixture of the dark and the light. “The Journey” has a dark and weird vibe. It can’t make it all the way through this record without stirring a bit, but there are some great songs.
• Is There Love in Space? (2004): Cover your ears, kids, Joe wants to sing again. Actually, the vocal tracks aren’t bad here. The album is compact and was a real strong release. “Gnaaah,” “If I Could Fly,” and the title track are all standouts.
• Super Colossal (2006): “Cool New Way,” “Redshift Riders,” and “Ten Words” are all great. It’s a good listen all the way through, but maybe not an outstanding one. There are some terrific songs, some solid ones, and it adds up to a better than average record.
• Satriani Live! (2006): It’s a good set, but I miss Stu on the bass! I also wish Love in Space and SBM would have been represented in the set list, he didn’t put out live albums after those two records. This setlist promotes the SC album and tours the greatest hits and as such is still a good listen.
• Note: Joe also appears on three live albums from his G3 concerts.

Filed under: Tags: Joe Satriani, Music of the Moment, Seven Days of Satriani