Dreaming #11 - Joe Satriani

Joe Satriani - Dreaming #11

This album, if you can call it that with only 4 tracks, was released in 1988, and comes as follow on from the Classic Surfing with the Alien (http://cd.ciao.co.uk/Surfing_With_The_Alien_Joe_Satriani__Review_5485512). The track listing goes as thus...

1 - The Crush Of Love (4:17)
This song has a strong motif, and its sparse instrumental accompaniment helps maintain a focus and clarity ...
...and very "studio" orientated with a rather lifeless sound when compared to the live version, which is amazing! Back to the original, the track is clean, and the guitar lines weave effortlessly between each other with many harmonies complementing and strengthening the main line. This is typical of Joe's simple (well seeming simple) yet effectively strong and infectious melodies! This song captures and conveys some strong passion with upbeat ... more

Joe Satriani - Dreaming #11

This album, if you can call it that with only 4 tracks, was released in 1988, and comes as follow on from the Classic Surfing with the Alien (http://cd.ciao.co.uk/Surfing_With_The_Alien_Joe_Satriani__Review_5485512). The track listing goes as thus...

1 - The Crush Of Love (4:17)
This song has a strong motif, and its sparse instrumental accompaniment helps maintain a focus and clarity on the main guitar melody. The original track sounds dry, and very "studio" orientated with a rather lifeless sound when compared to the live version, which is amazing! Back to the original, the track is clean, and the guitar lines weave effortlessly between each other with many harmonies complementing and strengthening the main line. This is typical of Joe's simple (well seeming simple) yet effectively strong and infectious melodies! This song captures and conveys some strong passion with upbeat and emotional playing. Although I think that the cheesy brass synthesised melody in the background highlights the 80's ness of it.

2 - Ice Nine (4:41)
This is a live version of the original track in which after introducing the band the classic riff strikes up and the chuggin' rhythm starts and the groove locks in. The live version doesn't sound as polished as the studio, although damn close! It has more warmth and feeling in it than the original again from "Surfing with the Alien". The song hits a weird section, which looses its way with some strange and flash lead guitar. It finds its way again to a crescendo followed by a much more mellow section almost like taking a time out. Gently and gradually it builds up to the introduction of the main riff again. The main riff as some flash guitar sounds takes you to the end of the song.

3 - Memories (9:08)
The actual song is not nine minutes long, the first part is filled out with idle playing from Joe just passing some time, once this has finished the song gets going. The song its self begins with a riff that I really like, and the start sounds really promising of some great material, as it is racy, upbeat and powerful. This soon slides to a mellower verse, followed by the chorus, which has echoes of the last song in its influence, but the melody is still nice to listen to. Overall this song has a dramatic sweep of dynamics and playing, varying from soft melodies to powerful and dramatic playing.

4 - Hordes of Locusts (5:12)
An amazing song, the sound is very good, and the playing is great! The song has an evil character around it that could be quite easily applied to the imagery of an infestation of locusts taking over, or flying over fields. The strong backing by a much more promenade than usual bass guitar adds to this song and its simple lines don't interfere with some of Joe's more delicate guitar work. He demonstrates his confident and well executed techniques that leave you wondering "how does a guitar do that?". Although quite a long song, (maybe a bit too long?) it draws to a close, before promptly finishing in a triumphant "da daaarrr" style. Ps. when you have listened to this track, you realise that it's live! I first thought that this was a studio production although it was a little rough.

Overall, I would see this as a little window on the transition between Joe's Surfing with the Alien, and his later just as successful "Flying in a Blue Dream" album, which I'll review at a later date. It shows his progression and style modifications, with some really cool tracks, but I still cant get over the slightly odd 80's studio sound he adopted, but once this is looked past, the music shines through.
 

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