Flying In A Blue Dream - Joe Satriani

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Ethereal Guitar; Experimentation With Genres; He Tries Singing
Disadvantages:	He Tries Singing

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I was already a Joe Satriani fan when I received this in my Christmas stocking, on cassette, in 1989. In our household, the stocking was fair game when I woke up at 3am...sort of a peace offering from my parent to keep me from waking her up at an unholy hour of that holy day.

Flying In A Blue Dream has a whopping 18 tracks on it, and runs well over an hour of playing time. I sat in my bedroom and listened to it straight through twice. The first time I think my mouth hung open the whole time. The second time it only hung open part-way through it. There is some incredible guitar-playing contained in this album...but that's true for all of Joe Satriani's releases. It's what he does.

In the second track, "The Mystical Potato Head Grove Thing," there's this mutant, waterfall, hammer-on riff that he repeats toward the end of the song. Sounds neat, BUT...when I saw him in concert in 1990 I realized that the way he makes that effortless-sounding riff was to cross his right hand over, grab the neck of his guitar like a capo (is that the word for the thingie that ties onto a guitar-neck and holds down the strings?) and play the riff with his left hand like a piano, then switch back and strum a finishing chord. All in about three seconds.

Flying... is also the debut of Joe's singing. What to say about that? He can really play the guitar well. Um, his singing is...uh...undistinguished. "A" for effort, though. He sings in "Can't Slow Down," "Strange," "I Believe," "Big Bad Moon," "The Phone Call" and "Ride." (tracks 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13)

The only one of Joe's "singing tracks" to receive any airtime in the U.S. was "Big Bad Moon." I think he was trying to do a "Wolfman Jack" impression during the whole thing -- he had to have been hoarse by the end of the song. I think the metal-plated blues rhythm of the song pulls it through, and the vocals aren't meant to carry the song anyway -- they're more of an accent.

More experimentation with different genres can be found on this album. "Headless" combines soft-fingered Segovia-esque guitar with harmonica, overdriven vocal background and an almost bluegrassy snare drum. "The Feeling" is 52 seconds of bluegrass banjo picking. "The Phone Call," in addition to being a vocal track, is also a honky-tonking, banjo-toting, corn-fed mutant power-country track. Almost. "Day At The Beach" features more Segovia-esque soft plucking.

Then after the experimenting, "Back To Shalla-Bal" returns to the classic Satriani: Strato -- wait, I use that term a lot... how about Ionospheric guitar-playing? Hammer-ons, pull-offs, power-chords in minor keys that "take seven fingers per hand" to play, according to a guitar-playing friend of mine. Driving drums and power bass to set a stage for Joe's fingers to fly on.

The last five tracks of the album explore Joe's talent for creating an ambient mood and telling a story with his guitar, and are best when played in order and nonstop, as each leads into the next.

"The Forgotten (Part One)" is the introduction to the story, sets the stage, and transports you to the right place for it. "The Forgotten (Part Two)" is a stirring, forlorn piece that practically cries over the unfairness of...well, we don't know what of, but it's a big, open-mouthed wail of a song that swells to fill your entire head...and fades to a quiet, windswept ending. (I'm not making it up, he's added wind-noises to the ending)

"The Bells of Lal (Part One)" is the thin light of dawn on the morning after, and is harsh, edgy; reversed riffs are a wakeup call to the desperate character of the previous track, preparing him for...

"The Bells of Lal (Part Two)" is the full light of day. The bouncy, funky bass backs a shining, shrill guitar monologue. It's a "get up, get moving, daylight's wasting, stop feeling sorry for yourself" kind of song. The kind that says, "Hey, other people wish they had your problems." Finally, "Into The Light" is a large, slow, uplifting piece with sonorous organs and midi percussion holding up a guitar lead that climbs each power-chord rung of the ladder, carrying you all the way and finally, depositing you back into your chair.

Joe covers a lot of ground with Flying in a Blue Dream. He tries out vocals, different styles and different instruments, as well as including several tracks of his signature power-guitar-playing. It's also a more produced album than Surfing With the Alien. It incorporates more filling in each song than just the basic guitar/bass/drums of Surfing... and correspondingly, sounds more full in the ear. Just like a microbrewed Stout or Porter has more "mouthfeel" than a Budweiser, this album has more "earfeel" than his previous work. I recommend it.
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