Happy Songs - Joe Ely

Advantages: Nice selection of tracks. Great for inspiring guitarists.
Disadvantages: Relatively small market niche.

...Along with the globally massive “surfing with the alien” this has to be one of Joe's more well known albums. It was also one of the first ones that I got my hands on. On his official website “www.satriani.com” there are links to where you can hear audio clips of his album. You can also hear clips from all his other albums including his live releases. I very much suggest listening to these to hear some of his other amazing work to, and to find out if you would like to purchase a certain CD or not. The Extremist was his 5th studio album released in 1992, so lets see how it shapes up.... ALL SONGS WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY JOE SATRIANI PRODUCED AND MIXED BY ANDY JOHNS AND JOE SATRIANI ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION BY JOHN CUNIBERTI The track listings. 01 = Friends (3min28sec) - The opening of the album with a big drum... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Jeff's very early stuff, Some classics before they became finished, A hitoric looks at Jeff's past
Disadvantages: Some songs really are demo quality

...). This easily shows he has an abundance of talent (then again did anyone ver question that?), with parts of the song seemingly sang as an A-cappello. The song despite it really being a showcase somewhat for Jeff's vocals goes on far too long, they should only have ha about half the song there as it seems never ending, which is really a shame. 6/10 The second track, "How long will it take", is also a cover this time of a Loretta Lynn song, written by Pat Kelly and Beverly Muic. The length of this song is much more listener friendly at 5mins 13 second. The guitar exploded's with a happy pacey rythmic feel to it that makes you smile in consideration of lucas' brilliance. Buckley's vocals kick in like a floating feather caught up in the wind of the guitar. unfortunately like a feather in the wind, it seems to go up and down and not realy remain... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Consistant quality
Disadvantages: A couple of tracks let it down

...Released in 2000, "My Name Is Joe" is the thrird album from the R&B singer Joe (Thomas). I feel that it it wasn't for my father's taste of music, I would have never have heard of Joe, because he is really underrated outside of this genre of music, but in this category, he is (or was) one of the best in the game, so he should be showed a lot more respect. "Intro (My Name Is Joe)" "Somebody Gotta Be on Top" Although this song deals with all the typical things which you would expect to hear from a track such as this, it doesn't really have the power which you get to see in other parts of the album, so it is just a second rate version of the rest of the songs here. However as he is consistantly strong, it means that the overall quality isn't effected as it doesn't sound that poor away from this album. **Three Stars... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful