Strange Beautiful Music - Joe Satriani

To guitarists world-wide, the name Joe Satriani is synonymous with words like technique, speed, melody and "how-the-hell-did-he-do-that?!". A gifted guitarist and musician, Joe Satriani has been releasing he unique style of rock/metal for two decades.

'Strange Beautiful Music' was released in 2002 and, like most of Satriani's studio releases is an instrumental album and as such finds Joe playing various styles and types of ...
...rock theme, to a reggae-esque style with many different things in between. Thrown into the mix are banjos, keyboards and what been credited as a 'Frippitronic' guitar, (played by Robert Fripp of King Crimson himself no less). Quite what a Frippitronic guitar is I'm not entirely sure, but Fripp's appearance on the album is impressive, even if it is for only one track. The album also features a harp played by Pia Vai, (who from what I've been able ... more

To guitarists world-wide, the name Joe Satriani is synonymous with words like technique, speed, melody and "how-the-hell-did-he-do-that?!". A gifted guitarist and musician, Joe Satriani has been releasing he unique style of rock/metal for two decades.

'Strange Beautiful Music' was released in 2002 and, like most of Satriani's studio releases is an instrumental album and as such finds Joe playing various styles and types of guitar, from his normal electric and acoustic guitars with a rock theme, to a reggae-esque style with many different things in between. Thrown into the mix are banjos, keyboards and what been credited as a 'Frippitronic' guitar, (played by Robert Fripp of King Crimson himself no less). Quite what a Frippitronic guitar is I'm not entirely sure, but Fripp's appearance on the album is impressive, even if it is for only one track. The album also features a harp played by Pia Vai, (who from what I've been able to deduce on the internet is Steve Vai's wife). Joe and Steve's lives have been intertwined for years and I always enjoy these little cross overs that they have from time to time.

Produced by Joe along with John Cuniberti and Eric Caudiex we find him and his backing musicians, (Matt Bissonette on bass, Jeff Campitelli on drums, Eric Caudiex handling keyboards and "computer stuff" [sic], and John Cuniberti dealing with percussion) on excellent form. The band performs the tracks to a high standard, effortlessly playing at both fast and slow tempos and complimenting each other with the way in which they play the songs - both the playing and the production on 'Strange Beautiful Music' are excellent. Joe almost always uses overdubs on his albums, but this doesn't sound too clinical, instead more as if it's grown naturally than it's had to be produced. Rock music, in particular instrumental rock, always runs the risk of being over produced and sounding as if its been done by some sort of machine, but no such issue arises here and it's pleasant to listen to the music itself, rather than to the recording.

All the songs are new recordings and, with only one exception, have been written by Joe for this album. I particularly like the fact that Joe's guitar sound changes from track to track, keeping the album interesting, but whilst still retaining Joe's distinctive tone and without destroying the sense of continuity created by the songs.
The one track not written by Joe is a cover of 'Sleep Walk'. I couldn't tell who the original artist were, but I do recognise the tune and I quite liked Satriani's laid back approach to the song.

Like many of Joe's album, this is something you tend to have to focus your attention on. Personally, I wouldn't have this album as background music as I find too much of my concentration drawn in by it.

The album sleeve is stylish yet simple, featuring a black background with the title in white, and underneath a photo of Joe himself. For any fan searching through a record store, the image is instantly recognisable; I managed to spot this one from a bit of a distance as it's very clearly Joe Satriani on the front.
The sleeve opens out to reveal some photographs taken during the recording and it certainly looks as if everyone involved had great fun recording the album. Looking at these photo's it seems that the guys get on really well and this has probably had a beneficial effect on how the album has come out.
The sleeve also contains the usual 'Special Thanks To' and technical information about the songs and the recording.

One criticism I have of the album is that not all the songs are as captivating as others. Some of Joe's solos do sound a little like I've heard them before on other albums. However, these are few and far between and don't really detract from the album as a whole, which I find very entertaining and enjoyable to listen to.

I've seen this available for about £12 or so on Amazon. For fourteen tracks that are enjoyable and of a high standard, I think this is value for money, though I wouldn't want to pay much more than that. As this is a full studio album, you're unlikely to find it for much cheaper, but I'd still shop around to if you could.

I'm surprised 'Strange Beautiful Music' has received relatively little critical acclaim, as it is an entertaining album. Far from Satriani's best work, but certainly one of his best in recent years, I would genuinely be surprised if fans of Joe's didn't enjoy it. If you're not a fan of Joe, but are curious about him, whilst I would recommend this album, I would say there are more important albums to buy before this one, such as 'Surfing With The Alien' or 'Flying In A Blue Dream'. A worthy, if not quite an essential album to have in your collection if you're a fan of instrumental rock,
 

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