Joe Satriani is regarded as one of the most technically brilliant guitarists ever and with former pupils like Kirk Hammet (of Metallica) and Steve Vai you can tell how much he influenced rock. With 1987’s ‘Surfing With the Alien’ he amazed guitarists across the world with his virtuosity and musicianship.
TRACK LISTNG
1. Surfing With the Alien – 4:25 2. Ice 9 – 3:25 3. Crushing Day – 5:14 4. Always With Me, Always With You – 3:22 5. Satch Boogie – 3:13 6. Hill of the Skull – 1:48 7. Circles – 3:28 8. Lords of Karma – 4:48 9. Midnight – 1:42 10. Echo – 5:37
The first three songs are all quite similar; they each have a simple, upbeat riff with Joe playing some stunning leads over the top. They are a mixture of blues, hard rock and fusion and all have ridiculously fast solos that leave you bewildered at how anyone can play at such speed. These three songs are my favourite on the album and a feature that works really well with is that they repeat a previous line of notes in a different key.
‘Surfing With the Alien’ is truly outstanding. It is very fast and exciting with lots of technical tricks and flashy playing to boot.
‘Ice 9’ is equally magnificent. Boisterous and anthemic, it would be great for the beginning of an action film.
‘Crushing Day’ is frantic and chilled out at the same time with a fast riff and slow leads over the top. Love this song too.
He then changes the mood with the beautifully romantic ‘Always With Me, Always With You’ proving he’s not just about speed and showing off.
Although having a silly name, ‘Satch Boogie’ is crunchy, in your face and is another high-class tune (Satch is Joe’s nick-name).
‘Hill of the Skull’ is slow and mournful and refers to Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified. Fits very well with the song title and gives us a nice break from the flurry of notes that surrounds it.
‘Circles’ starts off rather slow and boring but at around the minute mark it takes off into a blitzkrieg of high notes and drum rolls before going back to the original melody with a minute left. Apart from the middle section this is song isn’t that great.
‘Lords of Karma’ begins with Joe playing what sounds like a sitar and a steady riff underneath. This song takes a while to grow on you. It has a nice middle section with a cool bass line but the sitars don’t really do anything for me. Mysteriously sounding song with a good outro.
‘Midnight’ begins with some quiet but very fast picked arpeggios before going into a section that sounds very urgent as if it’s leading to something big. Sadly, it doesn’t but it is a pleasant song.
‘Echo’ is soulful and is dominated by a slow bass line and is probably the weakest song on the album but is still quite good as it has a passionate middle section.
Overall, ‘Surfing With the Alien’ is possibly the best guitar instrumental album ever and paved the way for many to come. The only weakness is its length but as there are so many notes in that time I think you can forgive him. If you are into any form of rock and want to try something new, go for this.
Pictures of Surfing With The Alien [Remastered] - Joe Satriani
Surfing With The Alien - Cover
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Great review, one of the more informative ones on joes work, not just " just buy this ... its great " Nice to see !
Lucien500 30.06.2004 20:50
I love how informal you are! I think everyone, anyway, is being really mean giving you helpfuls because AT LEAST it deserves a Very Helpful! Well Done!
Champ666 14.05.2004 13:09
Unfortunatley Joe was one of the fathers of twiddling over substance guitar playing, a great player though.
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Apr 2nd, 2004
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