JOE SATRIANI: Surfing With The Alien (GUITAR HERO): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

The release of "Not Of This Earth" didn't cause much of a stir, except among musicians and guitarists in search of new sensations, but Joe Satriani didn't let that stop him, and immediately set to work on "Surfing With The Alien", his second album, which would truly be the starting point of his career. In Satch's own words, "Not Of This Earth" was like the experience of a musical nightmare; "Surfing With The Alien" is approached from a completely different angle, that of the instrument's playful contribution - in a word, fun.

The cosmic or space imaginary in its cold, anguished variant with "Not Of This Earth" is here reconducted in an attractive, jovial form illustrated by warmer production, bright colors and the wink to comics on the cover. The opening track 'Surfing With The Alien', one of Satch's classics, sets the tone for an album in which groove and swing sometimes conceal a rhythmic and harmonic richness that was daring for its time. Fluid, powerful tracks like 'Satch Boogie' (another classic), 'Ice 9' and 'Crushing Day', which have no other vocation than to communicate pure energy, coexist with deceptively simple compositions.

In addition to the famous, highly melodic ballad 'Always With Me, Always With You', this second album from the American is an opportunity to take his technical and musical experimentation even further. The technicality seen on "Not Of This Earth" is taken to a new level, with supersonic solos, virtuoso exercises (the two-handed tapping on "Midnight", which will inaugurate a tradition on subsequent albums) and the audibility of other instruments. Complexity ranges from the art of modulation on the rudimentary two-chord base of 'Lords Of Karma', to the alternating atmospheric and rock textures of 'Circles', or the atypical, cyclical backbone of 'Echo'.

"Surfing With The Alien" quickly propelled Joe Satriani into the headlines of the specialist media, but even more so into the whirlwind of sales. Aside from its commercial success, "Surfing With The Alien" remains symbolically his best-known record for its freshness and spirit of simplicity, even if a second listen reveals another degree of complexity. By 1988, Joe Satriani was measuring his growing popularity with a tour (including a famous July 15 performance in Montreux) that was interrupted twice to lend a hand to Mick Jagger, who was also on the road. It was during this tour that the four tracks of the "Dreaming #11" EP were recorded, for release in November. The albums and events of the next six years would establish Joe Satriani's style and influence for the next two decades. - Official website

JOE SATRIANI

SURFING WITH THE ALIEN

EPIC

GUITAR HERO