There are many guitar aficionados with chops that will shred you from here till three days into next week. However, while flash and speed are a common skill among shredders one thing that isn't is recognizable melody and being able to use it to construct actual music that people will keep coming back to regardless of whether or not they are big fans of the electric guitar. One man who does this better than anyone else however is Joe Satriani, who burst into the mainstream with an explosive vengeance with his second album Surfing With the Alien in 1987.
Surfing With the Alien like most of Satriani's albums is entirely instrumental. It is an adventurous record in that regard. This record really shows just how much one can do with an electric guitar when it is allowed free reign and is the focal point of an entire album due to lack of any presence of vocals. A lot of the time the guitar has this outer space kind of vibe to it in terms of tonality. Though it does sound very 80's in a sense it still is quite unique from what Satriani's guitar shredding peers were doing at the time. Satch puts a lot of warmth, emotion, and real feeling into his technical prowess which in itself is no easy feat.
The title track Surfing With the Alien is the quintessential Satch track. If you have never listened to his music before, I HIGHLY advise you give this a listen before anything else. Instantaneously it grabs you by the balls and takes you for a ride where you feel like you're soaring at terrifying speeds through the solar system as though you were the Silver Surfer (as pictured on the album cover and in Marvel Comics). In between the crunchy riffs and ear worm melodies Satriani definitely flexes his guitar playing muscles with solos so quick you would think that it must be a robot playing the guitar.
If softer ballads are more your bag, Satch has you covered with his most well known and beloved ballad Always With Me, Always With You. It's kind of funny how without the use of any words Joe is able to express the feeling of love and affection in the most tender and warm ways. Everything is so melodic and easy to follow, though a few well placed guitar solos help to push the song to be everything that it can be. If you're getting married, this is actually a good song to consider having as your first dance. It makes you feel like there is nothing in the universe but you, your special someone, and the love you two share.
The odd thing about Surfing With the Alien is that although it is definitely a product of its time it is quite timeless due to many of the melodies it leaves us remembering. Even if this record were to be put out today it would without a doubt still be just as popular as it was when it was released in 1987. To this day it remains one of the major pinnacles of achievement for Joe Satriani, as many of the songs are still requested and played in his live sets even to this day. Anyone looking into Satch's tunes for the first time should start here. Even if you aren't a big fan of guitar chops/proficiency there will more than likely be something here for you to like and appreciate.
Surfing With the Alien, by Joe Satriani receives 5 out of 5 stars.
Track List:
1. Surfing With the Alien
2. Ice 9
3. Crushing Day
4. Always With Me, Always With You
5. Satch Boogie
6. Hill of the Skull
7. Circles
8. Lords of Karma
9. Midnight
10. Echo
Buy the album on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Surfing-Alien-SATRIANI-JOE/dp/B00CIOFUYW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425016449&sr=8-1&keywords=Surfing+With+the+Alien
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