Published on Jun 13, 1997
In an industry filled with masters of the six-string, what
separates a truly great guitarist from the rest of the pack?
The answer is simple, really – it has nothing to do with how
fast the person can play, or how hot their solos are. It is if they
are able to give the instrument its own voice, as if the guitar was
the lead singer.
In 1987, a relative unknown named Joe Satriani burst forth on
the scene with his second album,
Surfing With The Alien, and turned the guitar world on its
ear. Here was a musician who was capable of making a guitar talk,
and was a very capable (and fast) player. For the longest time,
this remained his best album.
The title track sets the mood perfectly, with a groove defined
by Satriani (who plays guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion and –
drum programming? AAAAAAAAHHHHH, NONONONONONONO!!!!!!!). The
multilayered lead and rhythm guitars make this sound as if Satriani
had an entire band behind him, and you can hardly tell the
difference. (Later on, Satriani added bassist extraordinaire Stu
Hamm to the lineup.)
Even on the first track, you can hear the influence Satriani
will have on guitarists just like Eddie Van Halen did before him.
It is one thing to have the know-how to play a million notes in a
second; it is another to make each note count, as well as knowing
when to slow things down. This is the mark of a professional.
Other cuts like “Ice Nine,” “Satch Boogie” and “Always With Me,
Always With You” show the range Satriani has. Especially impressive
is “Always With Me…” which has the groove and feel of a ballad as
if it were sung by a quality vocalist. For the first half of the
album, Satriani is the picture of perfection.
However, the second half of
Surfing With The Alien sags a little bit, as it seems to
follow a concept. The opening track “Hill Of The Skull” is the
first sign of trouble, clocking in at under two minutes. The theme
seems to be a darker one, and it is just not suited to Satriani’s
style.
The album does rebound a bit with “Circles,” which revolves
first around a well-written rhythm guitar riff. which explodes into
the guitar “vocal”. Of the remainder of the album, only “Echo”
stands out as a decent track, though the rhythm gets a little old
after a while.
This is not to say that the weak portions of the album are bad;
they just don’t stand up to the level of quality that Satriani
built up on the first half. And ten years after its release,
Surfingt With The Alien still sounds as fresh as the day it
came out. (Apparently it is out of print at this time, though you
should still be able to find it at used record stores.)
(Editor’s note: At the time of this re-posting in 2002, the disc
is back in print.)
I can only think of one guitarist better than Satriani (and I’ll
eventually talk about him here on “The Daily Vault”), but he still
is a guitarist who can make my jaw drop in admiration. Of all his
albums,
Surfing With The Alien ranks as one of the “must-own” albums
in his discography.