Joe Satriani ~ Black Swans & Wormhole Wizards (album review) ... When the swans & wizards come home to roost!

Style: instrumental, power metal
Label: Epic
Year: 2010
Home: n/a

Members: Joe Satriani ~ guitar/keyboards/bass
Mike Keneally ~ keyboards
Jeff Campitelli ~ drums
Allen Whitman ~ bass


A part of me just can't get into this album, but at the same time I can't say its a bad album or even that there's anything wrong with it. It's just not my thing. None of the songs jump out or excite me like the first time I heard JS's instant classic Flying In A Blue Dream, on the other hand it doesn't have any of the not so great singing that is both a good & bad blessing on that earlier album. This album also doesn't rock like I want JS to rock & feels very anti-climactic at times with more of a wandering feel than a building up feeling, but he is older & music has changed & he should be forgiven if he wants to slow things down & groove more than scream. I'm reminded of the last album by Jeff Beck which was a low flying affair that was more relaxing than what one might expect from Beck. I also think of Eric Clapton who has gone much more soft blues than pushing himself as he once did. Yet, I also can't help but think of all the other instrumental technical guitar albums I've heard. Here JS isn't showing off, isn't overly technical, isn't blasting the ear drums & paying more attention to developing the rhythm foundation than a lot of solo guitarists do. He's created here a guitar hero's album but without being an in your face guitar hero ... or, to put it another way, he turns in a technical album which doesn't sound overly technical, though it retains all the depth & feeling. Yet, even though I've listened to this numerous times over a couple days & don't hate it, I find the tracks don't jump at me like the earlier album & I come away feeling at a loss. This is probably more because it's not what I'm used to hearing from JS rather than anything about the album itself. Though, there is a lot less variety here which also is one reason it's not grabbing me. Flying In A Blue Dream verged on being too much all over the place, too unfocused, too much variety. This later release may play it too safe in the other direction. It's so safe that many of the lead lines tend to blend in the overall texture so the result is this doesn't sound always like a solo instrumental guitar rock album. But, while many of the tracks blend into each other in sound & feeling, if you work with this album & if it's what you're in the mood for the results you'll enjoy. JS is at a point where he doesn't feel he has to go to us, now its time for us to go to him.

Joe Satriani ~ Satriani Live! (live) (album review) ... The surfing alien goes live!

Style: instrumental, hard rock
Label: Red Ink Records
Year: 2006
Home: California

Members: Joe Satriani ~ guitar/harmonica/keyboard
Jeff Campitelli ~ drums
Dave LaRue ~ bass
Galen Henson ~ rhythm guitar

This two CD live album is taken from the DVD filmed in 2006 at The Grove in Anaheim, California. I can't help but recommend going for the DVD & leaving the CD for diehard fans. Some reviewers have called Satriani Live! a great introduction to JS's greatest hits as it pulls favorite tracks from his albums & is a high energy set where he just blasts away in stellar glory. That is indeed true as the show is during the tour for the album Super Colossal, a bad title but fitting for JS, but also draws songs from the successful Joe Satriani, The Extremist, Flying In A Blue Dream & Surfing With The Alien, while JS does tear into the air not holding back in the least. But, at the same time the songs are quite different here from the heavily overdubbed studio albums & some listeners may not like the bare-bones live versions that feel less like cohesive songs & more like long-winded guitar solos. I highly recommend Flying In A Blue Dream that defies audio belief. Satriani Live! should do the same but doesn't for the simple reason that it's impossible to duplicate heavily overdubbed & intricate studio creations on a single guitar with a backing band that ... stays in the back. In the studio there's a cohesiveness to all the instruments while the arrangements ebb & flow. Live JS has a tendency to overplay to compensate for the loss, but in turn kills some of the soft textures that make his albums so much of a cosmic journey. The technique becomes more important than the songs here. Thus, this essentially becomes an album for guitar nuts who love fancy finger work & all the sounds one can crank from a guitar, though the DVD is really better as someone of JS's caliber should be seen to fully get the experience of his skills. JS comes out looking like a technically great guitarist but the creative side as an arranger & composer is lost in the live setting. After the first CD one is either going to jump to the second or be turning to JS's student Steve Vai who has proven himself just as likely to drizzle a slow sad blues on stage as a hot footed rock song & not have to be in your face on either. There's really a draining aspect to a guitar soloist when there's no vocals & the songs tend to all have a driving rock feel & without being able to see it even more so. Some will enjoy the spontaneous raw energy but others will want to stick with the over-constructed studio work & will probably never miss not hearing this live album. As for those who think I'm too harsh ... I'm coming from the point of view of a casual listener wanting substance over technique, want song structure over showing off, want texture over flash, want a journey over an event. There's no denying JS's skills & influence, so there's no reason to rehash how great he is. He shows it here, but sometimes one just wants to float away in gentle cosmic guitar bliss without the flash.

The Yardbirds ~ Birdland (album review) ... Leftovers of the pecking order!

Style: hard rock, progressive
Label: Favored Nations
Year: 2003
Home: England

Members: John Idan ~ vocals/rhythm guitar/bass
Jeff Beck, Gypie Mayo ~ lead guitar
Chris Dreja ~ rhythm guitar/percussion
Jim McCarty ~ drums/b. vocals
Alan Glen ~ harmonica

Additional: Martin Ditchum ~ percussion

Guests: Jeff Baxter, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Slash, Brian May, Steve Lukather ~ guitars
Johnny Rzeznik ~ lead vocals

Let's be honest. Outside of the name this isn't really the Yardbirds nor even the brief New Yardbirds. Yes, some of the original members are here & as they got a career boost so long ago behind blues king Sonny Boy Williamson II there's nothing wrong with having a guest heavy album. The Yardbirds were actually one of the most adventurous bands on the British scene, even eclipsing the early Beatles, as they moved from a blues band to a psychedelic band with their songs remaining undoubtable classics. But, times have changed ... the bird has been plucked. Gone are the experimental wild eyed blues boys to be replaced by a plodding near middle-age tribute band. The music falls flat while the 7 new originals are interesting, but the fact that they are the best songs on the album, only one including a guest guitarist & its the weakest, doesn't say much for keeping the Yardbirds name alive. The classic songs are weak & without the risk or even bluesy swagger that they once had. Even their peers Deep Purple, which is criticized today for its FM radio friendliness that was never present with Richie Blackmore, put in a more exciting show. Originally, the Yardbirds came to an end when everyone left except for new guitarist Jimmy Page, who recruited new members, labeled them the New Yardbirds, only to have the name of the band missing from the first album & thus all we have is the name of the album - Led Zeppelin. Before Page the band also had the guitar powerhouses of Jeff Beck & Eric Clapton ... Tony Topham where are you? ... pushing the band through distinct personality changes. Nobody is pushing now. Though Beck guests for a single track on Birdland all that's left of the band is the drummer & rhythm guitarist, returning to the studio 35 years after their last recording. We don't even have original singer Keith Relf, long gone from this world, & singers can make all the difference to a band. It's like someone other than Eric Burden fronting the Animals. You don't know what you've got till it's ... The remaining members might have co-composed the songs but we turn to others to make it pop. Some bands reunite & its like the music kept developing even though it wasn't played for decades. The reunited Doors with Ian Astbury, aka Riders On The Storm or previously Doors of the 21st Century, sound as if they never broke up but kept developing. Big Brother & the Holding Co., numerous singers post Janis Joplin, are the same for those still listening. While other bands reunite falling somewhere between a tribute band & a brand new entity. The Yardbirds here are like that. It's not bad, but it's not the Yardbirds. It's a nice tribute band with no guts except when they do the new songs, which are in a Yardbirds style whatever that means. Not even the guests are able to boost the songs. Actually, the guests seem unnecessary just adding flash where a little breath would be better. The songs, most obviously "For Your Love", started life so primitively that to flesh them out works against them. The result is often one not bluesy enough nor rock enough. This was always a problem with the band since day one, not helped by the "Over Under Sideways Down" psychedelic period, but becomes more so here 35 years later. One of the problems is that there was never any real dominant force within the band & the revolving guitarists didn't help, while the band also went through numerous musical changes. There still is no dominant face, just torch carriers. To be fair, though, to have only two members of a once five member band it doesn't matter whether the two members are Clapton & Relf back from the dead or the rhythm section. There's not enough parts of the equation to take it home & give it life beyond a second rate but high profile tribute band. For those that don't know the Yardbirds outside of their major hit "For Your Love" with Eric Clapton it's time for a musical education. Just don't start with this album as they've got a rich catalog that will keep you happy awhile before you get to this release. Since Birdland the line-up has changed again. McCarty & Dreja remain & so does the revolving door.

Alice Cooper ~ Hey Stoopid (album review) ... Feed this Frankenstein of superstars!

Style: hard rock, heavy metal, shock rock
Label: Sony
Year: 1991
Home: Arizona

Members: Alice Cooper ~ vocals/harmonica
Stef Burns ~ guitar
Hugh McDonald ~ bass
Mickey Curry ~ drums
John Webster ~ keyboards

Additional: Steve Croes ~ synclavier
Robert Bailey ~ keyboards

Guests: Slash, Steve Vai, Mick Mars, Vinnie Moore ~ guitar
Joe Satriani ~ guitar/b. vocals
Nikki Sixx ~ bass
Jai Winding ~ keyboards
Ozzy Osbourne, Kelly Keeling, Lance Bulen, Stan Bush, Mike Finnigan, Zachary Nevel, Mick Wilson, Corky McClennan, Shaun Murphy, Tony Palmucci, Jack Ponti, Vic Pepe, Scott Bender, Terry Wood, Sherwood Ball, Cali, Nick Coller, Ian Richardson, Gary Falcone ~ b. vocals

Cooper has confessed in his autobiography to having spent the early 80's drunk & moving through musical styles that didn't work for fans or him. In the late 80's, after a series of hard rock albums that slightly brought him back on course albeit with no chart hits, he deliberately teamed up with hit maker/songwriter Desmond Child to get back on the charts after a decade & become again the respected musical force he once was. Trash was a return to glory via heavily commercialized hard rock, a fresh image & a successful world tour featuring an array of future icons in his backing back (Al Pitrelli, Derek Sherinian, Jonathan Mover, Eric Singer). Albeit, Child is known for penning love ballads for Cher, Aeromith & Bon Jovi & didn't much change his style to suit Cooper's style. But, the album achieved its goal while establishing Cooper as a leather wearing hard rocker balladeer still surrounded by his famous props. But, it's the follow-up Hey Stoopid, sans Child & an over-reliance on love songs but keeping everything else, that finally brought Cooper completely home. It didn't have the plethora hits that Trash spawned but that's more a reflection of changing MTV audiences than the number of future classics on the album. Back in full force is the tongue-in-cheek horror themes that had worked so well for Cooper but abandoned(i.e. "Might As Well Be On Mars" one of two remaining tracks with Child, "Feed My Frankenstein", "Snakebite" co-written with Kelly Keeling of Dokken & the Michael Shenker Group, "Burning Our Bed" co-written with Al Pitrelli, "Hurricane Years", "Hurricane Years", "Dirty Dreams", "Die For You" co-written with Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx & Mick Mars), while underneath humor was an array of emotive love ballads & cutting social commentary, the former taking a more prominent role in later albums particularly the Brutal Planet trilogy. The corny sounding title track was actually a cry against those wanting to commit suicide with "Hey, hey, hey stoopid, they win, you lose" ... though many may not realize that Cooper is more than shock rock but has opinions & a positive social message. Remaining on Hey Stoopid is also the commercial sheen that had glossed up Trash & really works for Cooper however much raw music is cherished over commercialization. Cooper doesn't cuss, have nudity or do anything horrid on stage like many of his imitators & anything but a non-commercial sound would fail. Though, gone forever is the experimental flavor of the 1970's Alice Cooper band, here confirmed with an array of guest hard rock guitarists to prove this is a new Cooper. Hey Stoopid would be the mold for everything that has come since. All the pieces are here that would get developed further, from the leather to the humor to the guest musicians, to memorable chorus lines. This is also one of the stronger releases with some of his most memorable songs, though this is firmly rooted in 80's hard rock while Cooper would later experiment with industrial (i.e. Brutal Planet) & power metal (i.e. The Last Temptation). The post-Trash Alice Cooper is a heavy metal vicious beast. The songs are fairly generic 80's metal but what sets them apart is Cooper's recognizable vocal style, catchy lyrics that are more mini-narratives & unpredictable musical arrangements. Cooper wants you to go to on an emotional ride with him & he does it very well with this release, oft forgotten but deserving a new listen.

Alice Cooper ~ Classicks (live, hits comp) (album review) ... Star studded & not quite classics as you know them!

Style: shock rock, heavy metal, hard rock, greatest hits, live
Label: Epic
Year: 1995
Home: Arizona

Members: Al Pitrelli, Stef Burns ~ guitar/b. vocals
John McCurry, Pete Freezin' ~ guitar
Hugh McDonald, T-Bone Caradonna ~ bass
Derek Sherinian ~ keyboards/b. vocals
Greg Smith ~ bass/b. vocals
Jonathan Mover, Bobby Chouinard, Mickey Currey, David Uosikkinen ~ drums
Robert Bailey, Alan St. John, John Webster, Steve Croes ~ keyboards

Additional: Dan Wexler ~ guitar
Zachary Nevel, Vic Pepe, Tony Palmucci, Scott Bender, Corkey McClennan, Lance Bulen, Terry Wood, Shaun Murphy, Sherwood Ball, Cali, Gary Falcone, Ian Richardson, Nick Coler, Mick Wilson, Mike Finnigan, Stan Bush ~ b. vocals

Guests: Slash, Steve Vai, Joe Perry ~ guitar
Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Cornell, Kelly Keeling, Jack Ponti ~ b. vocals
Joe Satriani ~ guitar/b. vocals
Nikki Sixx ~ bass

Before reviewing this compilation/live album let me note that this was released by the label after Alice had left & thus his involvement was minimal, so the outcome may not be exactly what he'd release if given full creative control. Like the Megadeth greatest hits albums released by Capitol Records after the band moved to Sanctuary Records in 2000 ... it's all about a label continuing to make money on an artist now making money for someone else. That being said ... how do you get fans to buy a greatest hits package that has tracks probably everyone already has in their collection? Well, you can focus the greatest hits collection on a particular theme, here being the leather era look of a now sober Alice. Next, you record a new track or two that you set beside both classic tracks & some lesser known more recent tracks. But, what do you do when your musician has left your label & thus there's no new tracks forthcoming? Of the 15 songs on Classicks, a name suggested by Alice himself, one track is a new song, albeit it's actually an underheard B-side, eight tracks are recent while six are classic tracks from the 70's but performed live by the 1989/1990 touring band. The idea is that all the tracks have the same 80's hard rock sound & not reflect the eclectic musical changes that have highlighted Alice's career. This album was looking for new generation of fans who liked one style of music & it was loud, bombastic & full of guitar. When it comes to greatest hits compilations this is one of the more unique approaches I've seen. It's right up there with Asia re-recording all their old songs for Anthology, albeit this is far more successful & enjoyable as the touring band isn't trying to duplicate which was Asia's goal. Classicks is supposed to be a greatest hits collection but the recent tracks are culled only from the then most recent Trash from 1989, Hey Stoopid & The Last Temptation, while the classic tracks are all from the Alice Cooper Band & 1975's Welcome To My Nightmare. Thus, besides lacking quite a few classic hits, there's a near fifteen year gap of recordings missing from this album making its status as a true greatest hits albums weak. Albeit, no hits really came from the ten albums released in that time, but there's a few gems such as "You & Me" that keep them from being completely forgettable though they largely are according to both fans & Alice himself in his autobiography. But, the MTV era hits are here that culled a new generation of fans, though only Trash really scored any real hits. But, though Trash spun off four videos & the most commercial success its strangely represented by the single track "Poison" while the other two albums, that might have spurred less hits but have stronger songs, are given more than their fare share of attention considering their minor commercial impact. It's almost as if Trash had gotten enough success & now the label wanted some attention on the other lesser selling albums. Alice of the late 80's/90's was a heavy metal guy, far different than his 70's/early 80's persona, brought home by the live versions on Classicks of classic Alice Cooper Band hits that are far different & more wild than their 15-20 year old studio counterparts. Taken directly from the Trashes The World video they are raw two guitar onslaughts with a high energy band including future Savatage/Megadeth/Asia/Trans-Siberian guitarist Al Pitrelli, future Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian, under-rated drummer Jonathan Mover of GTR with Steve Howe, guitarist Pete Freezin' & bassist T-Bone Caradonna. It's the band that would set the sound & look for Alice through the present day with current shows being a development of the Trash look. Eric Singer, famous for his future tenure with Kiss, would replaced Mover soon after filming the video but no official recordings of his time with the tour exist. This tour line-up, supporting the release of Trash, on this compilation only feature the band playing the classic songs. At first the live tracks sound messy & cluttered with guitars roaring in a way not heard before, though they are a perfect reflection of how Alice updated his sound for the 80's, putting aside the more prog elements of the songs for a more headbanging sound. The songs might be re-arranged but remain untouchable classics. Anyone who doesn't know the contemporary music by Alice is missing an important chunk of his career. This is a good starting point for someone unsure of if they might like his current sound, plus as a bonus it features numerous guest musicians. Personally, I'd buy The Last Temptation first, then consider this compilation or the other two studio releases if I liked what I heard. The Last Temptation has some of the most heart-breaking songs Alice ever recorded, telling the story of a boy lost in the world & eventually discovering God as this album marked Alice's Christian conversion. In many ways this is a lopsided compilation as it's featuring a studio band then a completely different live band & thus sounds like two albums. But, to hear 80's Alice one could do a lot worse. The albums on the new record label that would follow this compilation would see Alice going even heavier & into industrial & bringing the character to its scariest thus Classicks ends up the end of an era & a photograph of past glories.