This Week's Listen--Joe Satriani: Flying In a Blue Dream

This week, I went a little old school. This was the first Joe Satriani piece I ever heard, based on what is arguable one of the lesser quality songs on the disk "Big Bad Moon" which I had seen on MTV in 1990. While the lyrics and the singing left a lot to be desired, the guitar work was amazing. I went out to buy the disk (I had just bought my first CD player at that point) and was immediately impressed by the artistic creation of the disk.

To be sure, there are songs where Satriani devolves into the "guitar player" mindset of the more notes in the least amount of time is good-style of speed playing. However, the tracks that display the greatest amount of creativity, while containing some of the speed play, truly set a mood and evoke a feeling, which is what great music should do and makes him more of a musical artist.

The disk contains a surprising number of tracks, but several are smaller intro songs of 1 to 1.5 minutes. Many of the songs contain layered guitar tracks that would seem to make the songs difficult to play live (a fact refuted with some live recordings Satriani has put out--sort of). But the layering creates a much more musical album rather than just a stripped down, guitar--bass-drums presetnation.

Now a lot of people don't like rock guitarist going solo, noting in many cases, that the music is just lots of notes, really fast. But this is one of my absolute favorite Satriani disks in that he shows that he can forgo that attitude and still have a disk that people may find accessible.

One note about Satriani, while he may be able to write good lyrics such as on "I Believe," he should really think about hiring a vocalist to sing them. As a vocalist, Satriani needs to stick to guitar.

My favorite tracks:

"Flying In a Blue Dream" This song remains my absolute favorite Satriani track. Ethereal backing guitars, solo work that fits the tone and tune, and a smooth feel make this a Satriani classic. If I had to pick my ten favorite songs of all time, this would probably top the list.

"The Forgotten Parts 1 & 2" More of a technique piece, I just like the way the notes are played. The song is more moody, definitely a nice break from the faster pace songs.

"The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing" Remember the layered guitars earlier, this song is a prime example. The song would work great live with two guitars.

"I Believe" Mostly I love the lyrics, although Satriani's singing needs work.