Joe Satriani - Professor Satchafunkilus...

The fact that Joe Satriani is the Godfather of instrumental rock guitar albums is in no doubt. The common perception is that he provides the acceptable face of instrumental ‘shred' guitar: arguably more accessible and easily palatable than his closest comparison - Steve Vai - and possessing infinitely more taste and feel than the vast majority of his rock guitar instrumental competition. 

Joe has achieved continued success over the last two decades, and is also famously the guiding light behind the G3 tours that haave become such a fixture in the virtuoso rock guitar fans lives. Now, almost 21 years since the release of the groundbreaking ‘Surfing With Alien' album, has Joe once again delivered the goods?

Overview!

‘Musterion' opens with some typically Satch ‘Flying In A Blue Dream' style floating, eerie chords over a simple but effective pounding bass line. He has an unusual almost analog synth type of tone here, with what sounds like his trademark tone being passed though some filters - but with some quirky and idiosyncratic phrasing you have no doubt that it's a Satch track! Some nicely judged solo licks combine with some almost ‘fusion' outside phrases, amidst his trademark Lydian-esque legato excursions and Billy Gibbons-esque pentatonic flurries. With effective use of octaves, several different modes, inventive trem usage, a half cocked wah sound, and some outlandish guitar sounds result in a performance that is almost a text book example of guitar Satriani style.

‘Overdrive' continues where ‘Musterion' left off - although with a more overtly melodic edge and a tres sweet tone, combined with some Jeff Becky riffs. Joe is very much in hyper bluesy, almost experimental, mode on the solos - and with a classic fuzz tone as well, this results in an almost ‘retro' take on his playing. A nicely emotive second solo section with some Eric Johnson-esque cascading runs rounds this one up: nothing earth shattering, but good enough for the legions of Satch fans out there!

‘I Just Wanna Rock', with its classic rock riffs and voice box stylings, is effective enough - although compared to old favourites like ‘Bad Moon Rising', seems to lack a certain energy. Great organic sound here in the extended mid solos - I really prefer Joe when he has an essentially untreated guitar sound with his trademark thick and vibrant tone.

The eccentrically named title track follows, with a great funky groove and airy production - this one feels like he is aiming for a bit of Jeff Beck's territory - although how effective this is I will leave to you guys to decide...!

‘Revelation' has an almost grungy riff, some eloquent melodies and a nicely judged solo: emotive economical lines with taste and feel being the overriding elements. Again Jeff Beck's influence rears its head, and with a pastoral - almost prog - outro section - where he cuts loose with considerable style - this is one of my faves!

‘Come On Baby' has melodic piano and keyboards and is a lazy, ‘late at night' ballad. The melodic construction feels almost Kenny G (but in a good way!), and again a bit 70's progressive - and definitely contains some of the most lyrical playing on the album. This is a maturely realised song that will appeal to many guitar fans - and is quite far removed from the Satch of ‘Surfing...' days.

‘Out Of The sunrise' again has piano (almost Bruce Hornsbury stylee!) and is a cool track with some nice moods and dynamics, a great rhythmic feel, and some eloquent lines.

‘Diddle-Y-A-Doo-Dat' combines several moods and feels again, with some of those ‘Satch going slightly outside' lines again. With a slightly more overt ‘muso' edge compared to what has gone before, this is one that will appeal to the technicians amongst you.

‘Asik Vasyel' (he's hot on esoteric titles again!) has some interesting sequencing style guitar lines in the opening, some driving riffs, and some typically airy guitar melody lines. With several solo sections, this has a lot of space for him to branch out: here he has a definite emphasis on texture and thematic development. For guitar heads, this is one of the few times on this particular album where he cuts loose, with lashings of his famed arpeggios and scalar improvisations.

This has the feel of a track that was very much jammed out live in the studio, with an almost old school bluesy approach to the song - great in a club!

Finally, ‘Andalusia' rounds up the album, and with it's prominent acoustics has a suitably Mediterranean feel.

Conclusion

This album is a strong addition to Joe's canon of work, although there is nothing on here that is really very surprising. In many ways there are many, lesser known, artists who are now pushing the boundaries as Joe once did. But, nevertheless it's expertly written, performed and produced and a mature example of a rock instrumental guitar album in 2008.

Just think, though, how much fun it would be if - at some point in the future - Joe decided to really cut loose again, and produce a real hard core (yes, ‘shred'!) album, more akin to ‘Surfing...'?