Best and Worst of Joe Satriani

[quote="MetalGuy71"]

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I kinda lost respect for him after he ripped off Coldplay.

What do you mean by ripping off Coldplay?

It's actually the other way around. Joe sued Coldplay (and won) for ripping off his song. It was kinda big news for about a week. Coldplay were riding high when Joe said "Hold on, that's my song".

I like the Bald Satch era the best but from his S/T to Super Colossal are the best albums IMO. Strange Beautiful Music is my fave and even Engines Of Creation is good but I had to get past the electronic stuff to really appreciate the guitar work on the album but the live version of 'Devil's Slide' from Live In SF is superior, Live In SF had a great live version of 'Rubina'.

Time Machine is his worst.

I like him and own a few of his albums. I even saw him live a couple of years ago and he put on a pretty good show.

snooloui wrote:

I like him and own a few of his albums. I even saw him live a couple of years ago and he put on a pretty good show.

I've seen him twice on those G3 tours and he was very entertaining live. Much better than I expected. I have no musical skills whatsoever, so I was hesitant to go see a show filled with instrumental wankery, but they (Satch, Vai, Eric Johnson, John Pettrucci, Paul Gilbert, etc) we all good. I wasn't bored at all.

Favorite: Dreaming #11
Least Favorite: The Extremist

007 wrote:

I don't have much by him but I like everything I've heard by the man. I only own Not Of This Earth, Surfing With The Alien, and Dreaming #11. I used to have Flying In A Blue Dream but a crappy boom box I had ruined it and I never replaced it. Gotta add I never had a problem with his singing. Like someone said, Big Bad Moon is an awesome tune.

that is a great tune. Satriani is great music for driving!

He sounds great live - listen to Time Machine Disc 2

My favorite is Flying In A Blue Dream, especially the "vocal" songs. I love "Ride" and "The Phone Call" and "Cant Slow Down"

I'm a big Satch fan, have every album.

Discovered him back when his first record came out, thanks to an article in Guitar Player magazine (I think that is where I first heard of him).

Despite the excellent playing his first couple albums are hard for me to listen to now, they are kind of - what is the word? Dissonant? Not much straightforward accessible melody for my ears in old age, although some songs still work for me, I hardly ever listen to the early albums anymore.

My fave Satch record is Strange Beautiful Music (from 2002). That album has some very melodic & memorable songs on it (Starry Night, Chords of Life, The Traveller, Mountain Song to name just a few).

Satch seemed to change his songwriting style starting with The Extremist IMO, stressing more melody in the songs than the shredding guitar histrionics of earlier days. So I dig his stuff Extremist on more than prior to that album.

That being said I think that to someone not really into his newer style will find most of the post-Extremist records to all have a boring sameness in song style to them, with the exception of Engines of Creation, which is my least favorite Satch album. It has some good tunes on it that are ruined by the electronica production.

Listening to Surfing Alien today - snowing outside - Patriots play Chiefs tonight at 6 pm.
I was put off by the CD upon my first listen, years ago.
Buried it under many CDs. Saw it today.
Absolutely perfect - a gem !

Not a huge fan but I love his 1st 3 releases and then completely lost interest.

Man was I the biggest Sach head growing up. Major influence in my own playing for sure. His cassettes dominated my Walkman. But after Crystal Planet everything started sounding the same, and I began to notice how limited he was compared to other rising guitarists. I view his style as more a watershed product of its time. But I still jam Extremist or Not of this Earth for some daily motivation.

Just to chime in. Listened to Blue Dream in my car. Yes, it made it to my car.
Fantastic listen. Didn’t blast it. During this heatwave. Side roads. Highway.
Two tunes sound like ZZ Top. Another has a EVH sound. Really interesting.
It’s funny how everyone has different favorite releases by him.
Prolific. 25 CDs ?
Not a big fan but will definitely buy more from him. I’m at that age, I guess. Lol.

His early albums were cool and fun. It’s probably just a coincidence… but after he cut his hair off and went with the bald look, his music changed for the worse and he’s become too ordinary. He hasn’t done anything wild like Satch Boogie, Big Bad Moon or Motorcycle Driver since then.

I still like him and regard him as a master guitar player. There’s a reason he was a respected teacher back in the day. Who else has so many successful former students? A few of his students were: Kirk Hammett, Alex Skolnick and of coarse Steve Vai.

My favorite albums are: Surfing with the Alien, Flying in a Blue Dream and The Extremist. His first album “Not of This Earth” has some good moments, but overall it’s a bit too weird and quirky. It has that Primus and Zappa vibe. I like it… but it’s not the album I listen to when I want to hear Satriani.