Those just discovering legendary guitarist Steve Vai from his G3 concerts or recent albums may not know that Steve's first regular gig was lead guitarist for Frank Zappa on many of Zappa's later albums. I grew up listening to the wild and wacky music of Frank Zappa.
Those of you familiar with the late great Frank Zappa know that he blended astounding music with insane often envelope pushing lyrics. Zappa had a unique sound.
Vai left Frank Zappa's band in 1982, and his first solo album was Flex-able in 1984. Having listened to quite a lot of Frank Zappa back in my college days, and having listened to a lot of Steve Vai's music of the last 20 years, I can tell you that this album sounds a lot more like Frank Zappa than Steve Vai. Don't get me wrong, Vai's abilities as a guitar player shine through on every song, the compositions, although written by Vai, are pure Zappa. Keep in mind that this isn't a bad thing! Vai also thanks Frank for all his assistance and inspiration in the liner notes.
I won't go into all 11 tracks or the four bonus tracks, but I will go into a few of them to give you an idea what this album is all about.
The opening cut is called Little Green Men and the lyrics sound like something right off the Zappa catalog and they are sung in that style as well. you look a real keen, even though you are green, with those big large heads, something off the movie screen. Many cartoon style voices are featured on this song and many others.
Or check out some lyrics from Lovers are Crazy, He looks a lot like Blondie Bumstead when he lies in bed, he cries a lot like Shirley Temple when he's lost his head. He sings a lot like Greta Garbo when he's drunk instead, he died a lot like Marilyn Monroe, when he ate all those reds.
A bonus track So Happy features the endless chatter of Laurel Fishman, who just goes on and on about being happy. About halfway through, Steve starts to mimic her on his guitar. It's actually kind of funny.
The guitar work on all tracks is just plain impressive. Joe Satriani was most certainly proud of his student. Most tracks include pianos, synthesizers, and the occasional xylophone or saxophone. Guitar fans may be interested to note that Steve wasn't playing his Ibanez Jem on this early album, but a good old Fender Stratocaster, albeit with humbuckers for the bridge and neck pickups instead of single coils.
The album is definitely a fun album, and if you were a fan of Zappa, you should enjoy this initial outing by Steve Vai. If on the other hand you are fan of the later Steve Vai and albums like Fire Garden or Passion and Warfare you may find that Flex-able isn't what you expected. If you do get the album and find you enjoy it, look too for Flex-able Leftovers an album Vai released later that had all the tracks that didn't make this album! (I'll review that one later).
Summary
This album certainly shows Vai's rock roots as Zappa's stunt guitar, and that's a good thing. This album possesses the humor of the late Zappa and the guitar skills of Steve Vai. I gave it four stars.
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