Music lovers all know the name Joe Satriani, one of the most respected guitar players today. It was over 20 years ago that he first hit the scene with an amazing album. It was not his debut album either. Not of this Earth failed to do much for this young guitar player / teacher's career.


Re Visit an Instrumental Classic

Surfin' with the Alien begins with the title track, and shows why Satriani is the Master, and why this album took off as an instrumental classic. It is not just that Satriani has guitar skills, it is that this is a highly listenable song with a very memorable riff despite having no lyrics. Joe made it cool to do a pure instrumental album. You know Joe loves comics, the Silver Surfer himself appears on the album cover with permission of Marvel. I thought they should have used this tune in the Fantastic Four movie!

Ice 9 is another catchy melody that incorporates a really cool solo in the middle with lots of fast picking and crazy bends. Satriani captures with his guitar the sci fi element that the song title suggests. (Ice 9 is an agent that would freeze the earth's water supply in a Kurt Vonnegut novel). Crushing Day begins with some very controlled chords dubbed over with a great solo. It's not as heavy as the title would imply. Always with me, Always with you is almost romantic in its melody. Joe does things here with the guitar that Coltrane did with the sax. It is very expressive.

Satch Boogie is just that, it's a boogie! Satch just gets into a groove on the guitar and if your feet aren't tapppin by the time the song is over, you just weren't paying any attention at all. If you ever wondered about Joe's religious belief's listen to the song Hill of the Skull. One, the song is hauntingly beautiful and two I learned through the awesome liner notes that it is his tribute to the crucifixion of Christ. (that was the name of the hill). In fact this song has that epic cinematic feel that would work just fine in a Biblical movie.

Circles is a mellow song . It has an almost acoustic classical guitar sound in the intro, but then Joe breaks in with a fast paced melodic solo in the middle. It then goes back to the gentle classical guitar like melody.

Lords of Karma built around an A with an augmented 11th and an A13 sus4 has a lot of meaning for Joe. It was his attempt to write about how he felt watching the dawn break. After reading this, I went to my big book of chords to look them up and play them. Of course that doesn't help much for the rest of the song's incredible guitar sound.

Midnight is perhaps my favorite song on this album and the one I am most familiar with. Although I cannot play it, my son can. It is beautiful Spanish sounding piece that is acheived by using a double finger tap method. No notes are strummed. You use both hands at once to create the pattern of notes. My son's guitar teacher told him that it was too complicated to learn, so Nick went online to Joe Satriani himself and learned the rudiments of the song from Joe's YouTube videos. He learned it well enough to have our teacher teach him the rest of it, and it is now one of his favorite songs to play. The album closes with the beautiful Echo a tribute that he wrote for friends who had lost a child.

What Surfin Means to Me

I bought this album 20 years ago. It is one of my favorite albums and one that not only introduced me to Joe Satriani, but to what guitar music could be. Not since Hendrix, had a musician explored such new sounds and ideas on the guitar. It really takes the guitar and makes it a true virtuoso instrument to be played like Coltrane played the sax, or Monk played the piano. Satriani doesn't just lay down chords and solos he made the guitar incredibly expressive, laying the way for guitar gods to follow, like his student Steve Vai or others like John Petrucci, Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen and Buckethead. Although my own guitar playing is still at the stage of chords and very slow solos, listening to Joe is inspirational. He has also inspired my son and his friends who heard him play it. Surfin' with the Alien truly is a seminal album and belongs in any serious music aficionado's library.


Joe Satriani - Live at Montreaux

what truly makes this Reissue and celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Surfing with the Alien is the bonus DVD included with the re-release. An early Montreaux concert, never before released is the reason to buy Surfing with the Alien Legacy Edition. First, prepare for a shock, if you are used to watching Satriani on the G3 concerts or his own Live in San Fransisco or Satriani Live, the first thing you will notice is that Joe has hair! Lots of hair! The concert was recorded at the Montreaux Jazz Festival on July 15, 1988. He performs Ice 9, Memories, Midnight, Rubina, Circles, Lords of Karma, Echo, Hordes of Locusts, Always with Me Always with You and Satch Boogie.

Marshall stacks line the back of the stage and Satriani comes out his Ibanez guitars with a crazy purple finish with a graphic art pattern on it. I don't believe he has his own signature guitar line back then, but his guitar had the smooth rounded lines of his own JS series with Double humbucker pickups and a floating tremelo bridge. (I don't know if it's a Floyd Rose or not, I can't tell that much by looking).

It is also very interesting to watch this show, because Satriani looks very shy, not as sure of himself as a stage presence as he is on later concerts. You know he's got the chops, but at this show he wasn't sure of the audiences "getting it". For the record, they did, he was cheered loudly. The one hour performance was excellent.

DVD Quality The concert has very good video quality for a DVD. Many early concerts look like VHS footage. Although this is in 4:3, the colors and detail are good. It's not as awesome as the high definition recording of Satriani Live (A regular DVD release that was filmed in High Definition(, but it's very good.

Audio is superb and offered in PCM stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 surround sound.

DVD bonuses a couple music videos are thrown in as well as an interview with Nigel Tufnel. He discusses the playing style and personality of Satriani. Nigel Tufnel knows music, having been the guitar player of the legendary band Spinal Tap

Summary

If you are a fan of Joe Satriani or guitar instrumental music or rock in general, this is worth picking up the special anniversary edition. It is a classic album paired with a rare stunning early performance of Joe Satriani, and I would highly recommend it.

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Listening