This album without a doubt is Joe Satriani's greatest album followed closely by Flying In A Blue Dream and Strange Beautiful Music. A little background on this album. Satriani had released his debut, Not of This Earth one year earlier in 1986, and while it got his name out to some extent, it was not his breakthrough album that would make him the world renowned guitarist that he is today. Basically, a "starving musician," Satriani threw in what he could afford for this album and on its release date in 1987, it took the guitar playing world by storm. It became the first instrumental album to release three radio singles and it did not take long for it to go platinum. It is easily one of the most influential guitar albums to this day.

This album has everything from the amazing guitar acrobatics of "Crushing Day" and "Ice Nine" to the sweet, beautiful vocal-like melodies of "Always With You, Always With Me" and everything in between. The one thing that is not perfect is the production. At the time Satch recorded this album, he did not have a lot of money to do a state of the art recording. The quality is not bad at all, but not up to par with his later albums. It attempts to be an 80's slick production, but isn't quite up there with the recording quality of it's slick 80's contemporaries. Still, as much as I care about sound and production, that is not enough to take a star off of this album. Satch and John Cuniberti did the best they could with their limited resources and it doesn't sound half bad. Some may be turned off by the very 80's sounding drums and reverb and overall feel, but I love it. He made so much money off of this album that he would be able to afford a great quality recording in his next album, Flying in A Blue Dream. Well anyways here is the track analysis:

1. Surfing With The Alien 4/5- A rousing energetic rock number that gets you heart rate going with his mind bending solos. This was the first single released to radio and his one of his most well known songs and a concert favorite.

2. Ice Nine 4.5/5- One of the funkier numbers on this album soaked with hard rock. This song also showcases a lot of shred and energy. He goes crazy on this one. The Live In San Francisco version is also very good.

3. Crushing Day 5/5- One of my favorites on this album with a lot of shredding. This isn't the fastest that he goes, but he plays a fast solo for a long period of time for a section of the song. Also, one of my favorite rhythm riffs on the album.

4. Always With You, ALways With Me 5/5- Satch takes things down with one of my very favorite Satch songs ever. It is a very beautiful, emotional song with no shredding, but lots of feeling. The tapping section though is very impressive. It is not difficult but has a very sweet sound. Like all the rest of the songs on this album, this has no words, but lets the guitar speak or sing for itself, and it does!

5. Satch Boogie 4/5- A fun bluesy boogie type rocker sprinkled with progressive rock with lots of energetic playing and great tapping. The bridge section may sound kind of cheesy with its 80's synth drums, but I like it. This one is also a concert favorite.

6. Hill Of The Skull 3/5- A very slow, haunting, dramatic short song. It is very good except that he ends it after less than 2 minutes. I would've given it more than 2 stars if it would've been longer.

7. Circles 4/5- Here, Satch goes into a mid tempo song that turns fast towards the middle. He does some serious speed playing in this song. Another great track.

8. Lords of Karma 5/5- A Middle Eastern flavored track with a sitar and all. It isn't the most hard rocking song and doesn't have the flashiest solo on this album, but it is so cool. For some reason it is one of the more underrated and forgotten tracks on here, by I think it is one of the best tracks on here with such a neat melody and great chord progression. This track really stands out to me.

9. Midnight 4/5- This song is a short little tapping piece with a totally clean guitar being played like a piano in the way that it is tapped. It has a very European classical feel and I love it every time I listen to it.

10. Echo 5/5- Satch closes with this remarkable epic song, also very underrated. It is such a majestic song with a very beautiful chord progression. In this song, he does a great job mixing shred and emotion. There are many shredding moments, but also many times where he's singing from the bottom of his heart through his guitar. One of my very favorite Satch songs.

This is my favorite Joe Satriani album. It is so diverse with meoldy, emotion, and shred. For people just discovering music, I suggest you pick this one or The Extremist up. For people looking for shred, this one has some of his most shredding on one album. But if you're looking for Malmsteen senseless monotonous speed, then this isn't the album or artist for you. If you're looking for melody and emotion, this album is drenched in it. This album is so diverse that no matter what kind of guitarist you are, you can always get something from this album or any Satch album for that matter. Fans of this album should also check out the two subsequent albums, Flying In A Blue Dream (1989) and The Extremist (1992).

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving