December 18, 1986 - Joe Satriani and Not Of This Earth

Over two months since my last release, a new artist joins my library as guitarist Joe Satriani released his first album "Not Of This Earth" on December 18, 1986. But who is Joe Satriani? He was born in Westbury, New York and before he started his own solo career Satriani was a guitar instructor. Many of his students would go on to achieve great success, including Metallica's Kirk Hammett and another solo guitarist, Steve Vai. If Joe gave lessons to Hammett, then he must be really something as Kirk is one of the best guitarists I've ever heard! Not only does Satriani play all the guitars, but he also plays all the bass and keyboards on the album as well! The only thing not done by Joe is the drums, which are played by Jeff Campitelli. There are no vocals at all as Joe sticks to purely instrumental rock. That's an impressive resume already and I'm excited to listen to what Joe can do. Let's dive in!

The album begins with the title track "Not Of This Earth" and Joe plays a slow and pretty basic acoustic riff to start things off while Campitelli establishes a loud and catchy drum beat. Joe does a nice job of slowly adding the other instruments as the bass joins next, followed lastly by some electric lead guitar. After a few licks of lead guitar Joe takes off for his first guitar solo and he starts shredding his guitar like it's no trouble at all! He plays a ton of really fast notes that sound pretty sweet, but it also sounds casual, like it's somehow in the background despite being a solid solo. It's a solid first solo and he segues nicely back into the main riff at the end as Joe plays some slower lead guitar that sounds fairly epic still. It's a short break, then it's solo time once again as Joe plays a cool building part that culminates in a great end to the solo with lots more quick guitar work. After another pretty cool solo, they return to the main riff and slowly jam it out until the end and while the solos were cool, the rest of this song was not bad by any means, but pretty mild and tame. Up next is "The Snake" and it's driven by an interesting bass riff that sounds very distorted but also catchy. Joe sets the stage with some light rhythm guitar and then plays some cool lead stuff overtop as they complete this slightly pop-y and 80s main riff. There's handclaps to help keep the beat and this catchy backing riff sounds very commercial, but Joe spices things up as he delivers several different short solos that all sound different from one another. He must have allot of pedals ready as he nicely plays several different solos with different effects and they all sound pretty good! When he returns to the main riff things are once again fairly basic as the bass continues to drive things along until Joe delivers a final, more standard solo as they fade things to an end. Track 3 is named "Rubina", which is the name of Joe Satriani's wife. Campitelli plays a slow and epic drum beat and Joe plays some light rhythm guitar and some low and slow bass to form the light backing riff. Once this is established, Joe plays lead guitar overtop and he plays some solid guitar to match the light and slow mood. They slowly jam along for a few minutes but it doesn't feel long as things remain smooth throughout. After a couple minutes Joe starts to really let loose and he plays a mostly slower solo, but it does have some flashes of brilliance as he nicely ebbs and flows, slowing down and speeding up and it's ultimately another cool solo. It's back to the light main riff for some more slow jamming but Joe's guitar keeps things interesting as they very slowly fade out this song for over a minute until it eventually quiets to nothing. The next song is called "Memories" and Joe does an excellent job on both acoustic and electric guitar as they dive right into the main riff. We hear a pretty cool acoustic rhythm riff and a solid electric lead riff played simultaneously and they mix together really well in this cool main riff. Things move into a cool new chorus riff with some Eastern-influenced guitar that sounds interesting before they snap right back to the main riff. This time round Joe solos overtop the acoustic backing riff and he continues to deliver on his solos with some more lightning fast guitar that sounds pretty awesome. After this long and sweet solo they return to the chorus and then it's back to the main riff for a final verse, a final chorus and a final solo by Joe to finish it off. They fade out before he's finished and boy does that tick me off, the best part of the solo was at the end! Track 5 is a short song called "Brother John" and the whole thing is Joe playing just one guitar and no other instruments. It's a light true guitar "solo" but he ebbs and flows nicely and despite the quiet and light guitar sound it's still a decent little two-minute song. The next song "The Enigmatic" is back to a full band sound as Joe plays some catchy bass and rhythm guitar to form a solid main riff and as usual once the riff is established he adds some cool lead guitar overtop. They jam through a couple solid "verses" before it's solo time and Joe's guitar sounds really space-y and trippy in this solo. The first half of this minute-long solo has lots of trippy and long-held notes but Joe really picks things up in the second half as he very nicely shreds all the way up and down his guitar. He connects things back to the main riff and after a couple more rounds through he ends things with a loud finish. Track 7 is "Driving At Night" and it's another cool space-y riff with Joe playing some low and cool bass notes as well as an upbeat, toe-tapping acoustic riff. They mix together quite nicely and make a formidable backing riff for Joe to play some slow but epic lead guitar over. As the verse goes on Joe slowly ramps things up and is playing some much faster and pretty cool stuff by the end of it before Campitelli plays a nice drum fill and they reset the main riff. The second time through is really just a long solo as Joe plays some excellent stuff over the course of this lengthy solo. They return to the more basic version of the main riff for a third and final go through as another solid instrumental jam fades to an end. Up next is "Hordes Of Locusts" and Joe is showing throughout this album that he is a Master of laying down a groovy backing track and then adding some sweet guitar to finish. This song is no different as the bass and rhythm guitar form a nice bouncing main riff. Joe plays some sitar briefly in a cool little bit but he immediately follows it with some amazing shredding that sounds really good! It's right back to the groovy main riff and it's not long before Joe is off on his first solo and he plays some pretty awesome guitar and just seems to shred the shit out that guitar with absolute ease! It just keeps going and going and it sounds pretty incredible and it ties nicely back into the main riff. They do another sweet sitar-followed-by-solo bit and then proceed to jam out the main riff until for a little too much time in my opinion as it takes us several minutes to reach the end of the song. Track 9 is called "New Day" and Campitelli plays a cool drum beat as Joe plays a cool acoustic riff to start us off. This light opening lasts over a minute and a half but the electric guitar finally takes the spotlight as Joe plays a fast and cool backing riff, and then plays some slower lead guitar overtop in this new part. Oddly there's no real solo as Joe just jams nicely along until the song eventually fades to a close. The final song on the album "The Headless Horseman" is also the shortest at under two minutes. Joe makes it count and after a laugh and a loud whistle Campitelli and Satriani break away with a really fast riff. It's a nice fast drum beat and Joe is playing some really fast notes as he nicely scales up and down his guitar at a furious pace! It's nonstop for the whole short song and it sounds pretty intense and pretty sweet! A fun way to end this guitar showcase!

That is the end of "Not Of This Earth" and I thought it was a solid, but not amazing album. Joe Satriani is an excellent guitarist and his solos are pretty great and he's really good at coming up with both backing and lead guitar riffs. There were flashes of brilliance for sure but I definitely feel like there was room for improvement as well and I look forward to seeing what Joe has in store next time out. This is also my final release of the year and so begins the year-end wrap-up! 8 albums this year is back to my usual 80s numbers after a dip in 1985 and the metal scene continues to be my favourite easily.

Favourite song of the year: There were several awesome songs that could be nominated this year and choosing just one song is always really difficult. If I had to choose, I would pick the first song off of "Master Of Puppets", as I think "Battery" might be my favourite song by Metallica!

Top 3 Albums of the Year

1. Master Of Puppets by Metallica
2. Reign In Blood by Slayer
3. Somewhere In Time by Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden may have inspired Metallica and Slayer, but these two thrash metal bands are in a league of their own. Choosing between the top 2 albums was difficult, as both albums are absolutely amazing, but I think Metallica gets the slight edge due to their diversity in their awesomeness. 1986 had some pretty great metal music, let's hope it continues next year!