October 15, 1987 - Surfing With The Alien

Two weeks after my last release and ten months since "Not Of This Earth", Joe Satriani released his second album "Surfing With The Alien" on October 15, 1987. This album was produced with a pretty small budget and to save money there are several songs that use drum programming instead of a real drummer. Jeff Campitelli did some drum overdubs and plays on a couple songs live but most of the songs on this album all the music is done by Joe Satriani. Despite this questionable, low-budget decision, this album still turned out to be Satriani's commercial breakthrough and his best-selling album of his whole career! Let's check it out!

The album begins with the title track "Surfing With The Alien" and after a short opening with some talking in the background the main riff emerges as Satriani plays an upbeat and pretty catchy rhythm guitar riff. Once the backing riff is established Joe comes in with the lead guitar riff overtop as he plays some some cool, very epic-sounding stuff overtop that mixes perfectly with the backing riff. They (or for most of this album just "he") jam this solid main riff for a bit until there's a brief pause and a fast "whoosh" noise. Joe explodes out of this brief pause with his first guitar solo and he comes out blistering fast, playing some really awesome guitar! The upbeat backing riff continues as Satriani delivers an excellent solo and he ties the end of it nicely back into the main riff. After a couple more solid rounds of the main riff things pause for another "whoosh" bit that sounds like an airplane taking off and just like before Joe explodes into another solo. This solo is way longer and continues all the way to the end of the album as Joe does a great job of shredding at times and nicely jamming along to the main riff at others. They start a slow fadeout for the final 30 seconds and it seems Joe could've soloed overtop that riff forever! The next song is called "Ice 9" and Joe follows his formula of establishing a nice backing riff to start things off. The bass is actually noticeable in this riff as Joe plays some slower-paced but still nice and catchy bass and guitar to set things up. The lead guitar comes in overtop and it too is slower but still sounds nice and epic. After a couple rounds everything falls away and we hear a short and simple drum fill that segues to the guitar solo. Joe seems to love opening his solos with some crazy stuff as he is really shredding his guitar and playing some great stuff. After a short lower solo, he switches to a much higher solo and this one sounds even better as Satriani somehow finds another level and astounds with his wonderful guitar skills. At the end of the solo the rhythm track falls away and we hear only guitar and drums in a short bridge that connects us nicely back to the main riff. Along with the rhythm guitar and lead guitar riff, this time round Satriani plays a third guitar riff overtop of everything else as he solos along with the main riff for the remainder of the song. Triple layers of guitars is pretty cool, but Joe's gonna need some talented help to replicate all this in a live setting. Track 3 is "Crushing Day" and Joe begins things with another upbeat and catchy rhythm guitar riff before adding a slow lead guitar riff that matches nicely with it. The lead guitar isn't anything flashy, but it fits the mood of the song perfectly as Joe nicely jams along. This goes on for nearly two minutes until we hear the first guitar solo and words don't properly do justice as I write that Joe plays another great solo with some nice shredding bits. Joe then changes up the rhythm guitar riff and sets the stage nicely for another cool solo. This solo is even better than the last one as Joe takes off and delivers over a minute of guitar awesomeness! He is certainly showing his skills in the solo, but when he finally returns to the main riff and jams that out until the end of the song, it seems a disappointing way to end things as the main riff sounds a little bland after that solo. The next two songs were the album's singles, beginning with "Always With Me, Always With You", a very slow ballad. Joe plays a light and pop-y rhythm riff and then comes in with some slow and epic lead guitar and aside from the two guitar parts all we hear is some light percussion to keep the beat; no real drums or bass at all. For any other band their singer would be singing a sappy verse overtop, so I actually like this ballad more than normal since Joe's lead guitar sounds way better than a sad verse. It makes total sense that this was a single as it's very light and commercial but still shows off the talents of Satriani as he superbly drives this ballad with some great guitar. His solo in the middle of the song is very fast and crazy, but all the lead guitar in this song sounds great honestly! They slowly fade out the end of this single and move on to "Satch Boogie" Joe's ultimate showcase of his abilities. Campitelli plays the drums on this one and he starts us off with a catchy drum beat before Joe comes in with the lead guitar riff first for a change! It's pretty insane and awesome for a main riff as Joe plays some amazing guitar! After a short intro the rhythm track finally comes in to keep the upbeat pace and Joe continues to lead the way with some excellent guitar. Words don't do justice; this is easily his best guitar work of the album and he plays so much amazing stuff! When Joe holds a long note for several seconds, you can sense something big is about to happen and he does not disappoint. Calling the next part a solo doesn't seem like nearly enough credit: it's one of the best guitar solos I've ever heard. Period. Joe must be hitting 8 notes a second by the sounds of it and it's all perfectly in time and sounds absolutely phenomenal. It's not just that Joe is absolutely blowing my mind, but he does it consistently for a considerable length of time. It's a jaw-dropping solo and when it finally comes to an end they return to the main riff, which on it's own is pretty awesome! This one of a kind solo and this amazing main riff combine to make this an unforgettable song and the final "verse" to finish things off is wonderfully done as they also end this epic song nicely. Bravo Joe! Track 6 is one of two short songs under two minutes on this album, titled "Hill Of The Skull". Joe plays some slow but epic guitar that sounds heavily layered so it's like three guitars playing the same riff. It sounds fairly epic, but it's not really all that exciting as this slow guitar encompasses the whole song until an ending with lots of feedback. Joe returns to regular-length songs with "Circles" and he lays down a very chill and breezy light guitar riff to lead the way. After a little bit of this decent light riff, things shift very suddenly into the solo as the light riff is dropped entirely and we hear a more standard Satriani backing riff with upbeat rhythm guitar and bass. Joe immediately starts to solo overtop this new riff, and ebile the segue wasn't very smooth, the ensuing guitar solo is nonetheless pretty great. Joe shreds very nicely, playing lots of great stuff in this solo and the segue back into the light opening riff is much better than the first one. He resumes the light and breezy guitar riff and softly plays until things fade into a bit of a trippy ending with lots of interesting percussion going on. Track 8 is "Lords Of Karma" and Joe opens it with one slow guitar riff before adding a second guitar riff that's twice as fast. These two riffs work well together and form the backbone of the song and Joe adds a third lead guitar riff that sounds pretty good and ties it all together. Eventually Joe does a nice job of setting himself up for the solo and he delivers another absolute face-melter of a solo! He is just shredding the hell out of that guitar and it sounds wonderful! At the end of this awesome solo we return to just one guitar, just as the song started, and Joe plays an epic and slow bridge and one by one the guitar parts return until we're back at the three-guitarred main riff. Joe has some more fun jamming out the main riff for the final couple minutes and it just slowly eventually fades to a close. The next song "Midnight" is the other shorter song, but this one is much fast-paced than the last one. It's just Joe and one guitar, no other distractions, as he does some really cool and really fast guitar picking. After a pretty great intro some handclaps come in to keep time and Joe really starts to fire with some awesome and catchy stuff! He very nicely slows this part down until it's quiet for a second, then does a great job of slowly ramping back up and ending the song with some more awesomely fast guitar. Now that is a pretty cool 1:42 of music! The last song on the album is "Echo" and it's also the longest. Joe plays a light guitar riff in the background with the drums and leads the way with a pretty cool bass riff! The bass sounds great and does a fine job of carrying the rhythm riff before Joe begins a nice lead guitar part that matches the mood really well. They nicely jam this riff out for a bit and after a couple minutes Joe begins to not just play along, but solo along. It's still the same rhythm riff, but Joe is just casually shredding along to the beat, playing an insane amount of quick notes and it just perfectly flows up and down the guitar. Satriani is definitely a master of the guitar solo as he just goes insane, but it's perfectly to the beat insane. The solo eventually slows down and nicely changes to a new part where Joe plays some slow but epic guitar that bridges us perfectly back to the main riff. They jam out the main riff for a bit longer as Satriani continues to entertain and finally fade the song and album to an end.

That is the end of "Surfing With The Alien" and I thought it was a really good album! Joe Satriani is the master architect of all the music and he not only does a fantastic job of playing crazy solos, he also does a fantastic job of playing rhythm guitar, bass, and also has the songwriting ability to combine it all into some great music. Joe did the same formula on his last album "Not Of This Earth", which was a solid album, but on "Surfing With The Alien" Joe really perfects his craft. Will Satriani continue to rise and reach another level? I look forward to finding out! This also happens to be my last release of the year, and so begins the year-end wrap-up! Just 6 albums in 1987 along with 1 EP is down from 8 last year as the 80s is finally ending with it's small amounts of good music. Still some good music though if you know where to listen!

Favourite song of the year: This one is a no-brainer this year as I thought "Satch Boogie" by Joe Satriani was really freaking awesome. Most of the song is pretty great on it's own, but that solo is just insanity and it all makes for easily my favourite this year.

Top 3 Albums of the Year

1. Surfing With The Alien by Joe Satriani
2. Crest Of A Knave by Jethro Tull
3. A Momentary Lapse Of Reason by Pink Floyd

2 and 3 are some familiar faces on the leaderboards returning, but Satriani joins the rankings for the first time at the top! Hopefully all three of these artists can keep up the good work. See you in 1988!