October 13, 1993 - Time Machine

Eight days after my last release and 15 months since "The Extremist", Joe Satriani released his fifth album "Time Machine" on October 13, 1993. It's a double album, but the entire second disc is live material and I don't have it in my library. Disc 1 is studio material, some of which is new and some of which are B-sides and other old songs. Since the songs are from throughout Joe's career there are a lot of different people helping Joe out on this album. Let's see what the latest from Satriani sounds like!

The album kicks off with the title track "Time Machine" and it has a loud, echoing drum beat that sounds cool and some long, droning rhythm guitar and bass. Joe starts up the lead guitar overtop this main riff and he nicely builds things up with some cool ascending guitar. Joe plays some solid guitar in this "verse" and then he switches to a more epic guitar tone for what sounds like a solo, but it's pretty tame in the end. Joe continues to alternate the solid main verse with breaks for solos and as the song goes on he delivers some of his typical very fast guitar work and he sounds as great as ever. The song seems like it should end around 4:30 but it seems like the button was just left on because there is nothing happening in the final 30 seconds or so. Up next is "The Mighty Turtle Head" and Joe leads the way with a catchy and cool guitar riff to open it with some toe-tapping cowbell keeping the beat before settling into a similar main riff with some cool lead guitar by Joe. They jam out this riff for a good while and Joe continues to play some pretty cool guitar the whole way through. As you'd expect the solo in the middle is a pretty sweet one either Joe going all out for a little bit before nicely returning to the opening riff. Then they do it all again as Joe basically plays the whole song over again, but instead of another solo, the song is brought to a close. A solid tune, but a little repetitive. Track 3 is a cover of the jazz song "Left Alone" by Billie Holiday, with Joe's version being titled "All Alone". It has a slow, almost blues-y beat to it and Joe plays some nice echo-y lead guitar overtop the slow blues-y rhythm section. There are some flashes of cool fast guitar in the first few "verses", but most of it is pretty slow and steady until the solo midway. Joe shows off as you'd expect with some great guitar that not only sounds awesome but fits the mood perfectly. He nicely ties things back to the main riff as they slowly jam out the rest of the song. A cool solo and some cool flashes, but largely not that exciting. The next song is "Banana Mango II" and strangely, part II is higher on the track listing than the original, which we'll hear later! It has a light and dreamy backdrop with some nice light drums and guitar and Joe plays some epic lead guitar overtop and it's not long at all before he's just shredding it, whipping some great guitar out all over this dreamy scene. He plays some excellent stuff for a good long while and then the drum beat shifts to a new riff and Joe starts to solo all over that as well! He plays another pretty awesome solo and then it returns to the dreamy main riff for Joe to play some more epic stuff over. Next time the drums shift, it's much heavier with a cool new beat and Joe begins to play a cool new riff that sounds pretty epic and this whole riff is basically a solo with how good Joe's guitar is. To make things even better, he explodes into an actual solo with some absolutely incredible stuff that is just non-stop and crazy fast and amazing. After the phenomenal solo they jam things out a bit longer until eventually the song fades to a finish, but this six minute ride was a pretty awesome one. Track 5 is "Thinking Of You" and Joe establishes a slow, light rhythm guitar riff that sounds pretty good before adding some epic lead guitar overtop that matches the mood nicely. The slow backdrop never changes, but Joe does spice things up a bit with some flashes of fast guitar to keep things interesting. The song is mostly just a nice slow jam though and it just keeps going until it eventually fades out. Up next is "Crazy" and Joe plays a simple but catchy rhythm guitar riff while also adding some cool lead bits that sound a little trippy. This is a rare song with vocals by Joe as he sings a verse overtop the catchy main riff and like all his other attempts, his voice is just so uninteresting and I find it takes away rather than adds to the song. It's so simple and uninspired, but thankfully Joe's guitar is still pretty cool as he plays some nice low stuff. He erupts into a pretty sweet solo with some great shredding parts and then they play a final verse before jamming out the finish with Joe repeating "I'm goin' crazy" but I don't think he's fooling anyone and I'm certainly not crazy for his singing. Track 7 is called "Speed Of Light" and as Joe likes to do he establishes a catchy rhythm section  with one cool riff and then perfectly adds some cool lead guitar overtop in this toe-tapper. Joe goes off for some brief flashes of excellence, but otherwise they are largely just jamming out this riff. It's not bad at all, but for a song this long the rhythm riff does start to wane a bit. We get a couple full-blown solos that are not Joe's best but they fit the mood nicely and still sound pretty good. This song would've been better if it weren't over five minutes long. The next song is only just over two minutes, titled "Baroque" and it has a pulsing, kind of echo-y background noise while Joe leads the way with some cool acoustic guitar. This acoustic stuff sounds pretty epic and cool and Joe plays some great stuff, all overtop this starry backdrop. For a short little interlude, I thought it was pretty cool. Track 9 is "Dweller On The Threshold"and it has the pace of a metal song with a pretty fast drum beat and some speedy rhythm guitar and bass and Joe plays a slower, epic lead guitar riff overtop. I like the fast-paced rhythm section and Joe's lead guitar sounds pretty good as well as he builds things up nicely before they reset and play another "verse". After this verse the guitars fall away and we hear some pretty cool bass leading the way briefly that sets the stage for the guitar solo. Like the verse, Joe plays an epic-sounding solo, but it's not fast by his standards. They return to the main riff for another couple verses and then a loud lightning strike hits and the song just kind of fades out from there. This track had a cool, fast rhythm section but not much else. Finally we reach the original "Banana Mango" and Joe plays a light guitar riff in the background and then plays some epic lead stuff overtop that quickly becomes a full-blown solo with Joe effortlessly shredding his guitar and things sounding pretty sweet. There's no drums in this song and minimal bass, it's mostly just Joe soloing and using some cool effects overtop of a light rhythm guitar riff. It's under three minutes and it has some cool stuff for sure, but the song doesn't seem very structured as we eagerly and slowly make our way through until we quietly and aimlessly just comes to a halt. Track 11 is aptly titled "Dreaming #11" and Joe leads the way with a cool guitar riff before things shift drastically to a new riff that is pretty funky! There's some cool funky bass and a light rhythm guitar and then Joe plays some pretty cool fast lead guitar overtop for a very interesting little riff that is somewhat psychedelic, somewhat funky and all very Satriani! He returns to the opening riff for another go and then the song has a strange, echo-y build-up, but it never really arrives anywhere and the song just sort of peters out. The next song is "I Am Become Death" and Joe plays some trippy, droning guitars that make us sound like we're in some sort of vortex or space scene, some crazy and cool sounding stuff. After a little bit of this crazy stuff Joe shifts to a new riff that isn't quit as space-y, but it's still very psychedelic. He plays some very trippy and insane sounding stuff and somehow this morphs into a solo as Joe finishes off the song with an epic and still slightly trippy little solo. A cool end to a very strange song. Track 13 is "Saying Goodbye" and Joe plays some light and dreamy guitar with some light and soothing keyboards adding to the mood in this slow song. It sounds very dreamy and shimmering with Joe adding little bits of fast guitar, but it's mostly the same slow burn for the whole song, right up to the finish. The final song on the album is called "Woodstock Jam" and it's by far the longest song Joe Satriani has released at over sixteen minutes long! It opens with a pretty cool rhythm section with a nice bass riff and some solid drums and Joe plays some high, choppy guitar that matches nicely and we also hear some more trippy guitar in the background almost washing over the rest of the music. Joe continues to play space-y effects in the background while the choppy but cool main riff keeps rolling along. To say that they follow this formula for several minutes may seem boring, but Joe keeps things interesting the whole way through as we are treated to some pretty sweet bass the whole time, some pretty crazy and trippy noises and of course little bits of pretty sweet guitars. All the awesome psychedelics overtop a constant, cool rhythm track reminds me a bit of old school Pink Floyd and while this is certainly a departure from Satriani's usual style, I think things sound pretty sweet. Joe never lets up for the whole sixteen minutes and there's alot of great, fast-paced psychedelic rock! At the very end of the song we hear Joe laugh and then the album is over.

That is the end of "Time Machine" and I thought that it was a decent album that had some highs but also some lows. I thought "Banana Mango II" was a pretty cool song and the sixteen minute "Woodstock Jam" was pretty sweet as well, but other songs you could tell were B-sides and while I didn't think any of them were bad, they were certainly not as good as Joe can be. I still think this latest effort from Joe was better than his last one "The Extremist", but not as good as his debut "Not Of This Earth" and certainly not near his other two albums. It was still a solid Satriani album though and I look forward to a full set of new songs next time!