October 1995 - Joe Satriani

Two weeks after my last release and two years since "Time Machine", Joe Satriani released his sixth album "Joe Satriani" in October 1995. As usual Joe is the main attraction on guitar but he's working with an entirely new line-up on this album. Andy Fairweather Low joins on rhythm guitar, Nathan East is the new bassist and Manu Katché is Joe's new drummer. Joe usually produces his own albums, but instead this album is produced by the legendary Glyn Johns (who worked with The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Led Zeppelin). With this addition it's not surprising to discover that this album has more of a blues-y feel to it than Joe's past work. Let's see what the new Satriani is all about!

The album kicks off with "Cool #9" and instead of Joe looping it's Low who lays down the catchy rhythm guitar riff that drives the song. East's bass is solid and then Joe takes over with some typically epic-sounding guitar. The "verses" are a little repetitive but there are a few solos and Joe does a pretty good job with them, especially the first one which has lots of nice, fast stuff. Up next is "If" and it's got a catchy, upbeat main riff that Joe nicely plays overtop of. Katché has a short drum part that sounds pretty good and everything else sounds like typical Satriani. The final minute is a cool new riff and Joe plays a pretty cool solo that eventually fades to an end. Track 3 is "Down, Down, Down" and it's a pretty slow song that definitely feels blues-y. It's not bad by any means, but it's a little unexciting until several minutes in when Joe starts to solo. His great guitar definitely makes things more exciting as he plays some cool blues-y stuff. The next song is "Luminous Flesh Giants" and Low plays a pretty cool rhythm guitar riff and Joe adds some cool lead guitar overtop. This has a nice toe-tapping main riff and as usual Joe's solos provide some awesomeness to spice things up. An early favourite for me! Track 5 is called "S.M.F." and it's driven by a slow blues-y backing riff with Katché playing some nice fills throughout. Joe is basically soloing overtop for the whole song and he does a pretty good job of keeping things interesting for the whole song. Up next is the first single off the album "Look My Way" and it's also the only song on the album with singing! We know from past attempts that Joe isn't the greatest singer, and this does nothing to change that as Joe sings in a quiet voice that isn't awful or hard on the ears, it's just very bland. It's a catchy riff though that's hard not to to toe-tap along to, but overall any song with vocals isn't going to be great. Track 7 is titled "Home" and it's a slow and sappy song even without any vocals! It just has such a soft rock atmosphere and if it weren't for Joe's lead guitar this would be pretty bad. Joe salvages the song, but it's still clearly not one of his better ones. The next track is "Moroccan Sunset" and Joe does a great job of making the song feel just like that title. It's a breezy and solid backing riff and Joe plays some cool stuff overtop as you'd expect. East plays some solid bass as well on this one, especially when things are fading at the end. Track 9 is called "Killer Bee Bop" and in my opinion it's easily the best song on the album! Katché and East both play some pretty cool drums and bass throughout the whole song and Joe is really on top of his game on this one with some pretty insane shredding. Everything is fast-paced and sounds pretty awesome and Satriani plays some pretty wicked guitar throughout. Up next is "Slow Down Blues" and like the name suggests it's a slow and very blues-y tune. Joe plays some solid acoustic guitar and there's some harmonica that really gives things the blues-y feel. After a few minutes things get more upbeat and the guitar becomes electric and the rest of the song is still a bit blues-y but it's much more typical Satriani and Joe predictably plays some cool guitar. Track 11 was another single titled "(You're) My World" and Low plays some light and dreamy rhythm guitar while Joe plays some slow, "epic" stuff overtop. This song is decent, but the made-for-radio energy was nit my favourite. The album wraps up with "Sittin' 'Round" and it's another blues-y song, but this one is really unexciting. Joe plays lots of droning guitar and not a whole lot happens in this odd choice for a closer.

That is the end of "Joe Satriani" and I thought it was an alright album but not one of my favourites from Joe. "Killer Bee Bop" was a pretty wicked song, but there were too many others that weren't up to par for me. I don't think it even surpasses "The Extremist" so this sixth and latest offering takes the new bottom rung for me. This is also the last album where Joe has hair, so I look forward to what bald Joe has in store for us in the future!