April 13, 2004 - Is There Love In Space?

A week after my last release and almost two years since "Strange Beautiful Music", Joe Satriani released his tenth album "Is There Love In Space?" on April 13, 2004. Joe is still playing his usual style of instrumental rock, but for the first time since "Joe Satriani" he also sings in a couple songs. Joe isn't the best singer, but let's not judge too much before we listen!

The album kicks off with "Gnaahh" and as Joe is so great at he lays down a pretty cool rhythm guitar riff before coming in with some flashier lead guitar overtop. There's lots of Distortion on his guitar and things sound pretty cool and Joe's bass in the background is pretty sweet as well if you listen for it! Joe delivers a lengthy guitar solo with a couple different parts to it and all of it sounds pretty awesome as he is shredding it very nicely! This was a great way to start off the album! Up next is "Up In Flames" and it's got more of a classic rock rhythm section while Joe plays some slower, epic lead stuff overtop. The main drag of this song is decent but nothing too crazy, but once again Joe delivers a lengthy guitar solo and once again he fucking kills it with all kinds of great guitar all over the place! Fantastic solo, just a good song overall though. Track 3 is "Hands In The Air" and Joe leads the way with a super low guitar riff that sounds pretty groovy and sweet. This song is a pretty cool jam the whole way through and the solo fits the mood really nicely while still of course having some nice shredding bits. A little repetitive, but still pretty solid. The next track is "Lifestyle" and it's got a loud but fairly simple main riff leading the way and eventually we hear some vocals for the first time in about eight years! Joe has some effects on his vocals and his singing hasn't gotten any better. I find it very boring and unexciting and the music isn't all that flashy on this one either. The short solo is pretty good, but then it's right back to the main drag and this is the worst song so far, and I don't think it's close at all. Track 5 is the title track "Is There Love In Space?" and it's got a slow and fairly simple rhythm section and even Joe's lead guitar is pretty tame for the most part. Of course there's a solo and it is much more distorted and sounds pretty awesome, but the majority of this song is very light and easy-going. Up next is "If I Could Fly" and Joe plays a light and smooth rhythm guitar before coming in with some decently epic lead stuff overtop. Joe actually alleged in 2009 that Coldplay ripped off this song for their mega-hit "Viva La Vida" and it's pretty easy to see why, it's got the same super smooth and accessible rhythm section. Eventually Joe of course ets to some soloing and as usual he does a pretty fantastic job with all kinds of sweet shredding bits. This song is pretty long at six and a half minutes, but about half of that is probably soloing and all of that stuff sounds awesome! The rest gets a little repetitive and it probably didn't need to be quite so long, but there's plenty of sweet guitar here even though overall it might not be his best song. Track 7 is "The Souls Of Distortion" and as the name suggests there is a lot of distortion going on in this main riff: from the low and groovy bass, to some slow wah-wah rhythm guitar, to some trippy and super distorted lead guitar! All the effects sound pretty cool, but it's really a pretty simple main riff. Joe delivers a pretty excellent solo as you'd expect, but it's surprisingly not distorted and rings right through. It's really cool, just unexpected for it to be so clean! The next track is "Just Look Up" and it's got a light acoustic rhythm riff and some epic light lead guitar and things sound very smooth and solid despite the obvious lack of headbanging. It's a song you could slow dance to,but it's sprinkled with cool guitar links throughout and while it's obviously a little sappy, it's nailing the vibe it's going for. Track 9 is "I Like The Rain" and it has a slow, interesting opening with the sound of a motorcycle puttering in the background and Joe playing a bit of harmonica. Then things kick into the upbeat main riff and Joe starts to sing overtop and once again he has some effects to try and help mask his inability, but once again he just sounds so average and boring. The music is decent but nothing too flashy in the verse and it gets a little better in the chorus, but not enough to really save things. As you'd expect there's a pretty wicked guitar solo, but even it isn't enough to salvage another less-than-ideal song with vocals; just stop trying Joe! Up next is the ten-plus minute song "Searching" and it's got a super slow main riff with Joe playing some low and slow bass to keep the pace. Joe then plays some pretty cool lewd guitar overtop and after a bit of jamming to this he shifts nicely into a new part that sets the stage for some extended solo time. Words don't so proper justice here: there's several minutes of soloing and some (or even most) of it is shreddingly awesome! Eventually he brings it back to the beginning for another round of the main riff, then follows with a much shorter but excellent little solo befor3 closing the song on a bit of a boring landing. But the flight was long and fantastic pretty much the whole way through! The final song on the album is "Bamboo" and Jeff Campitelli plays some cool cymbals while Joe plays some trippy and cool guitar in this very interesting opening that reminds me a bit of Santana! After over a minute of this Joe finally starts up the main rhythm guitar riff and it's a decently catchy one that Campitelli nicely builds around and then Joe adds some super trippy and cool lead guitar that comes in and out and takes your breath away! Then he combines this riff with the trippy opening one and together things sound pretty epic indeed! Then there's of course a lengthy and pretty awesome solo and this is a pretty solid way to wrap things up!

That is the end of "Is There Love In Space?" and I thought it was a good album, but not one of Joe Satriani's best. There's some cool stuff here that makes it a worthy album for sure, but two more failed attempts at singing doesn't help and there were also some lesser parts that didn't really wow you like we know Satriani can. I think it's better than "Joe Satriani", but not "The Extremist" so 9th place is unfortunately where we fall, and it's a long drop after their quite good previous album. Where will Joe Satriani go from here?