Joe Satriani....the name is synonymous with serious guitar playing and
style. The man single handedly pioneered the instrumental guitar revolution
and has continued to do so for so many years. 'Strange Beautiful Music', his
first new album since the electronica based 'Engines of Creation' finds
Satriani returning to his roots once again with a stripped down, no frills
album full of his trademark style and sound. The man is simply one of the
most gifted players/writers of the genre and his playing is never flashy or
excessive without reason. Every note he plays is meant to be played and
this album will surely not change the world, but it will keep most Satriani
fans happy. Over the course of the last few albums he has released, Satriani
has gone for a more 'jam' type feel, which allot of the songs on this disc
carry through, but at times, they feel a bit unfocused and, well,
'jammy'. This doesn't mean the man can't pen a beautiful ballad such as
'Starry Night' or 'You Saved My Life', or create the intensely heavy and
exotic
'Oriental Melody', but at 14 tracks, the album tends to loose focus. Had he
stripped it down to 11 songs and deleted a few of the jam type songs, this
disc would be tremendous. I have never been a fan of long CD's that lose
focus midway, and this disc did just that, and that's after about 10 spins.
I still couldn't get into the entire CD, like I had on so many previous
albums by the dubious Mr. Satriani. I recommend this to all Satriani fans,
and to those who dig great playing, but if you want to start at the right
place, start with his early catalog and move on up from there.
