Terry's Reviews
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Music Reviews: |
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Joe Satriani
– Super Colossal Epic – 2006 |
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| Satch returns to the creative musical territory
he covered in FLYING THROUGH A BLUE DREAM. Joe enlists the help of Jeff Campitelli and
Simon Phillips on drums, and Eric Caudieux who edits the sound design. Joe does the rest.
He teams up with Mike Fraser to capture the album’s stellar sound. Big guitar choruses sing out on "Super Colossal". Joe goes country/funk for "Just Like Lightnin’". "It’s So Good" is layered with multiple guitar parts to make you feel good. 12 rhythm guitar overdubs climb in and out of "Redshift Riders". In the liner notes, Joe says "Ten Words" was written the day after September 11th, and he never put the song out until now, because it was too heartbreaking for him. As he was preparing the music for this album he found this song, and he could finally hear the sound of hope in the melody; that’s why he had to record it. Joe states that when he was playing the solo for "A Cool New Way" one rainy night in Vancouver, it was unlike anything he had ever done before. It tells a story that he didn’t know, until he played it. My favorite track on the album is track 7, "One Robot’s Dream". It’s 6:15 of exotic drums and percussion with a calypso-ish bass setting the stage for Joe to go off with all sorts of guitar goodies. Satch tangos with "The Meaning of Love" in a 7/4 rhythm with pumping bass, strings, and piano. Joe admits the title "Made of Tears" came from a line of his favorite Velvet Underground song, "Venus in Furs". Satriani was going for a mix of joy and sadness within this song. I think he gets it. "Theme For A Strange World"’s melody/solo was a first take, one take performance that Joe decided to keep, because it reflected the subject matter of the song with it’s spontaneity and it’s scope. This best describes the approach to this whole album. "Movin’ On" would be a good song to cruise to while driving in your car. Joe wrote it thinking of driving fast, and not thinking about tomorrow. Joe sends a message of "A Love Eternal" with lots of guitars and undulating notes, as he describes it. Crowd chant features 35 of Joe’s friends from Canada, including David Martone, who I feel is the best guitarist of the Great White North. It centers around a fantastic give and take between Joe and the crowd. This would make for a very interactive song in a live venue. |
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