helterskelter.ca

SATRIANI, Joe
1987 - Surfing With The Alien.
1989 - Flying In A Blue Dream.
way more Helter Skelter.

October 15, 1987 - 2022: 35 years of: Surfing With The Alien.

The genesis of intelligent shred.

Welcome to the jungle of Sunset Strip wankers, issued from the Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads school of rebels, the war of whammy-bars was at an all time high. And when the dust settles, after his 1986's Not Of This Earth debut LP, new kid Joe Satriani brings forth six-string perfection.

Look up, searing through the sky, like lightning here he comes ..."Surfing With The Alien". Hard knock hardrock rhythm and staccato leads, our world hasn't been the same since. The boogie-bass led "Ice 9" and meat-eating "Circles" easily elevates his twang into a divine calling.

From above, more metal crunch recite with an iron hand, as "Crushing Day" dictates these new commandments in guitar-shred. The soft late-nigh FM-friendly "Always With Me, Always With You" changes the pace, while the eclectic high-voltage "Satch Boogie" fires on all cylinders. The bridge-break part is a fiesta in finger-tapping. This now signature-track has not only put Satriani on the map, but refaced the previous Yngwie J. Malmsteen-patterm exhibition type LPs.

The instantly recognizable cover-artwork is Marvel Comic's iconic Silver Surfer. From kid play to fretboard play, the Italian bred New-Yorker moved to the Bay-Area was now teacher to both METALLICA's Kirk Hammett and David Lee Roth's Steve Vai.

RIAA-certified Platinum proves that this new branch in rocknroll is a viable commercial asset and that the bluesed rocker is not another shrapnel from the Mike Varney battalion. Joe would sweep again and break more boundaries on 1989's Flying In A Blue Dream LP.

Come surf with the alien: a full-on 360º experience in modern electric guitar.

PS: On a personal-level, thanks to Satriani and Vai along many, many other players of this era. I've been an Ibanez Guitars aficionado since 1989.

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Satch Boogie = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt3ImNur5ig
Always With Me, Always With You = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI57QHL6ge0
Surfing With The Alien = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5t2kDqvoYY&list=OLAK5uy_mOOmTn_oLNuWYggLHLtwdm6tAhUhQBRDw
On MTV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOkflgmI7xQ
Live and interview in 1988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKqhX2uFc0I

October 30, 1989 - 2024: 35 years of: Flying In A Blue Dream.

Sky-bound.

Now cool surfing on his own, Joe Satriani cranks his string-machine, as we thrust deep into the stratosphere.

Crushing days in and days out, we are softly "Flying In A Blue Dream" in unison, "Back To Shalla-Bal". Bursting into flames, all pistons are revved up in "One Big Rush", fully V8 highway-riding as he "Can't Slow Down".

From the edgy midnight overdrive of "Big Bad Moon", to the folk-rock "I Believe" powerballad, the western twang of "The Phone Call" and the bop-vibes of "Strange" ...Joe now features his latest addition ...his voice.

Swamped in a haze of hair-spray, Joe never cared a single second about the looks or the attitude. It's all about dead-serious guitar-playing and pushing musical-growth. RIAA-certified Gold, yet still not of this Earth, in Summer 1992, Satriani would now become: The Extremist.

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Big Bad Moon = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lWfh8F3g_8
I Believe = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUA3zjsqXqg
Flying In A Blue Dream = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGPxiJynjLQ&list=OLAK5uy_mf69_KMOmK3UY6nOvf6SgChz9aKD9hDHw
In the studio in 1989
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1HPy2esRH8
Interview in 1989
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Do9CFZgkyc
Live in Toronto in 1990
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-p9wuc9fC8