Joe Satriani - Is There Love in Space? [2004]
Posted by admin on August 31st, 2007
Guitar boss Joe Satriani’s ninth album reflects the terrain he’s traveled more than it points to an unexplored one — and yes, that does prove to be a good thing. Satriani has explored many directions over eight previous albums, mashing together rock, blues, jazz, and pure technical proficiency in a dizzying blend that bears his unique signature. Is There Love in Space? recalls two distinct projects from his catalog, the groundbreaking Surfing With the Alien and the exotic Strange Beautiful Music. From the former is the driven, balls-out, tough blues-and-hard rock riffs and hooks, while from the latter are involved and sometimes intricate melodies and Eastern-tinged modes — though none of the electronica. Satriani’s sense of writing catchy turnarounds and hooks is ubiquitous here, and though he uses keyboards, they are never employed as more than devices to further along the framework of a particular tune. Even the vocal cuts here work well, “Lifestyle” with its roosty rock & roll vocal, boogie on methamphetamine whir, and bombastic power chords is a great choice for a single, as is the stomping, metallic “Hands in the Air,” which updates Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” riff in extremis. The mid-tempo tunes, such as the wah-wah-phased title track and the shimmering “If I Could Fly,” are nice changes of pace too. The funky future blues of “I Like the Rain” features a slightly annoying vocal, but in its ZZ Top-fueled desert boogie, it hardly matters. The masterpiece on the set is “Searching,” however. It’s slow- to mid-tempo stride and minor key cadence pushed to the limit by the razor-wired and feedback aesthetic of its ten-minute sprawling excess. While guitar hero records are anything but cool in the new century, this guitar hero offers one cool little record. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide.
Album Tracks Listing
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1. Gnaahh
2. Up In Flames
3. Hands In The Air
4. Lifestyle
5. Is There Love In Space?
6. If I Could Fly
7. The Souls Of Distortion
8. Just Look Up
9. I Like The Rain
10. Searching
11. Bamboo
During some of the better moments of All This Time, the second album from Ohio’s the Heartless Bastards, one gets the feeling that this trio could be the Midwestern cousin of PJ Harvey — not Polly Harvey the singer and songwriter — but the bone-shattering power trio named for the bandleader on Dry and Rid of Me. While frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom doesn’t particularly sound like Polly, she conjures up a similar degree of gale-force vocal impact and plays a not-dissimilar variety of dirty, elemental electric guitar, while her rhythm section (Kevin Vaughn on drums and Mike Lamping on bass) calls up a massive Wall of Sound and energy behind her. But a few spins of All This Time makes it clear the similarity between the Heartless Bastards and PJ Harvey is a matter of similar musical philosophy rather than conscious emulation, and that Wennerstrom has a flinty, down-to-earth lyrical perspective that reflects the experiences of someone who was born and raised in Ohio (and still works a day job when not on the road). All This Time makes a powerful virtue of its muscular, no-frills production, and Brian Niesz’s engineering, which allows the individual elements to stand out while still coalescing into a unified and gloriously dangerous whole. All This Time swings with the force of a heavyweight champ, but there’s an unpretentious intelligence, compassion, and cautious hope in these ten songs, and the Heartless Bastards bring them across with an elegance that belies their muscle; they know how to say a great deal with a little, and that’s a large part of what makes this album worth hearing. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide.
On the cover of her debut, The Soul Sessions, Joss Stone’s face is obscured by a vintage microphone, a deliberate move that emphasized the retro-soul vibe of the LP while hiding the youthful face that would have given away that Stone was a mere 16 years old at the time of the album’s release. The point was to put the music before the image and it worked, selling the album to an older audience that might have stayed away, thinking that the teenager sang teen pop. If the debut was designed to give Stone credibility, her second album, Mind, Body & Soul, delivered almost exactly a year after its predecessor, is designed to make her a superstar, broadening her appeal without losing sight of the smooth, funky, stylish soul at the core of her sound. There’s no radical revision here — she still works with many of the same musicians she did on The Soul Sessions, including Betty Wright and Little Beaver — but there are some subtle shifts in tone scattered throughout the record. Certain songs are a little brighter and a little more radio-ready than before, there’s a more pronounced hip-hop vibe to some beats, and she sounds a little more like a diva this time around — not enough to alienate older fans, but enough to win some new ones. The album has a seductive, sultry feel; there’s some genuine grit to the rhythms, yet it’s all wrapped up in a production that’s smooth as silk. By and large, the songs are good, too, sturdily written and hooky, growing in stature with each play. While Stone has developed a tendency to over-sing ever so slightly — she doesn’t grandstand like the post-Mariah divas, but she’ll fit more notes than necessary into the simplest phrases — she nevertheless possesses a rich, resonant voice that’s a joy to hear. She may not yet have the set of skills, or the experience, to give a nuanced, textured performance — one that feels truly lived-in, not just sung — but she’s a compelling singer and Mind, Body & Soul lives up to her promise. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide.
Guns N’ Roses’ debut, Appetite for Destruction was a turning point for hard rock in the late ’80s — it was a dirty, dangerous, and mean record in a time when heavy metal meant nothing but a good time. On the surface, Guns N’ Roses may appear to celebrate the same things as their peers — namely, sex, liquor, drugs, and rock & roll — but there is a nasty edge to their songs, since Axl Rose doesn’t see much fun in the urban sprawl of L.A. and its parade of heavy metal thugs, cheap women, booze, and crime. The music is as nasty as the lyrics, wallowing in a bluesy, metallic hard rock borrowed from Aerosmith, AC/DC, and countless faceless hard rock bands of the early ’80s. It’s a primal, sleazy sound that adds grit to already grim tales. It also makes Rose’s misogyny, fear, and anger hard to dismiss as merely an artistic statement; this is music that sounds lived-in. And that’s exactly why Appetite for Destruction is such a powerful record — not only does Rose have fears, but he also is vulnerable, particularly on the power ballad “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” He also has a talent for conveying the fears and horrors of the decaying inner city, whether it’s on the charging “Welcome to the Jungle,” the heroin ode “Mr. Brownstone,” or “Paradise City,” which simply wants out. But as good as Rose’s lyrics and screeching vocals are, they wouldn’t be nearly as effective without the twin-guitar interplay of Slash and Izzy Stradlin, who spit out riffs and solos better than any band since the Rolling Stones, and that’s what makes Appetite for Destruction the best metal record of the late ’80s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide.
No Kings of Leon photo would be complete without some half-empty beer bottles, a smattering of cigarette butts, and a wardrobe of impossibly skinny jeans. In interviews, the band speaks of debauched parties, booze benders, and the trails of broken hearts they’ve left behind. Quite frankly, they just don’t make rock stars like the Followill boys anymore.
Catalyst doesn’t quite graduate New Found Glory from the punk-pop rungs. From its main aesthetic thrust to the pristine mixing and production, this is a slick and durable Drive-Thru missive, micro-tweaked for maximum Warped Tour ROI. Still, the guys in NFG have been at this a while, so a little exploration is not only understandable, it’s expected. To that end, Catalyst’s East Coast hardcore kickoff is welcome. Even if it’s more of a genre exercise than an actual song, “Intro” illustrates the band’s desire to grow within its influences, as do cuts like “All Downhill from Here,” which suggests the literate tack of the Alkaline Trio, or “Truth of My Youth” and “Failure’s Not Flattering,” where the rousing melodic jaunt of the Get Up Kids seems to be the model. (That group’s James Dewees even contributes some fizzy synthesizer to “Flattering.”) As studio budgets grow, so does the scope of an album’s requisite power ballad, and Catalyst is no different. Violins and violas chirp urgently in the background of “I Don’t Wanna Know,” and late-’90s Lillith Fair hopeful Kendall Payne resurfaces with a gorgeous supporting vocal turn behind NFG frogman Jordan Pundik. It’s a great track, despite limiting lyrics (”I never cared how I dressed before/But I cared that night”) of the sort that plague Catalyst’s entirety. Elsewhere, beyond the occasional flirtation with drum programming, more piano, and the irresistible new wave influence in late-album standout “No News Is Good News,” New Found Glory stay with their old standby blend of catchy punk-pop inflected with chunkhead metal. Highlights include “This Disaster” and “Doubt Full”; best is the absolutely unstoppable revivalist romp “Your Biggest Mistake,” which should rule the half-pipe hi-fi until Hurley’s fall line comes out. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide.
Album Tracks Listing
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