Joe SatrianiSurfing With The Alien Full Album Zip UPDATED
Lynda Durnil
Surfing with the Alien is the second studio album by American rock guitarist Joe Satriani. It was released on October 15, 1987, by Relativity Records. The album is one of Satriani's most successful to date and helped establish his reputation as a respected rock guitarist.[4]
To save money, the album heavily used drum machines, programmed by Bongo Bob Smith, with Jeff Campitelli recording overdubs of hi-hats, cymbals, toms and snares. Satriani stated this gave the music an "awkward charm", and maintained the combination of loose guitar playing and machine-like drum programming.[5]
The cover art of the original release depicts the Marvel Comics character Silver Surfer on the front, with the hand of Galactus on the back cover. The artwork, which was licensed from the publisher,[8][9] is taken from a panel from Silver Surfer #1 (1982), drawn by John Byrne.[10] Byrne did not receive a royalty for the art's use on the album cover.[10][11] Satriani was unfamiliar with the Silver Surfer and had named the album and title track without the character in mind.[8][11][12] However, Jim Kozlowski, the production manager for Relativity Records, was a comic book fan and had used the nickname "The Silver Surfer" as a radio DJ name.[8][11] He suggested using the character for the album cover. Kozlowski presented the album to Marvel and obtained permission to use the character.[8][11] Subsequently, Marvel Comics has paid homage to Satriani in Silver Surfer comics ("the planet Satriani") and Satriani has named later compositions after other elements of the Silver Surfer mythos ("Back to Shalla-Bal", "The Power Cosmic 2000").
The original license to use the character artwork was time-limited. Though the license was renewed multiple times, in 2018, Satriani and Marvel could not come to terms on a price, and so the cover art was replaced.[8] As of 2018[update], digital retailers such as iTunes and Spotify display an alternative artwork that does not feature the Silver Surfer.[13][14] In 2019 a limited deluxe edition of the album was released featuring a silver guitar headstock in place of the Silver Surfer. The background and font of this new artwork is very similar to the original with minor differences.
Released on October 15, 1987, by Relativity Records,[18] Surfing with the Alien charted at number 29 on the Billboard 200, proving to be Satriani's third highest-charting album in the United States.[19] It remained on Billboard 200 for 75 weeks, the longest run of any of his releases.[20] Surfing with the Alien was certified Gold on February 17, 1989, and Platinum on February 3, 1992, having shipped one million copies in the US. It was Satriani's first album to earn platinum certification, and remains his only studio album to have done so.[18]
Two singles from the album reached Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart: "Satch Boogie" at No. 22 and "Surfing with the Alien" at No. 37.[19] A third single, "Always with Me, Always with You", received a nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Performance at the 1989 Grammy Awards, while the album itself was nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the same event,[21] Satriani's first two of many such nominations. Live versions of "Always with Me, Always with You" would later be nominated for Best Rock Instrumental twice more, at the 2002 and 2008 Grammys.[22][23]
In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, music critic Robert Christgau snidely referred to Satriani as "the latest guitar god" and felt he is too much of a formalist, because he not only composes but edits his guitar melodies: "Thus he delivers both the prowess cultists demand and the comfort they secretly crave".[17] In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine was more impressed by his technical abilities and praised Surfing with the Alien, writing that it "can be seen as the gold standard for guitar playing of the mid- to late '80s, an album that captures everything that was good about the glory days of shred."[4] According to The Rolling Stone Album Guide (1992), the record "put Satriani on the map. Beautifully played and well-paced, it manages to capture all the icy fire of fusion jazz without losing any of the visceral power of rock & roll".[16]
Surfing with the Alien has been reissued several times. A remastered edition of the album was first released on July 27, 1999 through Epic Records, which featured expanded liner notes.[24] A second remaster celebrating the album's 20th anniversary was released on August 7, 2007 through Epic/Legacy Recordings;[25][26] this is a double-disc set comprising the album itself with further expanded liner notes, as well as a DVD featuring Satriani's live performance at the 1988 Montreux Jazz Festival, music videos for "Always with Me, Always with You" and "Satch Boogie", and additional bonus material. To promote the 2007 reissue, Satriani played exclusive club gigs in select cities.[27]
The most recent reissue of Surfing with the Alien was part of The Complete Studio Recordings, released on April 22, 2014 through Legacy Recordings; this is a box set compilation containing newly remastered editions of every Satriani studio album from 1986 to 2013.[28]
Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.
The late 80s saw a plethora of virtuoso guitarists releasing instrumental albums, but Surfing With The Alien set the bar so high that all the others could do was look up in wonder. Joe shows off his technical ability in abundance throughout the album, but it was never just for the sake of it, always to enhance the song. The only downside is that the album sounds dated, its sound is very much of the late 80s with the drum machine and final production. Still, an easy 10/10.
The opening trio of the title track, Ice 9 and Crushing Day feature some driving hard rock. Skip past the cheesy Always With Me, Always With You to arrive at the brilliant, breakneck Texas blues of Satch Boogie. The two most interesting tracks are the slow burn of Circles followed by Lords of Karma. Midnight is a neat vehicle for Joe's tapping technique but comes across as filler to me before the album closes with another highlight in Echo (which has a mid-section that reminds me, briefly, of La Villa Strangiato).
Bill Griffin: While I like this album (and all albums in the genre that I've heard), I prefer ensemble playing to just a guitarist wanking off song after song. There is no doubt that Joe is an excellent guitarist but I would, for instance, much rather listen to a Steve Morse album because he lets the entire band shine as much or more than himself through every project he's been involved in. I can't see a reason to buy any other guitar instrumental album if you have one already but if you don't, you can't go wrong with this one.
It was actually Steve Vai's Passion And Warfare album that kick-started it all for me. Bloody hell, the teenage me absolutely adored that record. I was slightly less enamoured with it when I caught up with it again about a year ago though. Although the quality of Vai's playing on there is still stunning, the music was lacking in certain areas, and I found myself scratching my head at my younger self and his fervour. As I've gotten older, I've found myself increasingly drawn to Joe Satriani's work, both from that period and beyond.
I've still got Surfing With The Alien on vinyl (with it's original, and far, FAR, cooler cover art). It remains a classic of the genre, but I do prefer Satriani's successive Flying In A Blue Dream and The Extremist albums, which feel more rounded to me. Satriani succeeds as a solo artist, where so many of his contemporaries fail, through his ability to actually write songs, as opposed to what are often uncharitably referred to as wank-fests. So, although there's plenty of guitar wizardry on offer here, you will often find it balanced out with thoughtfully crafted, intelligent, and, occasionally beautiful material. Always With Me, Always With You and Circles are both good examples of this.
The album is let down a little by it's drum sound though. Satriani recorded Surfing With The Alien on a budget of just $13,000, a very wise investment that will have been recouped many, many times over as the years have gone by. Unfortunately, to keep costs down, Satriani dispensed with the services of a studio drummer, and utilised various drum machines instead, which haven't aged well. The 'robotic' drumming on display here is a big factor in explaining my preference for Satriani's subsequent work.
There are no drums present at all on Midnight though, the album's penultimate track. Man, that is some hugely impressive guitar playing. He's a class act, Joe Satriani, and my favourite artist of this particular type by a country mile. Although elements of it do sound dated, Surfing With The Alien is still a superb listen, and head and shoulders above the majority of albums by similar artists. Recommended, with a caveat that this won't be to everyone's taste.
Joe resisted the temptation to show only his technical skills. Instead of this he laid back and created quite a melodic album with enough space were his virtuoso guitar playing shines through. The iconic title song alone is worth buying the album. The wah-wah leads were pioneering in 87 and are legendary today. But it's not possible to pick out some tracks. To me this album has to be considered as a musical unit. Great album. 9/10
There isn't anything wrong with the album; all the songs are good, with Circles my other standout track. All the tracks have enough variety in them so that they don't all end up sounding the same - while there is no denying that Joe Satriani is an excellent guitarist.
Always With Me, Always With You
This was the song that got me into Satriani. Joe spares shredding (for the most part) for a calm background rhythm with an emotionally grasping lead part making this, by far, the most emotional song on the album. 10/10