Customer Reviews

Alien Love Secrets

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Bought the CD and said damn! Bought the music book for Alien Love Secrets and said DAMN!

"Alien Love Secrets" is Vai's finest moment. Right out of the starting gate, Vai gives us a clue for what we are in for with the opening riff of "Bad Horsie." It is a blazing riff that could be compared to a tornado put to music. With his Ibanez tuned down a whole step (tuned off the 3rd. fret instead of the 5th.), Vai gives us a down and dirty blues assault that rivals all. Equally glorius is "Juice" which closes with what an envious guitarist (such as me) might lament. My favorite is the majestic sounding "Die To Live." This one took me several months to learn. Next, Steve tips his hat to the great Jimi Hendrix with "Boy From Seattle." "Ya Yo-Gak" spotlights Steve's son, Jullian, on digitally edited vocals, followed by what has to be the most difficult song to play - EVER. "Kill The Guy With The Ball" should be re-titiled, "Kill The Guy Trying To Learn This Damn Song." The CD closes with the beautifully emotional song "Tender Surrender," which was nominated for a Grammy, which I believe there should be a congressional investigation into why "Tender Surrender" didn't win for Best Rock Instrumental.

"Alien Love Secrets" is a fine accomplishment and a must for any guitar lover! This is a must. Afterall, look at all the things Steve has done for you!

Steve Vai made arguably the best instrumental guitar album in Passion and Warfare in 1989 (no arguably in my mind). Then in '93, he experimented with a normal band format with Vai and the record Sex & Religion. While the album wasn't bad and helped launch Devin Townsend's career, the idea was quickly put to bed after the tour and a lukewarm reception from fans and critics.

Vai decided to go back to making solo records and was creating what would became his Sgt. Pepper-esque Fire Garden and realized us fans would be without new material for quite a while. So he decided to create a stripped-down (for him) EP to keep us satisfied in the meantime, and he didn't disappoint.

The EP starts off with "Bad Horsie", an effects-laden mid-tempo song with a great groove and awesome sounds. "Juice" is probably my favorite Vai shred song. His clean-picked triplet run towards the end is phenomenal. "The Boy From Seattle" is Vai's ode to Hendrix and showcases a side of him we hadn't seen to that point. "Kill The Guy With The Ball/The God Eaters" is definitely the progressive centerpiece of the record. I remember a magazine describing the song as a cross of Jazz legend Joe Pass and Slayer. Pretty good assesment.

And, like Passion & Warfare, the album features two stunning ballads, "Tender Surrender" and "Die To Live". Steve's ballads are truly indescribable. He elicits so much emotion, I have yet to tire of them. If I had to pick, I'd say I prefer "Tender Surrender", mainly because of the flurry of notes that end the song that mimic laughter.

The only song I don't care for too much is "Ya-Yo Gakk", which is supposed to be Vai immitating his young child's attempt at speaking. As usual, his ability to make his guitar mimic human speech is unmatched, but the songs seems more of a throwaway to me.

While EPs are typically littered with alternate versions of popular songs, throwaway cover songs, and "lost" songs, Alien Love Secrets offers all new material and definitely raises the bar for EPs.

"Alien Love Secrets" starts off with one of the heaviest, coolest songs around, "Bad Horsie," which I accidentally played very loud at midnight when everyone else in my family was asleep. Thankfully, they never said anything. Anyway, "Bad Horsie" uses one of Steve's heaviest tones and sounds like it could be the theme song for the biggest, meanest cowboys ever to walk the Earth. I know that sounds weird, but just listen to the song. "Juice," in my opinion, could also be called "Vai Boogie" as it is like Steve's own version of Joe Satriani's "Satch Boogie." Both are simply jaw-dropping. "The Boy From Seattle" is a nice, thoughtful tune and shows a different mood than other songs on the album, as does "Tender Surrender." Of all the songs on this album, the coolest has to be "Ya-Yo Gakk," which is sung by his two year old son Julian. It is a testament to Steve's producing and editing skills that he can make a little boy sound like a rock star. Everything about this album is perfect. It cannot truly be described in words, so buy the album and you will have a true gem.

The only down-side of this CD is that it's short. Even so, it's easily a 5 star CD and it features some of Vai's very finest studio guitar work. Song by song:

Bad Horsie: this is a drop-tuned monster of a nightmarish tune: picture yourself riding a locomotive as though it were a steam-belching, fire-breathing steed, and that's kind of what you get here... shrieking, insane guitar, wah-pedal galore, slide guitar, whammy bar, blazing solos, etc.... on his "Live at Astoria" DVD, vai introduces this song with, "Welcome to the heavy metal portion of the evening..." which was pretty accurate: this is a HEAVY tune.

Juice: shorter, often compared to Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" because it has a similar joyous and bouncy vibe about it; but whereas Johnson plays stuff I had previously thought too beautiful to achieve with a pentatonic scale, Vai is more like "Cliffs of Dover" ON STEROIDS: no particular scale adhered to, just some fo the VERY BEST GUITAR SOLOING I've ever herad from Steve Vai, or anybody for that matter... he does that tap/hammer stuff where both hands are moving all over, and yet keep in mind: this is all done over the top of a bouncy, joyous theme. This is just a GREAT song. Amazing!

Die to Live: this is also short, and for me, is an exercise in nuance and tone: I have the music for this CD and I can almost play this song... I can't play it anything like Vai, though, because he plays with just exactly the right dynamics in every situation with the amp set just perfectly, and while the song is nothing like Juice in terms of sheer shredding speed or agility, he does flow from section to section in this song with such fluid effortlessness... it's astounding! And yes, for pure listening enjoyment, it's a very beautiful song. Once again: amazing!

The Boy From Seattle: good chord-strumming kinda thing: again very difficult to play with the sort of effortlessness that Vai achieves: tonally brilliant, getting the pop and snap out of the cleaner-sounding amp that he does here. And once again, in terms of simple aesthetics: a very nice tune to listen to.

Ya-Yo Gakk: entertaining little tune featuring Vai's two year old toddler singing "Ya-Yo Gakk" which Vai then answers with his guitar, mimicking all the little nuances of the youngster's voice... entertaining, imaginative, and obviously extraordinaily difficult to accomplish, but not as fun for the listener after just a couple spins.

Kill the Guy With the Ball / the God Eaters: uptempo featuring some sort of crazy noisemaking that sounds like his guitar is making weird noises from "the back of its throat (for lack of a better way of explaining it)... heavy on the drums in this one; the end of the song has a lot of guitar effects... I'd summarize this as one of those whacked-out Vai extravaganzas that's unfortunately not quite as accessible as the rest.

Tender Surrender: brilliant instrumental ballad: just stark, flat-out amazing. The depth of emotion he achieves on this tune, particularly during the guitar solo and during the transition out of it back to the main theme: astonishing! It may be the best guitar solo he's every played: not in term of the number of notes, but just in how well it fits and where it goes emotionally. I rank this as overall the best instrumental ballad that Vai has EVER written thus far: slightly AHEAD of both "For the Love of God" and "Whispering a Prayer". He was nominated for a grammy for this song, which should tell you how accessible it is to the less-guitar-crazed listener, and yet it's still a mind-blowing technical experience as well. Brilliant! Bravo!

In summary: five GREAT songs here, and 2 that are off-the-charts mind-blowing. Even with the two somewhat weaker tunes and even with there only being 7 songs and it being a short CD, this is still an easy 5-star review: that's how good the really good tunes are: this is a must-own for any Vai fan and any guitar nut, but even beyond that it's just plain good music.

Like the title says, I don't know why he makes all the other stuff. In fact, I am pissed off that he doesn't write more music like this. Sure, he had a couple other good albums, but seriously, this CD is sick. I'm not sure how he can write the songs on this CD and then go in and do some of the other songs he writes. They sound nothing alike. When I buy a CD in 1995 and am still listening to it on a regular basis in 2004, that's called 'standing the test of time'. The only other CD I own that's enjoyed this much playing time is Eric Johnson's Ah Via Musicom. I haven't yet decided which one I enjoy more.

If you're a died-in-the-wool Vai fan you should pick this one up. There's only one extra track, and it may not be for all, but it's interesting, lighter than most rock guitar material, and more than enjoyable once gotten used to. Incidentally, the name of the extra track is in Japanese and translates to "three, three, seven rythm", which explains what the handclaps are doing... Still, the most compelling reasons for me to buy this album would be Bad Horsie and Tender Surrender, both of which are more than worth the purchase of the disc. If you want to see Steve playing these cuts, definitely buy the DVD by this same title. Quite entertaining, and good study for all you guitarists out there!

I would have given this album only 4 stars, only when i listened all the way through and noticed that there werent any simpering Lead Singers on it, I pushed it to an astounding 5 Stars.
Musicians Rule and Singers droll...Thanks steve more then worth the cover charge......A true reflection of the work that you put into this craft....

If you're just going to pick up one Steve Vai CD, this is it. The tunes here have more melody and rhythm than much of his stuff. I've been a Vai fan since his days in Zappa's band and enjoy hearing his incredibly fast playing but some of his stuff sounds like he's ripping scales fast as lightning just as an exercise. This disc is more musical because the songs go someplace other than just shred. But there's plenty of hot guitar here too.

Alien Love Secrets is a must-have album , and this is a short description of each track.

1. Bad Horsie

No messing around here, Steve goes straight for the jugular with a monster heavy riff and lots of squealing horse sounds (made on the guitar, obviously). This track is just the right balance between bluesy, and all-out metal and kind of makes you want to stomp around the room.

2. Juice

Quite possibly the most melodic 4 minutes of heavy rock guitar ever laid down, and I mean ever. It's disgusting. The way the track builds to ward the main lead solo is fantastic, Steve's guitar just goes all over the place.

3. Die To Live

Another very melodic piece, this time slower and with a very reflective feel to it. Steve puts together some moving chord sequences in this one. Slightly too meandering to be considered classic, but still amazing...

4. The Boy From Seattle

I think I read in an interview Steve saying this track was actually a dedication to Kurt Cobain and not Hendrix like some other reviewer said... Either way this track is just so achingly bluesy it almost hurts. I can't emphasize how fantastic Steve's playing on this one really is, even though there's no twiddy-widdly soloing. this track is all about restraint and it works beautifully.

5. Ya-Yo Gakk

An interesting track where Steve emulates the noises made by his very young sounding child with his guitar. It's more of an experiment than a proper track, but I guess the idea was so amusing that they went for it.


6. Kill The Guy With The Ball/The God Eaters

This track is like the beefiest classical music to the power of N multiplied by ROCK. It's genuinely disturbing to listen to it. Again there's no lead solo, but instead a demented passage of riffing that builds and escalates forever, getting darker and scarier as it continues. At the climax, a wash of keyboards comes in to calm everything down but to be honest I always skip this section because it's boring. I'm sure a lot of hardcore Steve Vai fans would have a problem with me saying that, but that's another reason why I think all his other solo albums are not so great - they're full of keyboards, weird interludes, singing, etc. Alien Love Secrets just rocks out for 30 minutes then ends, that's why I like it so much.

7. Tender Surrender

It's amazing to think there's only 7 tracks on this album because by the time you get to this stage it's like you sat through an entire concert. This track is like what would be playing if you walked into the most sophisticated wine bar in the world. It's a really delicate, emotional track with a great solo (actually there's a point in the solo where Steve copies an exact phrase from the solo to Van Halen's Poundcake, maybe someone else will notice it too), but still a great end to a great album.

Overall: buy this album now, or forever miss out on some seriously great electric guitar playing.

If you love the guitar, or if you just love great music, then you should worship at the temple of Mr Vai! Steve has bulit up a fanatical fanbase and this album will show you why. Bad Horsie allows steve to tune down and get some serious crunch and cool 'angry horse' sounds. Next he does his own 'satch boogie' type-a-thing in 'Juice'. For me though, the two highlights of this album come from the next two tracks ' die to live' and 'the boy from seattle'- without doubt 2 of the tastiest,most melodic tracks in Steve's vast catalogue of quality music. 'Die to live' is a triumphant piece, full of attitude and passion, while 'boy from seattle' allows steve to do his hendrix thing- and goddam it the man does it well-what an inspiring and beautiful song! If you wanna get even more excited and inspired, I can highly recommend the DVD/Video- where you are able to see just how passionate Steve is when caressing strange and beautiful music from his guitar.

BUY THIS ALBUM NOW!STEVE VAI IS A ROCK GOD!