Customer Reviews

The Elusive Light and Sound Vol.1

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a collection of tracks written for or inspired by movie soundtracks. I bought it for the tracks from the movie Crossroads. Back when the Crossroads soundtrack hit the shelves, I was seriously bummed that the music from the headcutting duel scene was not included. Well, it's all here. Unfortunately, the sound quality of those tracks is not as good as I'd expected. But at least I've now got them.

The other tracks vary significantly in their appeal to me, but overall, I give a thumbs up. I've been a Steve Vai fan since the days when he played what Frank Zappa called "stunt guitar" for Frank's band. Was that really 20 years ago? I guess it was...

Steve's an incredible technician, but his music has always had his own unique attitude and for me, that's what sets him apart from so many other guitar heroes. The music on this disc covers quite a range of material. If you're into solo guitar, you'll probably find something to like.

this album is part of the secret jewel box set...it's not supposed to be the "ultimate vai album" that's gonna blow you away. any fans of steve vai should know this and should appreciate it for what it is - specifically, a collection of previously unreleased songs from films, nothing more. maybe if people did more research before they bought cds, they wouldn't feel so dissapointed when their expectations were not met. i personally thought it was a killer cd...you have to think like you're in the movie though...that's when you can really see Vai's true ability to write for whatever medium he is called to...it's very inspirational when you think like that.

Here is an accurate review:
Steve Vai fans are a dedicated lot, eager to hear the entirety of the guitarist's work (in that sense, he is very similar to his mentor, Frank Zappa, whose fans would buy collections of just his guitar solos). Given this fanbase, Vai had the opportunity to release an album like The Elusive Light and Sound, Vol. 1  the first installment of an archival series, capturing all the music he's written and recorded for film, television, and theater. A brilliant idea, actually, since an album like this disproves the antiquated notion that Vai's music is all technique and skill, without much regard for tone, texture, or the big picture. By isolating his soundtrack work  music that he made to accentuate a particular passage in the film  it shows that he's not just a master guitarist, but he's very capable of using that skill to create and enhance moods. And that's even more impressive when you realize that this is all early work, ranging from 1986's Crossroads to 1994's David Spade comedy PCU. After two opening fanfares that aren't in the movies (both featuring vocals by Steve)  an elegiac cover of the Kinks' "Celluloid Heroes" sets the mood, followed by "Love Blood," a song Vai wrote with the intention of it being part of an adaptation of Interview With the Vampire or any film starring the Vampire Lestat, but later abandoned once the project wound up with David Geffen (it might not sound too vampirey, but it's better than anything Jonathan Davis cooked up for the Queen of the Damned soundtrack)  the compilation proceeds to go through every bit of music he's written for the featured films (aside from the previously mentioned pair, also Dudes, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, and Encino Man). This includes brief, brief cues (some as short as 20 seconds); full pieces; and, best of all, the complete, legendary "Head Cuttin' Duel" from Crossroads, which features Vai and Ry Cooder in a shredding contest. Since this is deliberately an archival piece, it doesn't make for the easiest listening, but as an archival piece, it's first rate. It's hard to imagine any serious listener of Vai, or modern guitar, not wanting to hear this, or eagerly awaiting the next installment.  Stephen Thomas Erlewine

This CD contains hard to find Vai treasures that any Vai fan should have. Notice I say fan, i say this because if you just "like some of Vai's music" then you may not like this CD, you should buy an actual album of his instead. The first two previously unreleased tracks are okay. Celluloid Heroes is light and Love Blood is heavy. My only dissapointment with the two tracks is that he sings on them. Tracks 3-6 from Crossroads are great, Steve Vai and Ry Cooder do excellent guitar work on these blues based tracks. Tracks 7 & 8 are nothing special, but an alright listen. Tracks 9-16 from Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey are very fun guitar tracks and contain great, but also wierd (air guitar hell), songs. Tracks 17-18 from Encino Man sound very alike but both of them are really good guitar tracks and all around cool rock tracks. Tracks 19-40 are where you might want to stop listening. These songs are (mostly) very short and pointless, there's nothing much to see here. Some of the tracks contain really cool little guitar solos, but other than that you can just stop after track 18. So, if you're a Vai fan then you will probably not be dissapointed with this CD, if you are just getting into Vai or not a "fan" then you might wanna pass this one up.

This record is plain and simple - a collection of music that Steve has contributed to film over the years. If you are a Vai fan or a fan of guitar, then this is a CD to have in the collection. If you know nothing about Vai and/or his music, this CD won't leave a good taste in the mouth.
No, it's not a CD that will live in your player, nor was it intended to be. To speak for others and say that the public doesn't want compilation CD's or greatest hits is illogical. Opinions are great and we are all entitled to them, but there is not one person that has the right to speak for others.
This was a treat for the fans that could not purchase the box set. An added bonus for those who have the box set by going the next step and spending the money on a 3D cover and a special package. I wish there were more artists out there that are willing to go the extra mile for the fans like Steve did on this.

This one's worth it just for the "head-cuttin' duel" between "Jack Butler" and "Eugene Martone" from the "Crossroads" movie. The duel scene from "Crossroads" was my favorite part of the movie, and the music from the duel was not included in the original soundtrack. So after nearly 20 years, the duel finally makes it to CD.

So this is music from movie soundtracks,so it may not live in your cd player,SO WHAT?This is a fantastic piece of music by a guitarist that can more than hold his own with any other!If you're a Vai fan,this is a must own. If you like to listen to interesting music it's worth the price.

This is an interesting collection of Steve Vai's movie related music creations.

Of course it is worth the price alone for the music from CROSSROADS, which many today still think is Vai's best single recorded work ........... kind of his ERUPTION so to speak.

Speaking of CROSSROADS, at first listen I thought my memory was tricking me because songs like BUTLERS BAG sounded different than I remember from the movie.
So I popped in the movie and watched/listened again compared to the versions on this CD.

For the movie, they apparently edited the songs and removed 12 full measures during the first minute of the song around the A9 chord vamp.
On this CD it is a section that involved some right hand tapping --- you can see in the movie Vai starting to play this sequence, but then the video cuts to the classic blue repeating cliche played in the high 17th fret A position.

Actually I think the movie version is better as these extra 12 bars heard here on the CD get a little "out there" playing with the modes and seems to move a bit into some alien world.

I think Vai gave us the full studio recording here as he originally recorded them.

Just had to pick this album up after seeing Vai blaze away as the devils own six stringer in Crossroads, an otherwise horrid jumble of a movie. And you know what? It's actually pretty good in places.

What holds this release back is the fact that it's just a bunch of utterly unconnected snippets of music, I mean it's one CD and yet it has 40 tracks on it which should give you an idea of the length of many of the pieces. Beyond that there is also the fact that with such short tunes there isn't exactly much foom for development or for the release to hold together as more than the sum of its' parts. Of course if you've actually seen some of these films then you may (or may not) get more out of it depending on your impressions of the films.

On the positive side is the undoubted talent of Mr Vai himself. Having seen him live I can attest to the fact that he can pull all this off in a live setting too which increases the esteem in which I hold him. Of course it's two different things to be a great musician and to be able to write great music.....

This is a neat little grab bag of cool tracks, cameos and curiosities and for the casual rock fan is utterly dispensable. For guitar/shred fans this is probably not a bad buy and for Vai devotees it's probably required listening to fill in the blanks in your collection, especially as some of the tracks here didn't make the soundtrack albums of some of the movies this stuff is from.

Just to close off this review, the flims these tracks are from or inspired by are;

Crossroads, Dudes, Bill & Teds Bogus Journey, Encino Man and PCU.

I am a person who is obcessed with famous legendary metal guitar players like: yngwie malmsteen (rising force) kai hansen(helloween/gamma ray) michael schenker & uli jon roth (UFO). And I wanted atleast one of steve vai's albums to add in my collection of my other famous guitarist's and I was searching in my local barnes and nobles cd store and they only had this album in stock and I didn't want to buy online anyway. This cd has 40 tracks of steve vai's crazy solos with classic rock blues and pop from some of the movies he's composed in but most of these tracks are skits and some are like 3 minutes and something seconds long. His solo's are pure solid gold but this album was not meant for new fans like me and I wish I found another album from steve vai, But this album was not really bad at all but it's not one of the best places to start for new fans like me.


Overall I enjoyed this album and I enjoyed steve vai's gifted talent.