Customer Reviews

Real Illusions: Reflections

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

If you like Vai's old style, remember you had to re-check your premises with Fire Garden and learn to like Ultra Zone. "Real Illusions - Reflections" is the natural sequel to Ultra Zone because it's even more experimented.

Even with the new style, the album "borrows" moods and melodies from different points in Vai's discography:
- Flex-Able meets Alien Love Secrets and "Boston Rain Melody" in "K'm-Pee-Du-Wee" (track 4)
- "Little Aligator" up tempo in "Firewall" (track 5)
- "Fire Garden Suite" reinvented on "Freak Show Excess" (track 6)
- "The Riddle" revisited with synths in "Midway Creatures" (track 9)
- Sex and Religion melodies in "I'm your Secrets" (track 10)

So here's the album overview:
- GREAT instrumentals on tracks 1, 4, 6, 9
- the usual Vai (but remember he can play) on tracks 3, 5, 7, 10, 11
- funny Vai on track 8
- no point when track 2 passes by

A worthy mention to Billy Sheehan, who plays very precise and cool bass. Check "Freak Show Excess" all over, mainly the duet between 03:45 and 05:20.

Conclusions:
- If you like Vai no matter what he does, BUY the album - it's great.
- If you didn't like Ultra Zone, hey, have a full listening session before buying "Real Illusions - Reflections" and decide by yourself.

If you are the type that cant sit back in a dark room, throw on a cd, close your eyes, and experience great music... Then dont buy this album, go buy Nickelback instead. This record adds to steve's already odd collection of music. His pure genious is subtle throughout the record. If you listen carefully you can hear many subtle nuances in how the record progresses... Listen to it all at once or not at all. Good work Steve. Oh and sometimes it has a shade of John Petrucci, which i assume is tribute (see track 9, Midway Creatures)

Every release from Steve is a wide sampling of moods and technique. If you've enjoyed his previous work, then you can't miss here either. It's stunning in the way that Steve Vai is ALWAYS stunning. He doesn't just hit a note, he brings that note out of his instrument in exactly the manner he chooses. I don't think that any other guitar player I've ever heard has that command over their instrument.

It's true, he's still singing here and there, but not that much. I've gotta say, if he wants to sing occassionaly, fine... as long as he keeps playing in such an inspiring manner.

I read a few reviews that critiqued the sound quality. I found it to be warm enough. For (mostly) instrumental guitar music you could do alot worse in the sound quality area.

There are a few tracks that don't grab me much. I'm not too interested in the big rock n roll sounding songs. My favorite works are the songs where you hear the lead on one track, where there's a feeling of intimacy and you can hear his fingers on the strings. You can sit back and think "my god, he's really playing that!" Those songs are here too.

If it's too "weird" for you, well... Most folks who love this music play an instrument and the weird becomes interesting when you look deeper. There's plenty of mindless fluffy pop in the world, thank god there's a little weird stuff too!

I am deeply impressed with Steve Vai's Real Illusions. The album is definitely different than traditional Vai albums like Passion and Warfare, Fire Garden and Alien Love Secrets, but it will take you in for a ride Vai's never taken you on before. This album has a good blend of Vaiesque metal, soulful vocals, grand orchestration and of course, crazy effects (that Vai loves showing off). You also get to see many sides of Vai here; the child, the adult, the composer and the spirit. I recommend this album to all music fans that need to hear a fresh, never heard before album.

Peace, Love and good happiness stuff.

EDIT: Update as of May 21st. I LOVE THIS ALBUM!!! Steve Vai is truly a Guitar God.

I give Vai a lot of credit for reinventing himself. After listening to the CD once through I was a little thrown off, in a good way that is. Vai managed to outdo himself again coming up with some very original wild new sounds on the guitar. I haven't had the chance to dig into the lyrics yet but the playing is superb. Two words describe Vai's playing on this CD: 1) clever & 2) tasteful. Vai doesn't really go nuts with the pyrotechnics but rather goes for playing the right notes at the right time. The overall sound and feel is somewhat "raw" in nature. Maybe Vai was going for that feel? Thanks again VAI and congratulations on a job superbly done!!!

I've been a Steve Vai fan for almost twenty years, and I consistently find his playing exciting, emotional, and well-composed. "Real Illusions" aspires to be a concept album, but I'm not sure exactly what the concept is besides the idea that spirituality should triumph over selfishness. That said, the music is incredible as always. Vai plays with a particularly wide range of grooves and tempos this time, and his guitar solos continue to grow. No other guitarist I can think of has such great control of distortion, attack, and decay of his notes and Vai's attention to the details of each note makes his playing utterly unique. I also think his singing has made great improvement since the first solo album, and I find that he sounds very good here even though the lyrics don't always make much sense. One glaring problem is the production. While Vai's guitar always sounds unique and Billy Sheehan's bass is typically wild, the keyboard sounds used on the album are particularly digital and cold. I don't think this is a Tony MacAlpine issue as all Vai's albums have sounded this way since "Fire Garden." I wouldn't suggest he necessarily go retro and use Hammond organ everywhere, but some improvement in the warmth and variety of keyboard sounds would be welcomed. I wonder if it sounded great on the studio monitors but not so good on an average stereo system. In any event, Vai won't likely make any new converts with this record, but it should be well-received by those who have already been seduced by the charms of his music.

The negative reviews here are a sad commentary on the extent to which most people want an artist to go on doing whatever he did before. Vai is one of those rare musicians who is truly versatile. After a crowdpleasing opening track (very stereotypically metal) this compilation explores many moods and directions; there's even a quasi-Zappa solo. Vai does have a slight tendency to be facile, but there are substantial compositions on this album. It's a very fine and thoughtful piece of work.

Steve Vai has created a masterpiece with this album. I think, in my humble opinion, that this is his best album. "Passion and Warfare" or "Fire Garden" may have been fine at the times of their release, but this album trenscends anything he's done. All the compositions are well-thought out, well played, and very well recorded. There isn't a bad song on the album. Something that I can't say about "Passion..." or "Fire Garden." I've read reviews that have said this album is "too far out there" or "too weird" and all I have to say is that's Steve Vai for you. That's the way all of his albums are. You're going to find a strangeness and he is going to play melodies that are far out there. That's just the way he's always played. That's the Frank Zappa side of him, which was one of his biggest influences. You can't hide your influences and Steve never has.

Anyway, this album is really fantastic, not just on a highly technical level, but on an emotional level too. I've never heard metal-rock fusion played with such devotion and honesty. Fans of Steve Vai may be disappointed, others may praise this album, but the end result is an album that I'm glad I got a chance to listen to and talk about. "Real Illusions: Reflections" is bound to be a success, perhaps not commercially, but in terms of musical artistry, this is a highly ambitious and creative album that'll make you laugh, cry, and hopefully inspire you to do great things.

What a true masterpiece!!!!!!!!!!! Steve has truly outdone himself! "Building The Church" is definitely a statement! What a way to begin the CD! His vocals are really good as well, and I am glad that he opted to do them himself as opposed to having other artists sing on the tracks.
The stand-out piece for me from the CD has got to be "Lotus Feet". What phrasing in his guitar work. This is a great song to just sit back, relax, and reflect upon your past life to. It can truly evoke wonderful, heart-felt memories.
What I would truly love to hear next is a collaboration between Steve and Joe Satriani. That would be an out of this world CD!
If you are a Vai fan, get this one. He does not disappoint!!!

If you're reading this it's not because you were looking for Green Day and fell into this somehow. You're here because you know Vai and you either have it and want to see what the rest of us think, or you soon will.
This album seems, to me, as much a tribute to his past as it is an assurance of his continual progression.
I hear little influences and tinges of Flex-Able, Passion and Warfare and all the rest. They're like nice little shoulder chucks from a friend you know you'll be hanging out with for years to come.
But in the end this is a brand new Vai album and it just feels like it should. Each one he does bears a deeper emotional sensitivity and Reflections displays that growing emotion wonderfully.