Suspended Animation

John Petrucci | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 1
• ASIN: B0009ZEC2I
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,148 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

John Petrucci's solo album featuring 8 tracks of previously unreleased material with Dave LaRue on bass and Dave DiCenso on drums, including guest appearances by Tony Verderosa (acoustic and electronic drums on "Tunnel Vision") and Tim LeFebvre (bass on "Tunnel Vision").

Track listing:

1. Jaws of Life

2. Glasgow Kiss

3. Tunnel Vision

4. Wishful Thinking

5. Damage Control

6. Curve

7. Lost Without You

8. Animate-Inanimate

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspended Animation, March 11, 2006

By 

Li-Heng Chan "lak" (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suspended Animation (Audio CD)

John Petrucci's first solo album was indeed a fine effort, resulting in a variety of tunes that showcases technicality, melody as well as a range of different styles! And is certainly worthy of ranking up there with Satriani and Vai.

"Jaws Of Life" is the perfect opener to this album, showcasing a meaty guitar riff as well as an almost 5 minute long solo with John's all-out assault on the guitar. A reminiscent of "Acid Rain" from LTE2. One of the best on this cd. 10/10

"Glasgow Kiss" has some sort of scottish feel to it, the name says it all. The whole song revolves around one catchy (scottish) melody, as well as a beautiful slow acoustic-electric movement in the middle of the piece. A main highlight 10/10

"Tunnel Vision" features an electric drumset, and a slightly techno and oriental feel to it, it sounds like a soundtrack you're likely to hear in an action game. This song is full of energy, if you're looking to get pumped up while doing sports or something, this song works perfect. 9/10

"Wishful Thinking" is one of the two ballads on this album, slows things down from the three energetic songs before this one, this song is spiritually uplifting and brimming with a touching melody. However, ballads aren't really my thing, but it's still a well-composed piece. 8/10

"Damage Control" is my favorite song on this album, and probably the most dynamic, as a musician, this song should be in ABA (Ternary) form, most music majors should know what i'm talking about. It starts off at a slow tempo, then it slowly develops. Around 3 min and a half into the song is actualy where all the intensity comes out, a slight reminisce of a Metallica style riff, the tempo is sped up almost twice as fast, including a bass solo as well, courtesy of Dave LaRue. 10/10

"Curve" is my least favorite song on the album, clear influences from Joe Satriani are here though, but it's the same monotonous riff throughou the whole song that it gets annoying after a while, the only interesting bit the is the breakdown at around 3 minutes into the song. 6/10

"Lost Without You" is the second ballad on this album, it's much softer than Wishful Thinking, this one actually has some sort of theme to it, it seems to be talking about someone, and suddenly he get "lost", the tension builds as the "character" John is portraying gets more confused. One of the best on this album. 9/10

"Animate-Inanimate" is a more laid-back one, also the longest track on the album, it has a slightly oriental feel to it. The whole seems too drawn out over a long period of time, and it gets boring after a while, a fair piece. 8/10

This is a solid album if you're looking for excellent instrumental rock, great virtuosity from a great guitarist. I recommend Liquid Tension Experiment 1 and 2 to go with this, it's a perfect match

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Guitar Album, September 13, 2006

By 

Chris "takethekman" (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suspended Animation (Audio CD)

Sure, alot of my friends say he sounds too much like other players(Satriani, Vai, Morse, etc.), but who the hell cares. This guy is amazing, and all 8 compositions here are just as worthy as anything else in this genre; A few songs are a little longer than they need to be, but this album just inspired me to work harder and practice longer. 'Curve' and 'Wishful Thinking' are my 2 faves, but this whole album gives you exactly what you wanted....Lots and lots of amazing guitar! Great production, too. Good stuff here.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars John Petrucci's first solo album, Suspended-Animation, is AWESOME!!!!!, July 5, 2005

By 

Jim Seebold (White Lake, MI USA) - See all my reviews

The person who rated this album a "1" out 5, doesn't know anything about music (or how to spell). And, I find it impossible to believe that they ever touched a guitar. John Petrucci is an amazingly talented guitar player and songwriter. He's at the top of the heap. Guitar playing doesn't get any better than this. The formerly mentioned reviewer also called the songs "predictable"-they are anything but predictable. John plays at mind-boggling speed, with machine-like precision-but he also writes and plays beautiful and memorable melodies with a very soulful touch and a wide variety of killer tones. These songs range from peaceful, thoughtful, and calm to a full out nuclear meltdown metal assault. It's cool to hear what Dream Theater would sound like, if they cloned John Petrucci and had the clone play rhythm guitar while the real JP played lead. Unlike some instrumental music, Suspended-Animation keeps the interest level high from start to finish. And as far as sounding like a "copy & paste from Joe Satriani..." [more idiocy from the formerly mentioned reviewer...], can you say, tribute? Sure ya can! "Imitation is the highest form of flattery." Who else is even capable of imitating Joe Satriani! John Petrucci is one of the best chameleon players ever-and it's very difficult to sound like somebody else-you may be able to play the notes, but the touch is something even more difficult to imitate. There is also some material that sounds like a tribute to Steve Vai that is excellent! I'm not sure why this album is shown here on Amazon (it's currently available through JP's web site only [...]). Hopefully Amazon will distribute it. This is one of the best guitar albums I have ever listened to-I give it the highest rating!!!!!