Customer Reviews

Time Machine

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first and only double Satch album, disc 1 being studio tracks that were not previously released and disc 2 being some outstanding live playing from various venues. One of the coolest things about this collection is that you get the long out of print Joe Satriani EP, which was released in very small numbers. At the time, he was in a band called The Squares and all of his bandmates, except drummer Jeff Campitelli, thought it would go nowhere. How wrong they were, as this EP marked the beginning of a very successful solo career for Joe. The "Time Machine" album also introduced one of Joe's most beloved songs, "All Alone." It is a very beautiful rendition of the Billie Holliday song "Left Alone" and is often used by figure skaters during their routines. Disc 2 features some awesome live performances of all his hits. Tracks 11-14 were recorded at the California Theater in June 1988 and I feel represent Joe at peak performance (please read my review of Joe's album "Dreaming#11," which features more of the California Theater concert, and you will find out the strange story behind this recording). One of the definite stand-outs on the live disc is "Big Bad Moon," a hard rockin' blues number that makes you want to hear him in person. Overall, this is an excellent album and is a treat for Satch fans and guitar fans in general. I highly recommend it.

With Time Machine, Joe Satriani serves up a lively mix of old and new studio tracks as well as a series of scorching live tracks. Disc 1 features some new studio tracks as well as some pieces left off previous albums. While Satriani really shows off his vast array of technique on several tracks, it is when he reins in his impulse to let the solos rip that he really shines. This is not to say that some technique pieces don't shine, such as delicate "Banana Mango" and the searing "Speed of Light."

However, for live music junkies such as myself, disc two offers the Satriani fan with a great show minus the visuals. What will amaze is that many of the techniques that enchant listeners on studio albums are acutally recreated live. The disc starts with the wild rides of "Satch Boogie" and "Summer Song." Again, when Satriani reins in his tendency to let fly with mind bending technique-driven solos is when the live music really shi! ! nes. "Flying in a Blue Dream," one of Satriani's most ethereal tracks on a studio album comes across with restrained elegance in this live version.

Joe Satriani is sadly one of the most unrecognizable names in the guitar universe. "Time Machine" will show Satriani novices the wide range of skills and tastes he possesses while still thrilling those of us who enjoy his music. This double CD carries exactly what the name implies, a journey through Satriani's musical evolution, from the wild rides of fiery guitar expos of early tracks to the more restrained, musically connected pieces of later albums. It also assuages the yearnings of those who love Satriani's studio work as well as those of us who think live music is the only true test of a musicians abilities.

A curious collection of rarities, outtakes, new recordings, and live material, "Time Machine" is an intriguing mix and a worthwhile investment. It is divided into two discs, a studio record and a live record, each stretches over an hour in length.

The studio record contains performances from a number of sessions-- the new material was all recorded in 1993 for this record. The best of these is probably the title track, "Time Machine", a dense, churning, powerful piece filled with tension begging to explode that never quite does. A large portion of material were outtakes from "The Extremist"-- the album was evidentally heavily pared down to keep it fairly lean ("Flying in a Blue Dream" felt a bit long to me at least, so the change of pace was nice). Some of this material is superb, including the "Tears in the Rain"-styled "Baroque" and ballad "Thinking of You", which really shows how far Satriani has come as a lyrical and emotive soloist. From the "Surfing With the Alien" sessions one leftover is yielded, the frantic "Dweller on the Threshold", a moody and explosive piece not dissimilar to material on "Not of This Earth". There's also a handful of rarities-- most crucially the "Joe Satriani EP" which never received wide distribution. While i tlacks much of the polish even of "Not of This Earth", this hastily assembled material has its own charm, and certainly having it is as valuable as the material simply because of its rarity.

Still, for all this nice material, there's quite a bit of throwaway too-- Billie Holliday's "All Alone" gets a reasonable reading, and Satriani never ceases to surprise with his ability to stretch, but its just not too intriguing, "Banana Mango II" (left off "The Extremist") just seems to lack any real energy to it, and the closing "Woodstock Jam" has a lot of interesting ideas, but ultimately doesn't hold together.

The live disc fares much better, with unnervingly brilliant performances from the course of Satriani's career-- there's really not a bad cut on here, and particularly superb readings of "Always With Me, Always With You" and a ferocious "Big Bad Moon" are real highlights. Of extraordinary note is the presence of several extra pieces from the same performance that produced the live tracks on "Dreaming #11".

All in all, its a pretty mixed bag-- the live disc is better than the studio, and I kept waffling back in forth on three or four stars. Recommended for fans, newcomers should start with "Surfing With the Alien".

This CD is excellent. It takes you through Joe's evolution as a musician, from his older, slightly wilder tunes, to his newer, more emotional and musically tight ballad-like riffs. As an avid Satriani fan, I find this to be an essential piece to my collection. Both CDs rock, rock, and rock some more! However, the two tracks with Joe singing aren't that great. Also, the "Woodstock Jam" track is a bit too weird. These little issues are easily discarded, though. The live tracks really stand out, not only because they sound great, but also because they shows Joe's way of making his studio songs even better on the stage. Joe is truly a guitar master!

If you haven't heard any of Joe's songs before, this is a great way to begin. And for you fans, don't pass this one up becauase it's an absolute must-have.

Satriani is the king of instrumental rock. In fact, he's one of the greatest muscians alive. Listen to this CD, and you'll see what I mean!

This is a great Disc. It has all of the elements of a great piece of work - song writing, playing, and soul. Hey 'MTV Rocks' - you are, quite simply, an idoit. Anyone who actually thinks that a lot of albums sold means it must be great - well, you're a fool. The average person doesn't know squat about music, esp. the teenage and 20-somethings, - you guys have grown up with junk, "artists" that can't play an instrument, write a song or sing - hello rap-crap and all their "wonderful" sampling of real artists, and you fools buy it thinking they wrote it! They didn't, because they couldn't... FOOLS! Yo, 'MTV Rocks', - what a shameful, petty, little 'tart you are... yeah, "something sold millions of copies, so it must be good" - what an idoit - the only reason this crap sells so much is because you guys can't think for yourselves these days, your buddy thinks it's cool, so you think it's cool, and these "artists" are putting out crap that appeals to the lowest common denominators - 'YOU' - the MTV crowd - hey, try thinkin' for yourself, you'll get further in life.... Loser...

An important thing to remember about this "album" is that it's really not an album--it's a collection of B-sides, early tracks, and just plain [messing]-around-in-the-studio culled from Satriani's career on disc 1, plus a selection of live tracks on disc 2. The result is a far more eclectic set of tracks than any album Satch has ever put out. It doesn't "flow" like an album should, but as that isn't the intent it can hardly be faulted for that.

May of the tracks on disc 1 could easily sit alongside any of Joe's better-known compositions (tracks like "The Mighty Turtle Head" and the two "Banana Mango"s are great examples of his usual style. But there are also tracks that, while no less accomplished, simply don't fit with what he usually does (which is why they're here as opposed to being on a studio album): "Baroque" has Satch putting on a Segovia mask and working in a Bach-inspired contrapuntal idiom; "I Am Become Death" is a bizarre track that evokes the sound of wind howling and chains jangling, and a weird, crunchy, funereal guitar melody...in which all of the sounds are produced by Joe's guitar; and "Dweller on the Threshold" is a head-banging thrash track that is too "speed-metal" for any of his albums. The track I found hardest to get was "Woodstock Jam", which is a long, atonal free jam session...it's still not my favorite, but after repeated listenings (and getting into more "out" jazz) I can respect it.

Disc 2 is all live versions of album tracks, and they're all great. Joe and his usual cohorts tear it up live on classic tracks like "Surfing With the Alien", "Summer Song", and "Flying in a Blue Dream". My only complaints would be that the version of "Circles" drops the framing device that (I think) made it work so well on the Surfing With the Alien album, and segues into a Jonathan Mover drum solo that goes on a bit too long...but it's redeemed by a segue into a great version of Lords of Karma.

The cd includes a full inlay card that tells you his story about his career and how his band mates laughed at him when he first recorded four weird tracks alone. Where are they now? It's a good idea to mix some B-sides,non-published material and first clas new stuff on an album. This mixture makes the album honest 'cos there's no filler to it.

The first song, 'Time Machine' is one example of what I called "first class new stuff". A song made just as a prelude for his earlier works, really rocks with the varied classes of distorted, lead and rythm guitars. As melodic and hard as in his best works. The second song, 'The Might Turtle Head' makes you remember 'Potato Head Groove Thing' either for its title and the music. 'Thinking of You' is an extremely nice ballad in the vein of 'Crying' and has even more feeling. I remember I recorded it on a tape as a romantic gift for a girl... flowers...

OK.

The 'Banana Mango's are great, even more the part two, eventually first in order, such a crazy and imaginative groove over a repetitive harmonics riff. About the four tracks from his first single I'll say they're very original and honest in their goals. Very experimental as well. 'Saying Goodbye' is a piece of beauty and a great work with many guitars sounding together. This is one of the most sensitive and soft songs an electric guitar has ever played. About 'Woodstock Jam' I'll just say it's suicidal just to keep hearing it over 14 minutes.

Better switch the cds. Aaaaahhh!!! Come on!! the first riffs on 'Satch Boogie' crush your ears and you almost feel you're there!!! The best played tunes are... all of them. Just to say the songs he chose to include in the live cd are more than the right ones... I miss 'One Big Rush' although... sigh...

The variation to 'Circles' is weird but nice and the great 'Echo' gets a full seven minute tribute in which the heavier parts of the song get so much extended.

This is a great album!!! Studio and live, with nice ballads and crushing rockers, from experimental weirdos to classic hits... the best from him, obvious, because they're two!!!!

Leave it to Satch to release a greatest hits with style. This two-disc set contains most of his popular stuff from past albums, but there is a twist: one disc are studio version, the other are live. The whole album is great, but I lean towards the live disc for more of my play. Satch plays with such energy even in the studio, but when he's in front of an audience, he can kick it up to an eleven. All of his rockers and ballads are here, from "Always with Me, Always With You" and "Rubina" to "Satch Boogie" and "Big Bad Moon" covering everything from the EP "Dreaming #11" to "The Extremist" and everything in between. The only song on this twenty-eight-song set is "Woodstock Jam." It sounds pretty cool to start, but becomes extremely boring after sixteen minutes of it.

When it comes to hard-rock guitar instrumental, nobody plays like Satch. A must have for everyone.

Forget the live disc, it's cool, this review focuses only on the studio album.

The first three tracks are killers, but from there on the album is an eclectic mix of ideas and psychodelia. What's most interesting is hearing the different flavours of Joe's previous albums coming through on the different tracks - some of it sounds like "Not of this earth" (not a good thing), and even the best tracks uncannily reference earlier material. The sound and style of "All Alone" could easily have re-titled the track as "The forgotten, part III". Awesome track that it is, "Time Machine" is the sequel to "Flying in a blue dream", considering the similar Lydian melodies.

Some tracks make for uncomfortable listening, and this is definitely one that only fans will enjoy. If you aren't such, try downloading "Time Machine", "Turtle head" and "All alone" separately - you won't regret it.

This is a fantastic album, although I admit that it took some time for it to grow on me. I didn't even know this was a collection of B-sides until just recently. If these are the B-sides, you know how good the stuff is that made it on the other albums. The title track is fantastic, and The Mighty Turtle Head is one of my favorite Satch songs, in fact my second favorite Satch song (a very close second behind the incomparable shred anthem that is Crushing Day) I just love the way Turtle Head moves. It's playful, energetic and it just flows so well. I love this song more every time I hear it. Both Banana Mango songs are a lot of fun, and Thinking Of You is a great ballad number. Speed Of Light moves fast, as the title implies, and Dweller On The Threshold just knocks your socks off. Even the vocal track, Crazy, is pretty good. The only one I'm not too jazzed about is the last track, Woodstock Jam. It's way, way too long and doesn't appear to go anywhere. But all in all, a sensational album, and I haven't even covered the live disc, which is also great. A must have for any Satch fan.