Customer Reviews

Ultra Zone

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Guitar fans must agree that Steve Vai defines technique and skill, so much that it was hard to immagine a higher level. With The Ultra Zone, Vai has accomplished the seemed impossible--taken the world of guitar technique, creativity and thus, virtuosity beyond our solar system. From the opening lineof the opening tune, Blood & Tears, the table is set for a feast of visceral rhythms, complex melodies, and solos loaded with improvisations that travel at the speed of light. It is possible to wonder how one could have ever existed without the emotional affect gathered from tunes such as The Ultra Zone, Jibboom, or Windows to the Soul. This CD is one that will never grow old.

If you buy this import cd, it's for the bonus track. This track is amazing, three and a half minutes of pure acustic guitar behind a very improved Vai voice. It's a song dedicated for his mother, titled "Selfless Love", and it's nothing like you ever heard from Vai before.

If you are of the faint of heart, or find Britney Spears music to be too complicated, you are out of luck with this one. If you enjoy well arranged and beatuifully composed and performed guitar music... This is the one! As always Steve Vai surprises with every note he squeezes out of his instrument. The album covers the absurd and comical, as well as the deep and philosohical, mixing the styles of "Flex-able" and "Passion and Warfare" with some new, eastern twists. He will take you on a journey you have never been before, and rock you with "jibboom" and "the ultra zone", and bring you to spiritual heights with "windows to the soul". Don't expect this to be like anything else he has ever done, but it's still pure Steve.

Upon my first listening to these impressive works I was moved, once again, by the element of the "Spirit" that Steve incorporates into his music. I believe he is truly driven by this force. It is heard in his exploration of the universally known musical expressions from India, to Asia, and Tibet. Of course, he is second to none in expressing his own thoughts and ideas. He has such a deep understanding of the human voice, and how to utilize it through his guitar. I am humbled by his deepness of feeling throughout all of his music, from the very first time I listened to him on the floppy record "Attitude Song" which came in an old edition of Guitar Player Magazine, way back when, to his current work "The Ultra Zone." His song to, or about, Frank Zappa is very touching. "OOOO" is such a fun and wonderful thought. I love all of this album, and it is a permanent part of my cd player now. I love to listen to Steve, and look forward, once again, to see him perform his pyro-technical guitar style on stage for the support of this current CD where once again, technology meets with Mr. Vai's Spirit. Don Muccigrosso Jr. Portland, Oregon