Steve Vai - Sound Theories Vol. I. & II.

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Epic / Red Ink, 2007



There are many guitar players out there who can set the fretboard on fire, and very few who can do whatever they please with the instrument. Steve Vai is one of these very few, no doubt, a musician in possession of a quite unique musical language and as versatile of a technical readyness as you have ever seen. Vai learned the ropes beside Frank Zappa where he had the exquisite chance to transcribe ridiculously complex music, had a massive period as White Snake's Primal Fretburna', and he leads a significant solo career since 1984, as well.

Be sure to check out his amazingly frantic composition called Massacre on his solo release, Flex-Able Leftovers. That muzax is: maaad, mad shit, if you don't mind me saying so, also it clearly reveals how this masterful player has a totally rampant and cunning ability to utilize musical notes to create patterns, sequences and moods you never heard or experienced before. Mind you, all this radical, welcomed mockery of musical notes is 24 years old now, and still it is one of the most relevant testaments of what special moods music can summon and soak you into.

I think it is safe to say that Steve Vai looks and handles his guitars as hollow bodies, ready to be possessed by an ever-increasing range of "musical personalities." He is more of a personificator to rely on musical channels than a "usual" player, therefore. He is the first and probably the only one to date whom you heard imitate human speech masterfully with a guitar - a nice glimpse into how welcomely radical and versatile his personal vision of music is.

Funny thing is: by a period taking place between the year 2004 and 2005, Vai took some serious guitars, his band, and the Netherlands Metropole Orchestra into a massive audience hall and recorded stuff 'nuff to fill a double CD release and even a DVD to document the event visually. Released in the summer of 2007, you can't possibly have any other answer reaction to Sound Theories than turning your volume valve all the way to the right, baby.

Some funny quote from Vai:

"If you can't admire what you can do, how could you expect others to do that?"

A legit opinion, no? Classical musicians are absolutely at the top of the musical game, main reason for this being their inevitably superdelicate relation to their instruments. On a violin or a cello, you do not have your nice and cozy frets to generate the note your are looking for, they are doing this by the naked ear, and they also have the natural tendency to play the score as but devoted summoners of music, exhibiting no intention to shine personally. Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Neoclassical Nuclear Stringgrinder had the chance to work with a symphonic orchestra, as well - when asked about how hard or easy it was to co-operate with classical musicians, he stated this:

"It could not be more rewarding or easier. Classical musicians do not give you all that tiresome mannerisms, they simply play what is written in the score."

As we accounted on, Sound Theories is a double release, the first disc called Aching Hunger introduces "classic" Vai compositions for Vai and Orchestra, and a couple of fresh pieces are present on the release, too. The second disc, Shadows and Sparks features the Orchestra as they interpret scores written and arranged especially for a symphonic layout by Steve.

Wow. They start out on the first disc with Kill the Guy with the Ball, one of the most vivid stuff from Vai to date, now presented with a hilarious intro sequence to deliver a quite convincing basic statement that both a Symphonic Ear Assault Team and a very haughty guitar is present to blow you away quite hastily. Kill the Guy with the Ball is an intense, unique run with a very funny, I dare say this: intentionally silly, rampant, unruly melodic core to it's mood, a buildup which communicates itself in a highly dramatical fashion, yet what it communicates eventually registers as more cute and funny than intimidating - a special sensation you find yourself frequently greeted by when listening to Vai's music. He likes to make FUN of music, and once one can accomplish this, then one should be regarded as Master of this language, no doubt.

The God Eaters is a very cool song, since a song called The God Eaters couldn't be any less than cool even if to feature no sounds whatsoever. That it does, though - a chance to Stare Into The Void we are offered with here, an occasion we will have more thorough of later. An intersection that seems a little out of place at the start of the record, but anyway - who would antagonize The God Eaters, yes?

The Murder Prologue exhibits a funny Spaghetti Western affliction for that sixty seconds it is running for, making a rather comfy place for the follow-up Science Fiction Theme Score: The Murder.

As we were rather delicately hinting at, The Murder is a massively cinematic buildup, could easily be a theme song for a classic sci-fi flick like Total Recall or Terminator. Or any of Arnold's earlier stuff where he plays badass dude in a badass future. The Running Man comes to my mind as well. A massive, mid-tempo melody dominates this piece, revealed with powerful brass instruments and a rhythm section ready to show all the wonderful appeals of that simple 4/4 humanity never can get quite enough of. AC/DC huh? Amazing how many songs one could write based on the exact three power chords, no? As a cool science fiction musical statement about a world wiling to do anything for reliable profit, The Murder also demonstrates Vai's massive talent to summon cinematic drama on audible registers, an aspect we will have chance to thoroughly witness on the second disc.

Gentle Ways is no joke. Gentle Ways is no joke at all, chicks0rZ and dudes0rZ. Probably one of the most beautiful songs I ever heard, mind you, I am not particularly fond of music that has no other aspiration than being beautiful. Gentle Ways though: is immensely beautiful, no doubt. My impression when hearing this piece is of a newly born planet breathing for the first time - just for the record, and just to shock you. The definite choice if you want to seduce someone and have absolutely no intention getting caught doing it. Five onions for the Steve Vai Thing just for this song Gentle Ways alone.

Answers is a classical composition of Vai, delivering you a tribal tint of musical warfare you could be familiar of from the End Sequences of the Star Wars movies. The main theme has an acceptable pull to it though, especially when there is a casual Symphonic Orchestra present to back up Vai's intent guitar statement. Following the negotiation of the main theme, you have a crazy-ass solo and a nice, though brief modal switch-around to wrap this rendition of Answers up. Not a bad effort, but I still tend to regard this piece more as the Ultimate Anime Theme Song than a musical statement you must be eternally aware of.

I'm Becoming is tiny, is cute, is pleasant, is the Little Guitar Magic Trick you don't want to miss out if to put your audience to honest awe.

Salamanders in the Sun is a significant trademark effort of Vai, a song which hosted a nice, romantic cinema-appeal even in it's original form, now growing even more evident via renditions taking place in high-end acoustic dimensions. The buildup offers place for nice soloistic strolls, periods in which the main theme choses to withdraw, inviting the entire band to join in later on. Wise compositional decisions become clear as Vai and the Orchestra do emphasize different parts of the focal theme, and this is a quite eventful composition - easy to take elegant and cunning picks - so that, they do.

Of the song Liberty, I am not a particular fan. This is some guitar statement that seems a bit of an effect-crawer for me, at least I failed to shed tears upon it for the time being. Maybe I ought to have shut and endangered of starvation, THEN I would learn to appreciate Liberty. That time is yet to come, sorry - as even Vai would regard Liberty as a fill-in statement, he wraps this brief pathos-excuse up in less than two minutes, giving you just 'nuff time to soak those tears into your handkerchief prior the Attitude Song is to ruthlessly, and rather welcomely reveal.

As a trademark effort of Steve, and a truly unique rhythmic/melodic delivery to enrich the general language of music, you can't ever grow bored of the Attitude Song. Listen how the crowd reacts when realizing the opening vibes of this trademark statement. Rampant, haughty, playful and virtuous, this piece offers precise, elegant glimpses of pretty much all musical aspects Steve is keen to rely on if to form building blocks he is ready to construct music with. This rendition is highly accurate to the very complex original, a clear statement how top notch classical musicians are, indeed.

For the Love of God is yet another of Vai's very few compositions that seem to have no noticeable effects on me whatsoever. I fail to identify immense originality and convince power in this piece, yet it is never anything less than these qualities when I am to check the Vai Thing out.

On the second disk, the installment to feature Steve's orchestral compositions a somewhat "tribal" musical appeal unravels and dominates the early segment of the program time. Let me elaborate: remember the mood of the music the Evoks are playing at the very end of Return of the Jedi? The composition Shadows and... feels quite similar to that mood, saved for a nice, melancholic, though rather brief duet sequence of a violin and a cello. Later in this composition, Vai even offers a glimpse of the middle east, and blends it with the musical language of detective fiction theme scores - a supercool, yet quite brief moment, as well.

Sparks starts off with a gentle violin monologue and pleasantly welcomes the supportive string section to join in for time to time, spreading focal statements of the composition unto a more profound, richer audible field. Let ourselves not to misinterpret Vai's intentions here, though: if he would chose the supportive instruments to remain constant, then our ability to greet them with pleasure would vanish, as we would have lose the chance altogether to welcome their revelation and activity. This here fluent composition arrives to a focal dimension of interesting timbers and a carefully selected note palette later on, offering you a clever fairy tale mood, as a party of adventurers would venture into uncharted territory, even into a Dragon's cave or into some similar matter. Higly cinematic and highly effective stuff, even better: Vai choses to simplify his statement for brief periods of time, rendering huge, delightful bursts of pathos, just to throw that away as well and reveal more devoted attention to the solo violin again. All Hells break loose later on though, no instrument is left inactive in the climax portion as our hypothetical Dragon is to emerge and claim some Phat Adventurer Asses for itself, I guess. Vai concludes the piece with a truly epic, beautiful ending sequence that comes out of nowhere, remains for the exact period of time you could highly appreciate it for, then the buildup goes back for the tribal affair - both Vai and the Evoks through him made a statement though, no doubt.

Frangelica PT. I. starts out as yet another fluent fairy tale stroll-around, later enriching the modal buildup with the introduction of a more wide array of musical flavors, even we have a glimpse of "familiy science fiction" - if there is such a genre at all. I think there is - remember the 1979 flick The Black Hole? Haha! Moreover: Hoho! The onion may decide to scrutinize that piece of cultural retina stigma later on - so take heed, and take a rather careful of that. Frangelica PT. I. is a discursive demonstration on how skillfully Vai establishes and elaborates in different musical atmospheres, yet he exhibits no particular intention to stick around in any of them for a thorough sightseeing.

Frangelica PT. II. is a definite peek moment of the release - a highly soloistic upper structure entertains your ears and conforms nicely to a stable rhythm section, a fluent flow of gentle ideas, introducing well placed gateways between the various solo statements to follow up - and they do follow up, and maintain their clear, keen relation to the stable fluctuation offered in the background. Following a rather OK piano solo, the Vai Thing emerges to deliver a solo atop the rhythmic structure, our welcomed result is a rather pleasant revelation of sane free jazz traditions - oximoron there? - out of a musical space that is very pleasant to spend time in. Oh, for the John Coltrane fans: some decent Saxophone will make a statement here, as well - let alone the Oboe, closing this composition atop caressing ambient synths - a stable conclusion period to wrap up one of the most relevant compositions of the release.

Helios and Vesta is a thorough stare Into The Void, more precisely:

Into Za Bigazzz Voidzzz, Brada'!

as Vai choses not to give any kind of relation to you this time around, except for the improbable runs and howls of sounds approaching your ears in elusive patterns. You just imagined - as Vai later decides to introduce you to a quite interesting musical place, where rules are though did not change. You have notes with identical significance to them approaching your ear, but occasionally
consorting with supportive background elements to offer the impression of a compositional statement ready to manifest. Indeed, later a composition unravels and elaborates at the verges of a funny retro-sci-fi feeling, an easy going stroll around to leave these interesting fields behind for now.

The concluding piece is Bledsoe Bluvd., a famous early composition of Vai, which's original you can hear on his solo release, Flex-Able Leftovers. (If you do decide to put it into a playback device, that is.) This is some funny song, truly. I am not exactly sure if it depicts the sensation of being utterly, hopelessly drunk and having no will left to deny it anymore, or being bored beyond all comprehension - nevertheless it remains a significant musical piece you can't avoid to relate to one way or another, as the tonal content and the mood it delivers both pose a very unique musical sensation, forming on the simple notion how the piece feels no embarrassment at all of how utterly silly and irrelevant it seems to be - a mockery of accusing something that seems silly with the accusation of sillyness it is. Now it all makes perfect sense though, as this sentence made as much sense as Bledsoe Bluvd. probably has aspiration to make any, and this is why this song is kind of: cool.

The orchestral rendition of the piece offers some extra sequences not present in the original version, these do concern intentionl, temporal cacophony and nice solo runs, interchanging each other as Vai seen it fit.At the middle portion we arrive at a fluent, casual piano monologue, then Vai enriches this here incarnation of his former effort with a superbrief guitar solo and makes place to yet another intersection to connect back to the main theme. The part where women go like: "Whooo!" and "Laaa! La! La! Laaa! La! La! La! Laaaa!" is still classic though, and still is included.

Steve Vai's Sound Theory is an easy recommendation both for the manic guitar freak and for possessors of ears ready and keen to encounter nice surprises, also it accounts Vai's considerable talent and ability to sew cinematic music, as these recent compositions of him arranged for orchestra are originating from places that are full of images absolutely worth seeing.

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