Artist Page: Steve Vai

For the aspiring virtuoso guitarist, this album is, like Surfing With the Alien, a textbook example in virtuoso guitar and instrumental rock guitar.

It goes from rocking tunes like Erotic Nightmares and The Audience is Listening, which are also very quirky, to quieter songs like Sisters, which displays Vai's talent for rhythm guitar as well, to the absolute masterpiece and incredibly display of soulful playing, For the Love of God

This album is part of the "secret jewel box", it contains selected tracks which Vai recorded with other artists. I think it's an important album, essential for anybody who'd like to understand Vai and his musical background. Most of the songs are really different from what he did on his solo albums ... but his style is easily recognizable and at the same time blends perfectly with the mood/style of the song.

This is the perfect album to get into Vai. It's a perfect mix of very accessible music from the Blues/Rock domain, as well as some crazy stuff like the highly experimental Ya-Yo Gakk, or the extremely heavy Kill The Guy With The Ball. It covers many - but not nearly all - facets of Vai's style.

I like all Vai albums, but I think that this may be his most balanced output. The first half is purely instrumental (some "experiments" in the short tracks aside), and it's as close as Vai ever got to Satriani's style. But even here each song contains some weird parts that Satch would never do.

I prefer the second half though, and the ending of the first half with the brilliant Bangkok/Fire Garden Suite. The second half also features Vai on vocals on every track except the last one, and he does a really good job. He has a powerful voice with much variability, and songwriting is really great here. What's left to wish?

This is a stellar release from one of the best and - at the same time - most underrated guitarists ever. Two common preconceptions about Vai are that his primary asset is technical prowess and speed, and that his playing and songwriting lack emotions. Well, on this album he again proves that both assumptions are wrong.

This album is not for the faint of heart - I'm sure that many people will not be able to get into it. Steve Vai is a guitarist, and of course all the songs have lengthy guitar solos. But the reason for giving this album 4 stars on a website for progressive music is that here he goes way beyond other shred guitarists. Joe Satriani's Engines of Creation has a similar concept, but The Ultra Zone is like ten times more adventurous and bizarre. You can hear his Zappa influences throughout the album, not just on the
song "Frank". The whole album is a mixture of weird Avant-Prog and cool Jazz-Metal- Fusion - except for a few songs which are not very progressive, and that is the only reason for me not giving this album 5 stars.