| Product: |
G3 Live In Concert - Joe Satriani |
| Date: |
10.01.01 (207 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: This recording overflows with energy!
Disadvantages: Not for 'middle-of-the-road&# 39; music fans.....
This is the album that I am listening to when my fifteen year old son walks into the kitchen. He is confronted by the sight of a plump fortysomething in a red and white striped pinny and personal stereo, shaking her hips and snapping her fingers as she wields a wooden spoon to deadly effect. Still humming along, I glance up and find him standing there with a half-pitying, half-shocked expression on his face. The acute embarassment of a teenager is a sight to behold!
So what is this album? Well, it's entitled "G3 in Concert" and consists of twelve tracks recorded live at various gigs throughout the USA. The 'G3' in question consists of three rock guitarists of the highest calibre - Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson. All three have produced excellent hit solo albums in their own right but they got together for this joint tour in the autumn of 1996.
The format of the album is both interesting and fair. Each artist has three solo tracks to show off their guitar virtuosity and then they all join together for the final three tracks. (I recommend listening to this album with the bass turned up so that you can appreciate the very strong bass guitar lines on some of the tracks!)
First up is Joe Satriani, accompanied by Stuart Hamm on bass and Jeff Campitelli on drums. All three of his chosen items are instrumentals - no vocals here! His three track spell opens with 'Cool No 9' and he gives it a very long intro. It is a fairly slow starter and changes mood almost imperceptibly several times. The second track, 'Flying in a Blue Dream', starts with a child speaking in the background. It has more swing to the beat but there is still a faintly wistful air to the start of the tune. The third track is the great 'Summer Song'. It starts with a brief exchange between Steve on lead guitar and Stuart on bass then swings into a good rocking number which really gets your foot tapping. The end has a intrica
te guitar riff ending in a zinging chord and a rattle of drums. Joe is a talented guitarist and I find that his style is distinctively vibrant, raunchy and exciting.
Then the mood changes slightly as Eric Johnson takes to the stage backed by Stephen Barber on keyboards, Roscoe Beck on bass and Brannen Temple on drums. Again, the three chosen items are instrumentals. His opener, simply entitled 'Zap' starts with a quick opening guitar riff then moves swiftly on into a good rocker with a powerful bass line. You'll find that this is another one to get your foot tapping! A quieter spell in the middle of the track features just drums and bass which is an interesting change of mood. But Eric is soon back with his scintillating lead guitar, some wonderfully intricate riffs and a final dipping finale. He then announces in his quiet southern accent that they are going to do two tracks off the 'Venus Isle' album. The first of these is the moody 'Manhattan' - a really laid back soulful track with a sensuous swing and a rather wistful guitar cameo in the centre before the tempo picks up again and it's back to the original melody. It ends with a shimmer of cymbals behind a graceful guitar chord. The third track is the curiously titled 'Camel's Night Out'. It is, once again, a faster track and Roscoe Beck gets some great intricate bass lines to play. Eric's guitar embroiders a distinctively eastern-style melody at times which makes a fascinating contrast. A roll of drums and a final chord heralds the end of this set.
Then it is on to Steve Vai who is backed by Mike Keneally on rhythm guitar/sitar/keyboards/percussion, Philip Bynoe on bass and Mike Mangini on drums. As you can imagine, this is an unusual array of instruments and gives quite a distinctive sound to the set. There is a glittering quality to some of Steve Vai's guitar work which gives it a harder edge. The first track, 'Answers' is taken fro
m his 'Passion and Warfare' album and is a fast rocker. It has some very complex interactions between the various instruments and several dizzying changes of tempo. (Of the three guitarists, Vai is probably the most avant-garde and likes to produce unusual sounds from his instrument). The central section of this track is very odd and sounds to me rather like a lot of people fighting each other with their instruments! It builds up to a crescendo of chants from the audience but there is plenty of cheering from the audience so obviously the visual aspect of the performance is very important.... Just when you think it's ended, there is a crashing chord leading into another dazzling guitar solo, finishing with a single strident note. The next track is the much more mellow sounding 'For the Love of God' which is the second longest on the album at nearly eight minutes. This is a much moodier tune, the notes soaring and dipping from Vai's guitar in complex skeins. About two thirds of the way through, the backing fades to just a bass murmur and Vai detours into a slightly discordant and echoing interlude. The track ends with a long drawn out chord with a tingling riff. His last track is much more upbeat - 'The Attitude Song' which has much more of a rock feel laid down by a heavy bass and drum line. This is perhaps the only one of Vai's three tracks which will get your foot tapping to the beat. Otherwise his tempo changes tend to wrong-foot you (sorry, pun intended!). It is an exciting instrumental which appears to be finishing at about four minutes long but then gets involved in a protracted ending. Cue lots of yelling and cheering from the audience. The final words shouted to them are "I've got some good news for you - the evening has only just begun!".
The last section begins with Joe Satriani yelling to the audience "Oh man, you can't believe what's coming now!". He plays a short but nifty solo
guitar riff. There is a roar from the crowd as he introduces Steve Vai who echoes the same guitar riff in a slightly more strident style. Then a similiar roar as he introduces Eric Johnson who plays a more bluesy version of the same riff.
Satriani then counts out the lead-in to "I'm going down" and the combined guitar stars launch into the Freddie King/Jeff Beck classic. It has vocals though which guitarists are actually singing isn't easy to tell. But it doesn't really matter as the combination of these three masters makes for an exciting rocker which finishes with a great triple guitar riff. Accompanying them on bass is Stuart Hamm and on drums is Jeff Campitelli. Next comes "My guitar wants to kill your Mama" written by the legendary Frank Zappa. Once again there are vocals but they are only secondary to the incredible guitar-playing. This is loud, raw uncompromising stuff! The third track is, for my money, the very best on the album. The awesome Jimi Hendrix wrote "Red House and, at over nine minutes, it is the longest track on the album. It is a mellow blues classic and Eric Johnson's light southern drawl is perfectly suited to the soulful vocals. The guitars are just accompany him for the first three minutes then the virtuoso stuff takes over. Once again, it is not easy to tell which guitarist is taking centre stage during the solo spots but, as it is all brilliant, it doesn't really matter. (The different guitars and styles of playing are reasonably distinctive if you listen hard enough AND if you want to be pedantic about it!) There is a sort of moody virtuoso three-way conversation between all three guitars for about two minutes before Johnson's soulful vocals return. The track draws to a close with a series of shimmering guitar riffs and a final crashing chord. This is followed, not surprisingly, by a huge roar of appreciation from the crowd. Each guitarist is credited by name to great yells along w
ith Hamm and Campitelli and the track fades out to applause and whistles.
Speaking personally, this is one of my favourite albums and the different characters of the three guitarists makes for an interesting mix. But the best stuff is definitely saved till last - the combination of these three produces some brilliant versions of classic tracks.
If you received a gift voucher for Christmas and you like guitar rock, you could do a lot worse than adding this album to your collection!
All three artists have their own websites:-
Find Eric Johnson's on www.ericjohnson.com
Find Joe Satriani's on www.satriani.com
Find Steve Vai's on www.vai.com
P.S. The 'G3 Live in Concert' Video is also pretty mind-blowing...!!!
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