Twenty Years of Passion and Warfare

bnt

Last month was the 20th anniversary of Steve Vai's album Passion and Warfare. I first heard it in 1991, and the first thing that grabbed me was the humour - the perfect antidote to all those O-faced "guitar heroes" who took themselves oh-so-seriously. Liberty is the OTT "national anthem of Mars", and Erotic Nightmares is the sound of ... well, I've never heard a guitar do that before, and there's also a cameo appearance by Steve's cat (use your imagination). :pac:

It gets more serious (For The Love Of God), exhibitionist (Blue Powder), clean and soulful (Sisters invokes a mellow Hendrix), and avant-garde (Alien Love Secrets). The cherry on top: the production is flawless. You can hear everything - all the instruments ring through clearly, especially Stu Hamm on bass (on half the tracks). Steve was, and still is, a perfectionist who served an apprenticeship as Frank Zappa's "stunt guitarist". On the Top 100 albums poll here last year, Passion and Warfare came in at #77, which is OK I suppose, but it's in my top 10 albums.

Here's Steve talking about his career up till 1990:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjARr7UlvMs

My favourite track from the album - by a narrow margin - is Greasy Kids' Stuff:, which has Steve channelling half of King Crimson at times:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3NNZfcrjeo

jamezy

I think Vai gets dismissed unfairly as "guitarwank", and on the outside looking in its certainly appears that it is the case.

I would argue that he is a rare class of musician whose technical ability allows him to connect with the something deeper and create music that has an unbelievable spiritual presence that most mortals could never compete with!

cournioni

jamezy wrote: »

I think Vai gets dismissed unfairly as "guitarwank", and on the outside looking in its certainly appears that it is the case.

I would argue that he is a rare class of musician whose technical ability allows him to connect with the something deeper and create music that has an unbelievable spiritual presence that most mortals could never compete with!

Went to see him a good few years back when he was playing Vicar St. with a mate of mine that seen Vai as his idol. I was a reasonably big fan but not a huge fan, where as my mate would have listened to him for years no end! We were so disappointed at the gig that we left half way through it. Bloody terrible and a complete musical technique wankfest. I think each of the musicians on stage got in a little solo each. It was everything that music shouldn't be.

Eric Sardines was the support act and he completely blew Vai off stage.

SanoVitae

I was at that gig. While Eric Sardinas did indeed steal the show, I thought Vai put on a great show. I'm more of an admirer of him as a guy and a great talent than a fan of his music. He's a great performer who gives everything to the crowd.

I met Eric Sardinas backstage after the gig - very cool guy.

Somnus

Wouldn't really be into guitarist solo albums usually because I prefer a song to an hour of guitar wankery. Not that I don't appreciate the technique but I don't enjoy listening to nothing but that.

So initially I was doubtful about this album when a friend of mine suggested I listen to it. But I was completely blown away. It's a phenomenal album with some really fantastic songs.

I think I'll have to have a listen to it now

PMI

Some of you will understand this:

This album came at a time when all the wizard's were coming out of shrapnel records ie: michael lee firkins, Kotzen, Darren householder and Vai brought out this ultra polished sounding huge instrumental album having just joined whitesnake.

His older flexable and leftovers stuff I didnt really get into until after this album and satriani didnt really do it for me.

I was 15 in UK and at that point no internet, so record shops everywhere bit of a spoiled brat with a JCM800 100 watt valve head and 4x12 back when Marshall was cool and I learned about 5 songs on the album in my bedroom.

Amazing album but alot of young guys may not grasp this now as the internet is full of guys able to do this stuff, and for all the wrong reasons

Great post guys thanks for bringin me back ha

bnt

I heard a few of those Shrapnel guys - one that caught my ear was Tony MacAlpine, who toured with Vai later. He may have been at that gig cournioni hated, along with bassist Billy Sheehan. (If so, there's a DVD from that tour, recorded at the London Astoria, late 2001.)

But none of those guys had anything like the compositional skills that Vai has: that was evident from the first seconds of Liberty. IMHO, that's why Steve's career has lasted, while Tony - a better guitarist (technically) and a phenomenal classical pianist - ended up working for Steve.

PMI

visit Kotzens website he has done about 20 albums now and is a fully fledged artist now

SanoVitae

Richie Kotzen is amazing. Anyone heard his blues album - it's fantastic.

As for his solo on "Fooled Again" -> :eek:

mike65

I bought Passion on its release and was impressed but then I shelled out on Flying in a Blue Dream by Joe Satriani and thats another notch up the scale again! Both are excellent guitar showcases but the latter has more depth/soul that means its not lost anything over time.

nacho libre

For the Love of God ^^

I remember being lent a dvd of his several years ago and being gobsmacked at the solo in this song. The whole record is really amazing.

darrenw5094

nacho libre wrote: »

For the Love of God ^^

I remember being lent a dvd of his several years ago and being gobsmacked at the solo in this song. The whole record is really amazing.

The song is a solo.:)

bnt

And here we are, five years later, and Passion and Warfare is 25 years old. Steve has released a little video where he talks about what the album means today, and also shows a good bit of home studio footage. If anyone's wondering how he paid for all that studio gear, you can thank David Lee Roth and Whitesnake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYrCaM_PIYE

edit: plus, Steve is currently revisiting some unused material from the P&W era and "finishing" it - with some help from some old friends:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQccE7XT_ng