Real Illusions:Reflections
So I'm obviously gonna have a bit of a Bias towards my favorite artist, but how did he become that other than by me liking his work?
Release: 2004
Ok, so this is the first Concept Album he's done and I must say I loved every second of it. So much in fact, I think this is by far his best album, forget Passion And Warfare, this is the best (but by all means, Passion And Warfare is an awesome album, I seriously reccomend you purchase it. biggrin )
I've heard this album many times now and I must say it gets better and better each time.
Tracks:
1. Building The Church: The opening track is nothing other than spectacular with the crazy opening riff consisting of highly technical tapping. The drop tuned guitar and bass and the drums kick in and the song instantly drives forwards into this fast paced guitar gunslinger of a track. A must listen for anyone.
2. Dying For Your Love: Now I didn't really like this track at first but I've found the more I''ve heard it the more I like it. It's powerful but yet delicate at the same time, or at least, that's how it seems to me. I love Steve Vai's voice as well.
3. Glorious: Catchy, the phased out intro draws you into the track. Although I must say the guitar tone for the lead line is a little unusual in this track. Still a great track none the less though.
4. K'm-Pee-Du-Wee: This is one of my favorite tracks ever. The simplicity of the piece is just perfect. Just one guitar, one bass, one set of drums. Steve Vai shows off that he doesn't need a million effects looped together like most guitarists nowadays need to sound good. It's a must hear for any guitar fan.
5. Firewall: Vocal Percussion. Who doesn't love that? It's dead catchy and will probably have you sitting there humming along. Yet another track where Steve shows off his brilliant vocals. biggrin
6. Freak Show Excess: Ok, a little background information on this particular piece of music. This is Steve Vai's interpretation of Hungarian Wedding March. Now this style of music is characterised by insane musicians and very very odd musical form. I must say that this song is very very unusual in any sense of rock music but it deserves a listen just for it's uniqueness. Definately a must hear.
7. Lotus Feet: Steve Vai with an orchestra behind him. Who would have thought that this would have been so good? Now this has to be one of his best songs from the point of a composition. It is so pleasing to the ears that I think anyone would enjoy it from the usual avid guitar fan to your parents (my mother loves this song.)
8. Yai Yai: Steve Vai using a talkbox. It's unusual but catchy, I like it but most people might not like it. Short but I think that it isn't a second too long to be honest, it's one of those songs that needs to be done and over quickly because it's not brilliant in composition like most of his songs.
9. Midway Creatures: We have some metal! This song is a great power listen (even if I just made that phrase up) and a real mood shifter. It's kind of forgettable though, it lacks any sort of hook as a piece which is unfortunate as it is very good.
10. I'm Your Secrets: A personal favorite of mine. Steve Vai shows off his lyrical magic. It's a complete dream of a track, carries a fantastical mood with the piece, it's best to just drift off when you listen to this song, it's a masterpiece of mood. Steve Vai has become my favorite vocalist.
11. Under It All: First impression = Whoa! This is definately a love/hate track, to me, it's a masterpiece, to most people it's probably very dissonant. I remember reading on how this song took Vai a long time to make, and the more I listen to it, the more I think how thankful I am for that he has. It's a masterpiece of a song. The lyrics are very deep as well. It's very very very powerful to listen to, it's a 7 string guitar being used in a very very different way to usual. The song breaks down from being very powerful and dissonant before becoming more clear, it then breaks down further into a very unusual section with a mixture of different lyrics being thrown about from left to right, it then goes into an acoustic moment with a large cacophony of people talking over each other before they become more clear with one person at a time. I must say, some of the things that are said are...wierd. It's a must hear and very hard to explain.
This concludes my pointless review of a brilliant album. Just go out and get it somehow, I don't care how, just do it.
<[Yami]>
