JOE SATRIANI












It's been 20 years since guitar monster Joe Satriani shook the world with his debut solo release, Not of This Earth. But when we broke this news to Satch himself, he couldn't believe it.
"Wow," he marvels. "I had no idea." Quickly he logs onto his website, satriani.com. "Whaddya know! You're absolutely right!"

Of course, this just proves that Satriani isn't the type to look back - especially when he's got something like Super Colossal on his mind.

Who can blame him? Even in a catalog that's overflowing with some of the most amazing six-string wizardry ever documented, Super Colossal, his newest Epic release, stands out. Whether you're a connoisseur of the guitaristic arts or someone who simply digs great grooves and passion in music, this CD lives up to its name.

In fact, though Satriani has had a dream career that's ranged from building a reputation as the teacher that the greatest guitarists sought out for lessons, to exploding all over the map with more than ten million sales of 11 solo albums (two platinum, four gold), 13 Grammy nominations, 3 platinum DVD's, the historic G3 guitar summits, and tours/sessions with everyone from Mick Jagger to Deep Purple to Spinal Tap, Super Colossal is an unprecedented achievement.

Why? Because it's about more than playing guitar.
It's about the magic in music.

More precisely, it's about finding that sweet spot where sweeping gestures and a craftsman's attention to detail enrich each other.

You hear it in the title track's thundering, foot-stomp beat and intricately textured lead line, in the spiritual intensity of "A Love Eternal" and the raucous, party-down exhilaration of "Crowd Chant, and in the cinematic menace of "One Robot's Dream."

And especially, you feel it because Satriani is digging down, finding the right note and letting it fly, and focusing more on touching hearts than blowing minds.

Super Colossal, then, completes his transformation, long in progress, from stunning instrumentalist to fully-realized artist.

"People who picked up on my records early on knew that I couldn't be easily pigeonholed," Satriani says. "I was never a metal player or a fusion player or a straight-ahead rock player, though these are all elements of my personality. I think I just go further into each of those places now, especially on Super Colossal. To me, there's more variety here than on any other album I've done."

This attention to detail shines throughout Super Colossal. Encouraged by the sounds he was discovering through the interplay of instrument, amp, speaker simulators, and processors, Satriani found ways to express himself through long notes, perfectly selected and caressed, as well as the occasional blinding run. "It was a journey for me to play a song like 'Ten Words,' he points out, "to learn how to be restrained. You're not just wailing. It's hard to make an instrumental that really says something, that's not just background music or some superficial 'get up and dance' thing. There's nothing wrong with either of those forms; it's just that I'm not doing that. I'm going deeper.

"Besides, after making records for - now that you've pointed it out - 20 years," he adds, just a bit wryly, "I'd feel bad if somebody said, 'Man, you're just playing indiscriminately.' You're supposed to get better and to learn how to make the music work, and sometimes that does mean laying back and really speaking through your guitar instead of treating it as a vehicle that lets you play really fast, which increasingly means less and less to me."

After finishing his tracks, he sent them out for live drum overdubs: Four - "A Cool New Way," "One Robot's Dream," "The Meaning of Love," and "Made of Tears" - went to session giant Simon Phillips in L.A.; the rest were cut by Satriani's longtime associate Jeff Campitelli in Vancouver, at The Armoury, a studio that co-Producer Mike Fraser (AC/DC) had recommended. The acoustics of its main room yielded exactly what Satriani wanted for the rhythm track: a big, brawny resonance that complemented the power of his most aggressive lines, and a rich whisper for softer moments.

"I wanted a sound that was complex and emotional but never revealed the technology behind it," the guitarist explains. "As a result I managed to find the best guitar tones I've ever put on record. The sound of this album, the incredible variety that somehow fits under this umbrella of Super Colossal, makes it special in my book.

"And," he reminds us, "I didn't even know I was celebrating 20 years."







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