Audio CD review:
Steve Vai - Elusive Light & Sound 1

Steve Vai - Elusive Light & Sound 1

Band: Steve Vai Title: Elusive Light & Sound 1 Rating: Release Date: 2002-06-04 Media: Audio CD Tracks:

Certainly elusive, but worthy? And you know what? It's actually pretty good in places. Just had to pick this album up after seeing Vai blaze away as the devils own six stringer in Crossroads, an otherwise horrid jumble of a movie. What holds this release back is the fact that it's just a bunch of utterly unconnected snippets of music, I mean it's one CD and yet it has 40 tracks on it which should give you an idea of the length of many of the pieces. Beyond that there is also the fact that with such short tunes there isn't exactly much foom for development or for the release to hold together as more than the sum of its' parts. Of course if you've actually seen some of these films then you may (or may not) get more out of it depending on your impressions of the films. On the positive side is the undoubted talent of Mr Vai himself. Having seen him live I can attest to the fact that he can pull all this off in a live setting too which increases the esteem in which I hold him. Of course it's two different things to be a great musician and to be able to write great music. . . . . This is a neat little grab bag of cool tracks, cameos and curiosities and for the casual rock fan is utterly dispensable. For guitar/shred fans this is probably not a bad buy and for Vai devotees it's probably required listening to fill in the blanks in your collection, especially as some of the tracks here didn't make the soundtrack albums of some of the movies this stuff is from. Just to close off this review, the flims these tracks are from or inspired by are; Crossroads, Dudes, Bill & Teds Bogus Journey, Encino Man and PCU. Decent, But It's Just Not Enough Steve is an amazing guitar player and it really shows on this disc. This Steve Vai compilation has songs from and inspired by movies includin Encino Man and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. Possibly the best songs are the first two. They are a cover of Celluloid Heroes by the Kinks, and Love Blood. Also his version of Amazing Grace is beautiful and will bring a tear to your eye. Fans of Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson will like this cd. Not for the average listener Notice I say fan, i say this because if you just "like some of Vai's music" then you may not like this CD, you should buy an actual album of his instead. This CD contains hard to find Vai treasures that any Vai fan should have. The first two previously unreleased tracks are okay. Celluloid Heroes is light and Love Blood is heavy. My only dissapointment with the two tracks is that he sings on them. Tracks 3-6 from Crossroads are great, Steve Vai and Ry Cooder do excellent guitar work on these blues based tracks. Tracks 7 & 8 are nothing special, but an alright listen. Tracks 9-16 from Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey are very fun guitar tracks and contain great, but also wierd (air guitar hell), songs. Tracks 17-18 from Encino Man sound very alike but both of them are really good guitar tracks and all around cool rock tracks. Tracks 19-40 are where you might want to stop listening. These songs are (mostly) very short and pointless, there's nothing much to see here. Some of the tracks contain really cool little guitar solos, but other than that you can just stop after track 18. So, if you're a Vai fan then you will probably not be dissapointed with this CD, if you are just getting into Vai or not a "fan" then you might wanna pass this one up. . At long last -- the "Crossroads" duel! The duel scene from "Crossroads" was my favorite part of the movie, and the music from the duel was not included in the original soundtrack. This one's worth it just for the "head-cuttin' duel" between "Jack Butler" and "Eugene Martone" from the "Crossroads" movie. So after nearly 20 years, the duel finally makes it to CD. Heartless Fretboard Magic " Occasionally on this haphazard collection Vai proves he has incredible technical ability and virtousic chops. Frank Zappa once called Steve Vai "The master of impossible guitar parts. His rendition of a Mozart piece(taken from the movie Crossroads)is as transcendent as Jimmy Paige's version of "Greensleaves". Unfortunately Vai's strengths turn out to be his greatest weaknesses, hes a wicked guitarist but not much of a musician, Example: The first two tracks he tries his hand at singing. . . . . . in other words you might want to pass those up. Most of the time his playing has the air of an athlete showing all the girls how much he can bench press rather then a musician making a statement. Melodies are rare in Vai's world and he attempts to blind with speed rather then bare his heart. In conclusion Vai could learn some lessons from one of his own songs, "Celluloid Heroes". You can see a complete list of all Steve Vai discography, or go back to the Steve Vai tabs