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Surfing with the Alien
Surfing with the Alien is the second studio album by American rock guitarist Joe Satriani. It was released on October 15, 1987, by Relativity Records. The album is one of Satriani's most successful to date and helped establish his reputation as a respected rock guitarist.
The album was recorded on a budget of $13,000. Satriani's equipment was limited by the budget, consisting of two Kramer Pacer guitars and an adapted Stratocaster guitar, for which he would change the pickups to get different sounds. His guitar effects included a Roland JC-120, a Marshall '68 half-stack, and a Rockman.
Due to the limited budget, Satriani had to use whatever studio time and rooms were available, and as a result printed his effects to tape while tracking. This proved fortuitous for "Surfing with the Alien", whose solo was recorded with a malfunctioning Eventide H949 as his allotted studio time nearly ended.
To save money, the album heavily used drum machines, programmed by Bongo Bob Smith, with Jeff Campitelli recording overdubs of hi-hats, cymbals, toms and snares. Satriani stated this gave the music an "awkward charm", and maintained the combination of loose guitar playing and machine-like drum programming.
"Satch Boogie" is the only song to fully feature live drums, played by Campitelli. The song was originally recorded to a drum machine pattern, and the quick fade-out disguised the sound of the drum machine being picked up by the amplifier at the end.
Satriani described the arrangements of the album as follows:
"Even though my sensibilities were driving me to be very succinct on the record—with very obvious chorus, bridge, and verse sections—after I tracked the outro to “Surfing,” I dug it so much that it set the template for the rest of the record. As a result, the outros turned into the spots where I could relax a little bit and go nuts."
The heavy metal-influenced "Crushing Day" contains the only solo on the album that was worked out beforehand, due to its length; the others are improvised. Satriani expressed regret for this decision later, as he felt constrained when having to play the song on stage.
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Surfing with the Alien
Surfing with the Alien is the second studio album by American rock guitarist Joe Satriani. It was released on October 15, 1987, by Relativity Records. The album is one of Satriani's most successful to date and helped establish his reputation as a respected rock guitarist.
The album was recorded on a budget of $13,000. Satriani's equipment was limited by the budget, consisting of two Kramer Pacer guitars and an adapted Stratocaster guitar, for which he would change the pickups to get different sounds. His guitar effects included a Roland JC-120, a Marshall '68 half-stack, and a Rockman.
Due to the limited budget, Satriani had to use whatever studio time and rooms were available, and as a result printed his effects to tape while tracking. This proved fortuitous for "Surfing with the Alien", whose solo was recorded with a malfunctioning Eventide H949 as his allotted studio time nearly ended.
To save money, the album heavily used drum machines, programmed by Bongo Bob Smith, with Jeff Campitelli recording overdubs of hi-hats, cymbals, toms and snares. Satriani stated this gave the music an "awkward charm", and maintained the combination of loose guitar playing and machine-like drum programming.
"Satch Boogie" is the only song to fully feature live drums, played by Campitelli. The song was originally recorded to a drum machine pattern, and the quick fade-out disguised the sound of the drum machine being picked up by the amplifier at the end.
Satriani described the arrangements of the album as follows:
"Even though my sensibilities were driving me to be very succinct on the record—with very obvious chorus, bridge, and verse sections—after I tracked the outro to “Surfing,” I dug it so much that it set the template for the rest of the record. As a result, the outros turned into the spots where I could relax a little bit and go nuts."
The heavy metal-influenced "Crushing Day" contains the only solo on the album that was worked out beforehand, due to its length; the others are improvised. Satriani expressed regret for this decision later, as he felt constrained when having to play the song on stage.