| Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Liberty | | | | ||
| 2. Erotic Nightmares | | | | ||
| 3. The Animal | | | | ||
| 4. Answers | | | | | |
| 5. The Riddle | | | | | |
| 6. Ballerina 12/24 | | | | | |
| 7. For The Love Of God | | | | | |
| 8. The Audience Is Listening | | | |||
| 9. I Would Love To | | | |||
| 10.Blue Powder | | | | ||
| 11.Greasy Kid's Stuff | | | |||
| 12.Alien Water Kiss | | | | | |
| 13.Sisters | | | | ||
| 14.Love Secrets | | | | | |
I have a friend who claims that Frank Zappa only hired Steve Vai because (i) Zappa knew that his audience was clamouring for flashy, vacuous guitar solos, and (ii) he wasn't willing to play them himself.
This probably isn't the whole truth of the situation, but neither is it a completely outrageous theory. Throughout the course of his career, Steve Vai has fit the stereotype of the modern "guitar hero" in perfect detail -- blessed with amazing technical prowess, his sense of musical taste is often more than a bit lacking. This may be why his fame lies more within the world of heavy metal than that of "art" rock -- we know him best for his work with Frank Zappa, but others might remember him better as the guitarist for Whitesnake and David Lee Roth in the cheesy world of the 1980s music industry. This isn't the best of all possible legacies, but it's probably the one he deserves.
After combing the dregs of hair-metal in the two aforementioned acts, Vai embarked upon a solo career. By most accounts, the most notable album which has yet resulted is Passion And Warfare, a guitar-oriented album (surprise!) released on Relativity Records [which Yes fans might remember as the label which released Steve Howe's Turbulence]. Encapsulated in this album are the best and worst elements of Vai's career. Symbolic of this disorientation is the fact that both Zappa and David Coverdale are thanked in the liner notes, but more obvious manifestations may be found easily enough.
Passion And Warfare contains some good guitar spotlights. It also includes works which, mitigating factors aside, are absolutely repulsive. Perhaps his unusual resume forced him to appeal to conflicting demographics. Or perhaps this is the sort of album that he would have made in any event. One way or the other, the quality of the material is ridiculously uneven from beginning to end.
An averaging out of my ratings might suggest that the good outweighs the bad (the mode rating being a bit over three stars), but the numbers are misleading -- two of the four-star tracks are for "songs" that last barely a minute. Take these out, and we're left with a sub-par album. Besides which, I can't help but notice that the nadirs of the release seem to stand out more than the peaks (which often aren't that high, in and of themselves), when the album is considered as a comprehensive whole.
The Spinal Tappian album cover doesn't really help matters any. For those who have not yet experienced this remarkable image, a brief summary might be in order. Vai stands in the foreground, encircled (sort of) by a snakelike creature having the word "Passion and Warfare" written on its skin. At his feet are the flames of hell, tarnishing his spiked leather boots (with numerous chariot wheels and spears lying discarded around him). Above him rests the famous "eye-pyramid" symbol, gazing out on a panorama of sky-nymphs. Vai's right hand burns with the light of heaven, his left hand with the flames of the netherworld. His colourfully splashed guitar is strapped at his waist. While he probably could have come up with something even stupider had he put his mind to it, frighteningly enough, his nevertheless counts as one of the most laughably disturbing images to have emerged from the world of ... um ... Sunset Strip Culture.
As far as the music goes, well ...
The cry of "Head's UP!" at the beginning of "Liberty" isn't the best possible sign, but the actual song could have been worse. The anthemic solo doesn't exactly set the world on fire, but it's good enough as blues- rock goes (I guess). Some vacuous soloing results at various points (of the sort that Trevor Rabin could only dream of), of course ... even so, the track never becomes unbearable while the music is in the foreground. Unfortunately, Vai decides to end the track by reciting, in his absurd/ sonorous voice, that "We may be human, but we're still animals". This profound assessment isn't so bad that it can't be ignored, but it doesn't exactly lend credence to Vai as an original thinker (not that the High School audience would have cared, I suppose ...).
And, from there, we leap immediately into the world of "Erotic Nightmares", a really vacuous number featuring some of the most brain-dead riffage this side of New Jersey [note: unless you're a member of Bon Jovi, this isn't meant as a personal attack]. The track's rating is partly saved by an "animal effects" guitar section, vaguely similar to Adrian Belew's endeavours in the field -- the jazz-fusion(!) section is a bit better than the rest of the track too, if not exactly great on its own. Right after this, though, it's back to the godawful soloing that Vai is most notorious for -- and this lasts until the end of the track.
"The Animal" is a stale slice of meat'n'potatoes guitar rock, the flashy dressing of which does not adequately disguise the profound lack of culinary substance. Some mitigating factors to this mess: (i) the combination of the "big guitar god" opening with milder, fusiony keys is kind of funny, and (ii) the deep sound in the ending bass solo counts for something. Those aside, this is another for the "perhaps best forgotten" pile.
At this point, though, the album actually improves. Right from the beginning of the guitar line, "Answers" is a more substantial work than those previous. The legacy of Frank Zappa rises in this track, with the guitar solo reaching the levels of musicality demands by his former master [hmm ... is that the best way of putting this ... oh well]. Some might note that the keyboards are more prominent here too, although this may not have been arranged for purely musical reasons (all the same, their role in the mix wasn't such a bad idea).
"The Riddle" falls somewhere in between the two extreme poles of Vai's legacy, taking in his good and bad sides in about equal levels. If he deserves the blame for coming up with another plod-rock lead line, he deserves credit for adding a sitar effect to duet with it. If there are moments of vacant stupidity, there are also a few parts which are rather better (one of which sounds oddly like Steve Howe's "Novalis", released on the aforementioned Turbulence records). If the listener can tolerate the good with the bad, this may be a worthwhile number.
"Ballerina 12/24" is apparently dedicated to one of Vai's children, and features the artist using clever guitar picking techniques with the strong use of a harmonizer. It's a good sonic presence, and is pretty musical as well. Too bad it's so short.
"For The Love Of God" is one of the better guitar spotlights here, particularly during the first half of the song (wherein the atmospheric soloing -- with another sitar effect! -- fits well in both a musical and thematic sense). There's a bit of hyper-fast soloing without purpose, and it drags a bit by the second half -- but when this track is on, it's something worth hearing. It may even be the best guitar track on the album. Unfortunately, its rating has to be dropped by half a star for the insultingly stupid commentary from Vai at the end -- which is to say, his deadpan recitation of the line, "Walking the fine line between Pagan and Christian". I've always thought that "Clever and Stupid" would have fit the situation better, especially considering the tracks which follow -- as it stands now, though, it's downright laughable (and ... shall we say ... not entirely conducive to sustaining the mood advanced by the guitar piece itself).
It's almost all downhill again from there. "The Audience Is Listening" somehow manages to outdo the stupidity of the previous track, which is no mean feat. The idea behind the song is as such: Vai (as a child) is scheduled to play a song in front of his grade school class. After being introduced by his teacher, he takes the stage and plays in a very loud manner (causing said teacher to yell at him). This sitcom- level humour clearly falls on the "stupid" side of the aforementioned dichotomy; it's sad to think that this garbage could be a rebel anthem for some young guitarists with big amplifiers. Amusingly, the melody of the track bears a slight similarity to "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight".
Then there's "I Would Love To", a proficiently boring track which scarcely counts as music (aside from a a few bits of tension and release). There's really no purpose for his dullfest to be here.
"Blue Powder" is once again introduced by the stupid kid from an earlier track. Thereafter, it's full-steam ahead in another "Liberty"- esque number (ie. some decent elements, some tragically bad ones). A clever stop'n'start bit halfway though adds some entertainment value, and some other musically proficient sections occasionally disturb the transportation of fool's good from Vai's mine of ideas. There's something worth discovering here ... but only if you really have the time.
"Greasy Kid's Stuff" is repulsive in the way that the title implies. Enough said.
A brief healing draught comes with "Alien Water Kiss", another very brief number with another Belew-ish effect (of water this time, not surprisingly). It's too bad that the better things on this release are so short, actually.
"Sisters" is something of an atypical Vai track, with a more gentle and lyrical passage than usual as its lead guitar line. Stripped down to his essentials, Vai doesn't really have much to say, it would seem -- the fusion elements don't add up to much, and the song itself is just rather mediocre.
On a completely different note, though, the album ends with "Love Secrets" (this must be a Synclavier which Vai is using, and it's not too hard to speculate whose he would have made use of). Heavenisms form on normal keyboard sounds, odd distortions emerge from the drum programming, and musical chaos (seemingly based on Jazz From Hell) is the end result. Naturally, this is easily one of the better tracks here.
Passion And Warfare might be the best choice for those wishing to examine the essence of Vai's solo work, though it isn't entirely clear why anyone would want to do this. A decent EP could be culled from this work, but the sheer emptiness of much of the music means that it cannot be recommended by this reviewer.
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 16 Jun 1998)