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Posts Tagged Steve Vai

Archive

November 10, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 40 – Frank Zappa, “Jazz From Hell”

Frank Zappa, Jazz From Hell, 1986 Almost a trick question really – looking for the crap Frank Zappa albums that are good. His music lives in the vacuum of its cult endorsements. Ask the wives and girlfriends. Ask the bemused best friends of certain music nerds. Ask yourself. Is there an enjoyably Frank Zappa album? […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged “Jazz From Hell”, 1986, 80s, Black Codes (From The Underground), Crap Albums, Frank Zappa, FZ, Instrumental, Jan Hammer, Jazz, Jean Michel Jarre, Miami Vice, Shit Albums, Shit That's Good, Shit That's Good - Crap Albums I Love, Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums, Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 40, Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 40 – Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Synclavier, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, Zappa ·

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August 26, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

My New EBook: Selected Interviews (Vol. 1)

I’ve just published my new e-book – a selection of some of my favourite interviews. There are new essays and context-notes around each interview and the range of subjects takes in not just musicians but two pro-wrestlers, a filmmaker and a comedian. There are 15 conversations documented from living legends (Joan Baez, Ry Cooder, Mavis […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Amazon, Author, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Cassandra Wilson, Comedian, Comic, Damon Albarn, Drummers You Just Can't Beat, e-book, ebook, Filmmaker, George Clinton, I'm Calling You From The Edge Of The World...Are You There?, I'm Calling You From The Edge Of The World...Are You There? : Selected Interviews From New Zealand (Vol. 1), Interviews, Jeff Beck, Joan Baez, John Waters, Kindle, Mavis Staples, Movie, Music, My New Ebook, My New EBook: Selected Interviews (Vol. 1), Pro-Wrestling, Ric Flair, Rob Schneider, Ry Cooder, Sananda Maitreya, Selected Interviews, Selected Interviews From New Zealand, Simon Sweetman, Sonny Rollins, Steve Vai, Terence Trent D'arby, Todd Rundgren, Vol. 1, Writing ·

Archive

March 10, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: Hobbling On

When I was 13 I was in the school’s First XI hockey team – the youngest and at that point the first ever junior to be in with the seniors. We were playing the best school in the league and in the final moments of the game the ball was dragged back in front of […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Crossroads, Hobbling On, New Plymouth, Passion and Warfare, Poem, Poem: Hobbling On, Ry Cooder, Steve Vai ·

Archive

November 2, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

RNZ Feature: What’s The Buzz With Guitar Solos?

I’m usually on RNZ once a month to have a chat about some new albums. But now and then I present features on the show too. Last year I had nearly an hour to explore the music of George Harrison. I followed that up with a chat about Ringo Starr and played some of his best Beatles drum bits […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 2pm, Afternoons, Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan, Carlos Santana, Chat, Danny Gatton, Davy Graham, Eddie Hazel, Feature, Frank Zappa, Guitar, Guitar Solos, Jesse Mulligan, Mick Ronson, Music, October, Peter Green, Radio, Radio NZ, Richard Thompson, Ritchie Blackmore, RNZ, RNZ Feature, RNZ Feature: What's The Buzz With Guitar Solos?, Solo, Steve Vai, Talk, Tuesday, What's The Buzz With Guitar Solos? ·

Archive

September 18, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

Vai is Zen: Watching Steve Vai Live

Vai is zen. Vai was amazing. Beautifully intense with a cool charm; he had the rock-star look and strut but this was no shred-guitar goon. Let me just break off here and say I had expected to find a live set by Steve Vai in 2012 to be quite ridiculous, possibly painful.
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged For The Love Of God, G3, Guitar, Guitarist, Steve Vai, The Audience is Listening, The Best Guitarist In The World # 1, The Best Guitarist in The World # 6 – Steve Vai, Vai, Vai is Zen, Vai is Zen: Watching Steve Vai Live, Watching Steve Vai Live, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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May 27, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 299

David Lee Roth, Eat ‘Em And Smile (1986)  I’ve been all about the Van Halen and David Lee Roth lately. Roth – easy to laugh at the madness, now but what a frontman. And at the height of his powers what a singer! Here he had the killer band too – Billy Sheehan on bass, Steve Vai on guitars, Gregg Bissonette on drums. Man oh man. You could listen to […]
Posted in Blog, The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged 1986, Billy Sheehan, David Lee Roth, Eat 'Em And Smile, Gregg Bissonette, LP, Record, Records, Shyboy, Signed, Steve Vai, The Vinyl Countdown, The Vinyl Countdown # 299, Van Halen, Vinyl ·

Archive

February 14, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

Gat This: My Top 10 ‘Guitar’ Albums

A while ago I described something/someone as “guitar music” and was chortled at from all directions; there’s no such thing as guitar music. This is not a genre. This is no way to explain or define music. Andres Segovia and Derek Bailey and Jimi Hendrix and Django Reinhardt and Eddie Van Halen have all made amazing music by approaching the same instrument (or versions of […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 10", Andres Segovia, Blow By Blow, Buckethead, Colma, Derek Bailey, Diary, Eric Clapton, Gat, Gat This, Gat This: My Top 10 ‘Guitar’ Albums, Grant Green, Guitar, Guitarist, Guitarists, Harmonic Crusader, Instrumental, James Blackshaw, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Satriani, Live At The Lighthouse, Lyle Workman, Marc Ribot, Music By Ry Cooder, My Top 10 ‘Guitar’ Albums, Passion and Warfare, Ralph Towner, Rootless Cosmopolitans, Ry Cooder, Santana, Steve Vai, Surfing With The Alien, Ten, Top 10, Van Halen, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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August 10, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Steve Vai: Modern Primitive

Steve Vai Modern Primitive Favored Nations Originally released last year as part of the 25th Anniversary package of Passion and Warfare this collection of outtakes and off-cuts, Modern Primitive, now receives the standalone-release treatment, perfect for Vai/guitar fans that didn’t want to fork for “just another copy of Passion and Warfare”.
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Album Review, Compilation, David Lee Roth, Favored Nations, Flex-Able, Frank Zappa, Guitar, Modern Primitive, Passion and Warfare, Steve Vai ·

Archive

February 23, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

This Album Is Awful! – I Love It!

Recently someone told me that they found it a lot easier to agree with me about the music I didn’t like. The much tougher thing was agreeing with what I liked. And I liked that. Not because I’m any sort of contrarian or – as you might put it – troll but because I think […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Bad Taste, British Lion, Good Taste, Guilty Pleasures, I Love It!, Lionel Richie, Opinion, Spyro Gyra, Steve Harris, Steve Vai, This Album Is Awful!, This Album Is Awful! - I Love It!, Tuskagee ·

Archive

November 29, 2015 by Simon Sweetman

Steve Vai: Stillness in Motion – Vai Live in LA

Steve Vai Stillness in Motion: Vai Live in LA Legacy It’s a double-live album, a new release, but the show is from 2012. And that’s probably all you really need to know, you’re now at one end of the other: the very prospect of this is simply far too much Steve Vai for you to […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Album Review, Guitar, Live, Steve Vai, Stillness in Motion, Stillness in Motion: Vai Live in LA, The Best Guitarist In The World, The Best Guitarist In The World # 6, The Story of Light, Vai, Vai Live in LA ·

Archive

August 2, 2015 by Simon Sweetman

The Best Guitarist in The World # 6 – Steve Vai

No, no, hear me out – Steve Vai is one of the very few from the “Shred Shed” that transcends that silly notion. For a start, he knows when he’s being a ham. I don’t think Joe Satriani has that awareness. The movie Crossroads was so important to me growing up. Not the Britney Spears […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Best Guitar, Blog On The Tracks, David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Facebook, Frank Zappa, G3, Guitar, Interview, Jeff Beck, Joe Satriani, Phantom Billstickers, Steve Vai, Stuff.co.nz, The Best Guitarist In The World, The Best Guitarist in The World # 6 – Steve Vai, The Guest Guitarist in the World # 6, Vai, Whitesnake ·

Archive

May 18, 2014 by Simon Sweetman

Movies of My Life # 6: Crossroads

The movie Crossroads (and no, I don’t mean the Britney Spears vehicle, which I have watched, I even kinda liked it truth be told) is one of my all-tie favourites. I like Crossroads for the memory of growing up with it. I watched this film so many times. And it meant a lot to me. […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged [OST], Blues, Crossroads, Delta, Film Review, Jack Butler, Karate Kid, Movie, Movie Review, Movies of My Life, Movies of My Life # 6: Crossroads, Movies of My Life #6, Phantom Billstickers, Ralph Macchio, Robert Johnson, Ry Cooder, Steve Vai ·
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